Isnaad uses environmentally responsible cleaning products wherever possible, with more than 90 percent bearing an Ecolabel. It’s part of a commitment to sustainability across both Isnaad and its parent group Imdaad. Using such products has some challenges but has proven a worthwhile effort.
The Drawbacks of Traditional Cleaning Products
Traditional cleaning products, usually chemically based, dominate the market but have a series of disadvantages:
The component chemicals can cause pollution including often-overlooked effects on aquatic life when run-off water from cleaning enters rivers and the marine environment.
The products can pose health risks to users, particularly in a professional or industrial setting. Common problem areas include skin irritation and respiratory problems.
The chemical contents often mean cleaning products must be packaged in single-use plastics and other non-recyclable materials.
While switching away from such products might seem like a no-brainer, the big problem is that the products are clearly and visibly effective. Not only do they create a hygienic environment, but the effect is plain to see even with the naked eye. Customers come to expect such results, meaning any alternative cleaning product can’t compete unless it demonstrably matches the performance.
Enter The Ecolabel
Ecolabel products reduce environmental impact, taking into account the entire life cycle of the product from manufacture to disposal. This involves a wide range of factors including:
- The carbon footprint of the production process;
- A reduction in chemical components that could harm the environment;
- The sustainability of packaging, with materials either being recyclable or biodegradable; and
- Efforts to reduce water use in both the production and design of the products.
To earn an Ecolabel also requires products to demonstrate reduced risks to health for both the people carrying out the cleaning and the people living and working in the facilities being cleaned.
Another key element of Ecolabel criteria is that cleaning materials perform at least as well as traditional products, overcoming the barrier of a perceived compromise in quality.
Making The Switch
Cleaning professionals and clients alike often have some initial skepticism about Ecolabel products. There’s a false assumption that such products simply don’t have the strength to perform as well as traditional products and that switching is a compromise too far.
Tackling this skepticism requires a combination of education and awareness programs and practical demonstrations and trials. In many cases this can be about giving qualitative evidence that an eco-product achieves the same outputs in reducing dirt and contamination and providing the required level of hygiene.
Isnaad’s Experience
Isnaad prefers environmentally responsible products both for its own sustainability principles and because many of its customers actively request such a policy. More than 90 percent of the products Isnaad uses now conform to the European Union’s “Ecolabel” programme, arguably the most rigorous and respected of its type.
It’s not just a case of choosing the right materials. Isnaad has also changed the way it operates, for example reducing waste by recycling cleaning material containers where appropriate. Thinking more about how it sources and distributes cleaning products has led to wider benefits. For example, many products are sourced and distributed in concentrated form and then diluted on site. That reduces shipping weight and in turn cuts fuel use and related emissions.
Ultimately, Isnaad does not see using Ecolabel products as a gimmick or a goal in its own right. Instead, it’s simply another element in a wider program of sustainability, being a more effective way to operate, an attractive offering to clients, and simply the right thing to do.
