Cost Matters in Cleaning Matters – Striking a Balance

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.

“Even though the performance of eco products has largely been accepted by most high end clients, there is always a need to demonstrate the effective performance of such products” -Prathibha Blessing

“Cost being the determining factor in the price-performance market, service providers seek profits by cutting corners off the components – manpower, wages, cleaning agents, machinery, maintenance, training…

Hence, the higher costs involved in initial implementation of eco-friendly products/practices do not seem a lucrative proposal, despite the cost effective gains envisaged in the long run with sustainable practices. The erratic market discourages service providers to take risks or look at the larger return on investment in the future. Very few follow the SLA mode of operations which can bring about a proper system.”

Scepticism

With certain corporate clients, cost could hardly be an impediment, as there is not much difference in the costs of regular chemicals and green chemicals, explains Pratibha. “Yet, the moment we approach the eco subject, the client directly associates it with additional cost. It’s not that the client is not open to change. In fact, end users are always looking at newer methods of cleaning and cleaning products. At many stand-alone properties, we have introduced green practices and the response has been very appreciative as long as we (service providers) are prepared to take it forward,” says Prathibha.

“In fact, factories, industries, corporates, commercial offices, or banks, name any of the leading sectors, they all agree to the need of eco-cleaning but at the bottom line, it is always the costing that takes priority,” says Vivek Jagdale, Director, Clean N Clear. “When we emphasise upon eco-practices, they ask us to implement and show results first before finalising on the contract. In short, they ask us to bear the expenses.”

One of the main causes to this scepticism is lack of stringent regulation. “Why talk of cleaning in other premises, take Green Buildings itself. A lot of effort and money go in constructing green buildings – materials, the design, etc., but there is no legislation that says that such buildings should be maintained only with green products,” emphasises Dharamveer Priyadarshi, Sales & Alliances, Kaarya Facilities & Services Pvt Ltd.

“A simple calculation of the amount of money spent in making a green building is much higher than what is required to maintain it. Further, the greener the cleaning products, the more sustainable and long lasting the structure will remain. It is in fact an onus on the client to ask the vendor to use green products more than the housekeeping company. Clients yet want to maintain the premises at a minimal cost. Unless there is a conscious effort from the client end, the housekeeping companies may not be able to convince them,” says Dharamveer.

“We have to continuously hammer to get our point across and that cannot be done with just talking. We need statistics to support it.”  – Vivek Jagdale

Pointing out the problem in vendors introducing green cleaning, Vivek Jagdale, says, “Without proper payment schedule, clients cannot expect the housekeeping vendor to invest on green cleaning products which are much more expensive. The vendors would not be able to sustain their business if they do not get the right returns for their investment.

“In regular cleaning itself the payment is made in a three-month cycle.” Many housekeeping contractors find it difficult to sustain and many have either diversified or closed shop. The most interesting part of the payment cycle is the cause of delay. For example, if the cleaning equipment/chemical is supplied based on the orders of the admin head of the client company, there have been instances of the accounts refusing to pay because it is “costly”.

“The choice of green chemicals is based on the credentials of the manufacturer, pH levels of the products, lab reports and the NLC documents produced in support of the chemicals.” – Prashant Sule

Price comparisons are made with similar cleaning products and finally, the vendor does not receive the right payment for the product. Even in the case of the service provider, the admin head plays a crucial role in the delay of payment. In an attempt to control costs and boost yearly savings to gain appreciation from his higher ups, the admin head eats into the payments made to housekeeping companies or drastically cuts down on cleaning supplies. With the going being so tough with regular cleaning products, housekeeping companies are sceptical in introducing eco-practices or eco-products.

Convincing Clients

“But, any cause being propagated does not gain acceptance the first time,” argues Prathibha. “There is more a social cause involved in eco practices than just meeting international cleaning standards. This calls for going one step beyond a mere commercial transaction and that is when change takes place.

“It involves a lot of education, creating awareness and live demonstration of the benefits of eco-cleaning. For example, take a shopping centre that prints “eco-friendly” on shopping bags or sells organic vegetables… In fact, it makes more business sense for having their washrooms display eco-friendly tags, as these enhance the customers’ feel good factor and add to the brand value of the shopping centre. This is the pitch that one needs to adopt to drive the message across,” adds Prathibha.

That is perhaps not the case everywhere. “We have not reached a level where people are willing to spend time or money on cleaning. They are yet to understand the difference between cleaning with a common soap solution and a green chemical. When we attempt to explain to the customer that a green chemical is neutral and does not contain acid/alkali, they question the performance of the product – “when the chemical does not have acid, how can it remove the stains?” It is very difficult to shake off that belief and convince people that even a neutral chemical can perform,” says Prashant.

“One effective way of convincing clients would be to show proof of concrete results,” suggests Vivek. “There has to be statistics or supporting documents with which we can show the client that a property of say `10 crores maintained with eco-products has an enhanced life. Today with green products, if we are increasing the billing by 10% we should be able to justify that increase to the client and show them how it is cost effective.”

Awareness

One of the ways of creating awareness among the people is to make them realise why the use of acid is detrimental to their property. “We could bring to light the fact that the use of acid on the expensive marble floor would cause damage and reduce the lifespan of the flooring to half. What could have lasted for 20 years would be reduced to 10 years with the use of acidic chemicals. We do not talk about eco-products or cost to the customer at all. When they have invested heavily on their property, we try to convince them that with the use of eco-friendly products the expensive marble stone can be preserved,” explains Prashant.

