Cleaning BRUSHES are critical too

In professional, domestic or industrial cleaning, use of brushes is unavoidable and also essential for effective cleaning results. In manual as well as in mechanized cleaning, brushes are used to perform multiple tasks including sweeping, scrubbing, dusting, burnishing, buffing, waxing, rubbing, scouring, vegetable cleaning and many more.

Brushes are made in different shapes and sizes to suit different applications. Brush making techniques have evolved over the years, involving sophisticated equipment and processes. Some of the newer techniques include bristle filling process. The recent thermal technology is widely accepted. There is more attention given to aesthetics and life of the product. Sweeping brushes can be attached to sweeping machines for external cleaning or can be used for picking up fine dust from internal floor surfaces. Scrubbing brushes can be used as degreasers too in kitchens or food processing units.

The newest members of the cleaning brush family are the cordless scrubbers with multiple brush attachments and scrub pad attachments. These are useful for heavy duty cleaning tasks in the bathroom and kitchen, spot cleaning of carpets, vehicle grills, bumpers, tires, pool surfaces and outdoor furniture.

Says Sanket Gala, Sales Manager, Freudenberg Gala Household Products Pvt Ltd, “The design of the brush changes with its application, work area and the requirement. Today, washroom cleaning has three to four brush options for the same application. Similarly, hard bristles in scrubbing brushes determine the intensity of scrubbing required depending on the surface.”

“We have come a long way from using natural raw materials like wood, fibres or nylon enhancing the overall features in brushes. And for effective cleaning and application of brushes, the end user needs to consult a brush-maker and explain his points for better solutions.” – Sanket Gala

Sunil Puri, Partner, Galileo Associates, Mumbai, adds, “For scrubbing brushes, the bristles either have to be hard or in a bunch of thinner bristles in a single brush hole. A bunch of bristles per hole gives better strength and durability to the brush.”

For example, road cleaning requires brushes with longer bristles. Handle forms an important part in these kind of brushes. While the sweeping brush handle should be light weight, the scrubbing brush handle has to be very strong. The length of the handle also plays an important part. Handles should ideally be 4.5 feet in length for sweeping with road brushes.

“Handle forms an important part in brushes. While sweeping brush handle should be light weight, scrubbing brush handle has to be very strong. The length of the handle is equally important and should not be more than four feet in scrubbing brushes.”– Sunil Puri

Besides the above factors, brushes also vary with colour coding. According to Kingston Kamalesan, Managing Director, Sara Brushware Pvt Ltd, Chennai, “Brushes are generally colour-coded to prevent cross contamination in cleaning and the quality & strength differ as per the requirement. Colour coded brushes find much use in non-traffic areas like domestic kitchens and washrooms. Brushes used in high traffic areas come with strong bristles.”

Strong or soft nature of the brushes depends on the material of the bristles. Depending on the nature of the surface that needs to be cleaned, there are brushes made of plastic bristles, iron bristles and so on. While plastic bristle brushes are commonly suitable for varied cleaning applications, iron bristles are much better in clearing the mud on the surface. Hard bristle brushes are suitable for scrubbing the floor and soft bristled one for soft tiles.

Lob Gupta, CEO, Funclean, Kolkata, adds, “Brushes made of polypropylene bristles are ideal for hard surfaces and floors. The hard bristles can remove any stubborn residue from the floor by virtue of electrostatic energy. Besides this, it is noncorrosive and can be used on any kind of surface.

“Sink brushes for the basins come with soft bristles to ensure they are not hard for such surfaces. There are variations to these kinds of brushes like Non-Woven Abrasive (NWA) hard and soft scrubber for floors and long hand scrub brush. Non-woven brushes at our end are made from 100 percent polyester equipped with 1.35 metre polypropylene coated long handle.”

Domestic and Institutional segment

Funclean is coming up with long handle polypropylene bristle brushes to replace the conventional grass broom. These brushes will have greater utility value for high traffic areas, where there is a lot of footfall requiring dry mopping to remove heavy dust. This brush will be launched at the forthcoming Clean India Show at KTPO complex, Bangalore.

Talking about catering to the domestic and institutional segment Chhavi Vij, Associate Director, Kibble Enterprises, says, “We offer brushes for outdoor cleaning like the PVC plastic brush, which is a replacement for a compound broom. These brushes considerably reduce running costs. The compound broom usually gets wet and loses life fast unlike PVC brushes. Plastic Streak brushes can be substituted for compound broom meant for outside cleaning.”

“There are brushes made of plastic bristles, iron bristles and so on. While plastic bristle brushes are commonly suitable for varied cleaning applications, iron bristles are much better in clearing stubborn dirt from the surface.”– Kingston Kamalesan

Nylon brushes are also used for cleaning outer areas. Based on the customization of the size and type of bristles, they can be used in kitchens too. Long handle polypropylene coated brushes with nylon bristles are ideally used in washroom cleaning, as they provide user-comfort enabling cleaning without having to bend too much. Nylon bristles are also capable of extracting dirt from inside the crevices; thus breaking away the practice of scrubbing floors manually. Kibble imports brushes from IPC Ready System Italy.

