BSCAI recently spoke with Dylan Beach, sustainability manager for GOJO, regarding their suite of sustainable products and practices in addition to why janitorial and cleaning product companies are moving toward this new practice. Read the full conversation below.

BSCAI: What is the latest in sustainable cleaning practices?

DB: With the increase in cleaning and sanitization during the pandemic, an important topic for sustainable cleaning is safety. At the beginning of the pandemic, people sought aggressive products, or whatever they could find, out of fear that they needed to kill SARS-CoV-2 at all costs. It is important that in cleaning public spaces, products are chosen that are both safe and effective.

This is why, during the pandemic, guidance documents emerged such as Green Seal’s Guidelines for Safer Covid-19 Cleaning and Disinfection and green building standards released programmatic content such as the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management, which advocate for choosing effective disinfection products that contain safer active ingredients such as ethanol.

BSCAI: How have sustainable cleaning practices evolved over the years?

DB: In the past several years, there has been a growing focus on creating healthy spaces for people, moving past the standard environmental conservation focus of building design to think about people’s well-being in the context of being indoors. With respect to cleaning products and practices, this has grown the focus beyond the toxicity of ingredients and whether formulations are bio-based and biodegradable to focus on how the product’s use affects a tenant’s well-being. A prime example is how cleaning products contribute to indoor air quality, particularly in light of increased use during the pandemic.

BSCAI: What have been some of the influences that pushed toward this greater sustainability movement?

DB: The green building movement of the 1990s and beyond really pushed sustainable cleaning practices into the mainstream. LEED was the first standard that became popular in the U.S., but now there are hosts of others such as WELL, Fitwel, and Living Building Challenge. Interestingly, surging oil prices in the 1970s combined with a growing environmental movement created the demand for more energy-efficient buildings. Over time green building standards expanded beyond energy efficiency to have requirements for waste reduction, water consumption reduction, etc. Today, there is an increasing focus on how green building standards create healthy spaces for people. A common requirement in green building standards are choosing green cleaning products as evidenced through a variety of third party certifications. This benchmark has helped to advance sustainable cleaning practices.

BSCAI: Has COVID-19 impacted companies desire to move toward more sustainable business practices?

DB: The disruption that many supply chains faced during Covid-19 are a dry run for the disruption expected in a climate-changed future. For many, Covid-19 increased the sense of urgency to make bold climate commitments to slow the pace of climate change, with the goal of keeping average warming below 1.5 degrees C above preindustrial levels to avoid the most drastic impacts projected by climate models.

BSCAI: From a supplier perspective, what do you think is going to be the next generation of sustainable business practices?

DB: A big focus in sustainability currently is shifting to a circular economy, specifically using plastics in smarter ways. Most business models today are linear. We take materials, make something from them, and then waste them at the end of the product’s life cycle. A circular economy is one that has designed out waste and pollution. Plastics in a circular economy are recycled, reused, refilled, etc., to eliminate their waste. Plastics that are recycled, reused, refilled etc., depend less on finite, nonrenewable fossil fuel feedstocks. Designing out waste and pollution at each step in the value chain gets a product closer to being equitable. Both globally and locally marginalized populations tend to bear the brunt of pollution and waste. As we look to build back better from Covid-19 and into the future, I expect we will see more solutions that support a cleaner and more equitable circular economy. We can hope!

BSCAI: What is GOJO doing in this space?

DB: GOJO has long pursued third party “green” certifications for products. We certified our first soap to the ECOLOGO standard in 2006. In 2020, over 350 PURELL® hand sanitizer and soap SKUs achieved Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Gold with Platinum level Material Health ratings. We are proud of this achievement as we view Cradle to Cradle to be the most robust standard for products.

GOJO has a growing emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As part of this corporate effort, in 2020, GOJO became certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) as a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE). WBENC is the largest certifier of women’s business enterprises in the U.S. and a leading advocate for women business owners, leaders, and entrepreneurs.

In 2021, GOJO will share its next Sustainable Value Strategy and set of long-term goals. I am excited about our ambition to tackle some of the largest tradeoffs in our category.