Despite the considerable growth in the market for cleaning products and extensive investments made in R&D for innovative systems, the deciding factor still distressingly remains the cost. The conventional products being conveniently priced become the first choice for the end users and for the service providers too. When it comes to regular cleaning products, a pick-and-choose policy is prevalent to meet “budget” constraints. In India, the application of standard cleaning/eco-friendly products is limited to few sectors/industries that are either bound to enforce international cleaning standards or have actually understood the need to use them as a sustainable solution.
Majority of the consumers have few expectations made from the cleaning process itself and are not willing to spend even if they are offered innovative products that can optimise their supply stock and bring down its cost. Hence, with initial costs being on the higher side, there are very customers who have stepped ahead to embrace green products.
Hence, each step taken by the cleaning industry to impress upon consumers on the need for sustainable solutions is a battle. The onus still lies on the cleaning industry to educate the end user. The challenges encountered are many, primary among them being the reluctance to change.
“In India, people are yet to understand that cleaning – products and services – comes at a cost,” says Prashant Sule, Managing Director, PCI Environmental Services Pvt Ltd.
The century old tradition of having the common housemaid do all the cleaning work with conventional tools has left its impact on every sector. “For example, it is an annual ritual among Indians to deep clean residences during the festive season. If as a housekeeping company, we offer to clean a standard house for say `5000, which is about `5 per sqft for a 1000sqft flat, the common reaction that we receive is “our maid does it for `200-500; we pay her `2000 per month and you are saying `5000 for one day?”,” says Prashant Sule.
What people fail to understand is that the cleaning services of a common maid are much different from that of a professional housekeeping company. The cotton cloth mop, off-the-shelf chemical, a hand tool, a common broom and a toilet brush are probably the only means of cleaning that a maid engages in. The grime, dirt and residue that have settled through the year on the edges of the floors, corners of the kitchen, walls of the washroom, railings of the windowsill… cannot be treated with such common products. They need professional hands and professional cleaning equipment and tools to actually clean.
People definitely are yet to agree to the fact that “what looks clean, need not be actually clean”. Cleaning means decontamination. Cleaning means hygiene. Cleaning also means cost. “Hence, cost is the basic hindrance not with products or practices but with cleaning itself,” asserts Prashant Sule.
Echoing Prashant’s views, Pratibha Blessing, Managing Director, Caere Pvt Ltd, speaking from the service provider’s point of view, says, “As long as the cleaning is going on smoothly, in many cases, service providers do not want to take on additional responsibility or burden on their kitty in training the staff on the effective utilisation of standard/eco-friendly products. They find it easier to suggest products that do not make much of a difference even if it goes down the drain. The client company being all the more cost conscious, accept anything that the world can offer sans additional expenses.