“Kibble Sweeper finds its applications in both indoor and outdoor cleaning. The bristles in these brushes do not damage the inside floor and removes dust efficiently,” adds Vij.

Cost and Trends

The concept of utilising a good quality brush irrespective of comparative costs is still practiced only in smaller pockets in India. Smaller outlays are dispensed when it comes to buying brushes. Even though a good quality brush may cost two to three times more than an ordinary brush, its life is four to five times higher. Thus, in the longer run, it is a cost effective option.

“In order to arrive at better customer satisfaction, enlightening them with technical literature is important. The end user should therefore be conscious enough about the material used in the brushes and other aspects like safety, longevity, rust proof, etc.”– Lob Gupta

Talking about the cost aspect, Chhavi says, “The Indian user is concerned about the cost. In case of compound broom which gets damaged due to moisture, the recurring cost is high. The total cost of imported Kibble broom is in fact lesser than the actual costs incurred in purchasing of local brooms in larger quantity to meet cleaning results.” Why incur expense in buying more brushes when there are quality brushes that last longer and provide better results? That is something the Indian user is yet to be convinced.

“Long handle polypropylene coated brushes with nylon bristles are ideally used in washroom cleaning, as they provide user-comfort enabling cleaning without having to bend too much.”– Chhavi Vij

Speaking on the trends in India, Caitano Fernandes, Director, Cam Industries Pvt Ltd, Panaji, says, “Dust mop is the modern day tool which is fast replacing the broom. In wet mops, round mop is commonly used. Kentucy mop is equipped with accessories or permanent fixtures with the facility for refilling. Dry mops also have accessories, which lasts for a longer time. Dust mops are made of materials like cotton and acrylic material. Cotton is the most commonly used for rough surfaces. Softer ones like acrylic are used for Granite cleaning.”

Cam Industries Pvt Ltd is coming up with a tufted mop, which is chemically treated to attract dust under furniture, cupboards and hidden areas.

Sharing his views on effective cleaning, Gupta informs, “We have developed Polypropylene coated handle for brushes in order to prevent rust. Besides this, Microfiber used in brushes absorbs bacteria from the floor, minimizing the need for using chemicals or disinfectants. It is made of polyester and holds seven times more efficacy than the conventional cotton fabric used in mops.”

Technology and material

“Strong brushes owe their strength to the Staple Technology popular in India. Bristles in this case are robust, firmly fixed and do not come out of the plastic holder during usage. Chinese brushes use anchor methodology, which is inexpensive and not as effective as compared to Staple Technology because the method employed uses very thin plastic crust for anchor filling. Take for example a tooth brush. The user does not have to put in efforts for cleaning teeth. Staple technology finds relevance because there is a lot of effort involved in cleaning floors and walls,” says Kamalesan of Sara Brushes.

“Dust mops are fast replacing broom today. In wet mops, round mop is commonly used. While dry mops are now equipped with accessories which last longer. Besides accessories Kentucy mops have permanent fixtures with facility for refilling.“–  Caitano Fernandes

With increasing awareness and technological advancements, the perception has gained ground that Indian janitorial staff is not trained to clean washroom. There is heavy reliance on acids/ chemicals in order to clean the washrooms, causing long term damage to the surfaces (including plumbing fixtures, tiles, WC, etc.). “That is why, we provide brushes for scrubbing the sink and floor which can aid the cleaning activity with minimum requirement of cleaning chemicals,” explains Sanket Gala.

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Brush Care and Maintenance

Procedures for cleaning hygienic tools

1. Remove all visible dirt and any foreign objects. Use a brush with stiff filaments to do so.
2. Clean the tool in a cleaning solution with a pH between 7.0-12.2. Alternatively clean in an industrial dishwasher (82’C/180’F).
3. Rinse with clean water.
4. If lime residues are formed on the tool after washing and use, these can be removed by washing in a cleaning solution with a pH between 7.0 – 12.2. Use brush with stiff filaments to do so or clean in an industrial dishwater (82’C/180’F).
5. If required tools can be disinfected after washing with an approved disinfectant.
6. Rinse with clean water to ensure the removal of any disinfectant residues on the tool before using it again for cleaning.

You need to replace tools

1. When filaments are so entangled that particles can adhere to them.
2. When filaments are so discoloured that after cleaning they do not regain their original colour and it is difficult to see where dirt is lying.
3. When the brush back or plastic moulding is scratched or badly marked
4. When the handle is broken or cracked.
5. When the filaments are worn or have been caught in something, increasing the risk of loose filaments.
6. When your system specifies that the tools must be replaced after a suitable period or there may be a risk to food hygiene.