“About two-three per cent of the clients who care about their property do understand the need for eco-products and go for it. But, there have been instances where we have refused contracts of even five-star hotels where we were asked to use acid to clean the floor,” he adds.

“Commonly, at the administration level, the client is open to such practices, but it becomes difficult to convince the higher ups. At that level, cleaning is still not addressed as an important issue and is lost in the entire management set up. It is for us housekeeping companies to push for eco-practices and only then change can take place,” says Amit Singh, Director, Modern Facilities Management Pvt Ltd.

The preaching has to continue and not just for newer premises. It is all the more important that existing old buildings look at green practices as a sustainable solutions. “Take the Fort area in Mumbai. There are so many older buildings. While the existing buildings cannot be turned green, the use of eco-products in older structures can help preserve the structure and also improve the cleanliness quality and provide a healthier ambience for the inhabitants. But here again, the client should take the onus of introducing such products and also take into consideration the cost of going eco-friendly,” says Amit.

One has to set examples too for others to follow. “As a policy we use environment conscious products and refrain from using common cleaning products. We are servicing the IT, real estate and telecom sectors,” he adds.

“Many a time we use a chemical to clean glass when actually don’t need a chemical. Same cleaning can be achieved at the same speed by simply spraying water and wiping the table with a microfibre cloth.” – Debtosh Chatterjee

Apart from introducing eco-products, simple eco-measures could be adopted in the first instance to drive the point to the client. The ultimate goal in introducing green products is perhaps to go eco-friendly. “Firstly, we have to identify the objective of adopting green products,” asserts Debtosh Chatterjee, Director, Chatterjee Cleaning Arts Services (P) Ltd.

“If we are talking about Green Seal products, it is a concept that has been developed abroad and consists of patented products which are expensive. Resultantly, one ends up paying more for the products than meeting the objective. Looking at it in a different perspective, to meet the prime objective of saving the environment, firstly one should not use chemicals that are not biodegradable or harmful to the environment; Secondly, one should ensure all disposable materials are disposed off in the right way.

“Every chemical we use is going to pollute the environment. If we cut down the use of chemicals, one can get closer to the objective. Let’s look at how to achieve this. The three common chemicals used by housekeepers are glass cleaner, floor cleaner and WC cleaner. A glass cleaner, which is a concoction of many chemicals, can be done away with totally. Many a time we use a chemical to clean glass when we actually don’t need one. It is common practice in a restaurant to spray a glass cleaner to wipe the table after every use. This only helps in cleaning fast enough for the next occupant to take the table.

“One has to realise that this same cleaning can be achieved at the same speed by simply spraying water and wiping the table with a microfibre cloth! The properties of microfibre meet the objective of Green Seal products. In short, you are doing green cleaning! It works out to be less expensive and saves on the cleaning bill. A simple calculation

“Further, microfibre has other properties: It kills 99% germs in normal use. It does not require chemicals and even when it is used with chemicals, it does not lose its vitality. But a cotton duster will get dirty in one use. In short, in the existing scenario one can look at avenues to adopt eco-friendly practices by cutting on the use of chemical, be it green or otherwise,”says Debtosh.

“Yes, in most cases, eco-friendly practices are most welcome,” agrees Prashant. “A microfibre cloth is long lasting, less contaminating, less water consuming, is degradable and thus less harmful to the environment. Moreover, it is cost effective.”

“But the results of advocating general eco-friendly practices are limited,” says Amit. “For example, we implemented the 5S in a hospital in Rajkot which was very well received and they adopted the practices as they saw the benefits of it. But, putting up a note in the washroom of a corporate office may not be well received. If I were to put a note “Use less tissues, Save Nature”, the result could be exactly the reverse. There have been instances of increased consumption after the note being put up in the washroom. Nowadays, everyone puts up awareness notes in places wherever possible but in many cases it’s just for the sake of putting.”

Training

A critical aspect in advocating standard or green cleaning practices is the ability of the janitor to understand the methods of using products the right way. More than 98% of the cleaning staff come with a very low educational background and depend heavily on training to perform even mundane tasks like using a mop or a wipe. Repeated training sessions are required to teach them the art of right dosage of chemicals to attain the required results. “Hence, a change in the product line calls for training of janitors again in the application of green products and thereby adding to costs,” says Prathibha.

We have innovations in hand that can take the industry towards a future that we want. We have to understand that the product’s uptake comes with the client’s understanding of not just today’s innovation but of tommorrow’s success.

Besides, it also calls for a major change in the mindset of the janitors, who commonly believe that a washroom floor has to be worked on thoroughly using the hardest of chemicals and the best of equipment which alone can remove grime, dirt, stains, etc. “Otherwise, they conclude that manual scrubbing is the only way to get the washroom clean. There is an inherent reluctance to accept eco-products which do not reflect the qualities of hard chemicals.

“The training for eco-products applications too differs – the dosage, dilution, frequency, standing time… are all different,” explains Prathibha.

“While the regular products are based on surface-contact & time, eco-products involve surface reaction-time which requires a lot of patience. For example, a urinal cube is claimed to be a product that does away with the need of any detergent or scrubbing of the urinal. It just needs flushing. Considering that it gives odour and also de-crystallises the uric acid deposits around the urinal bowl, takes a while to see to believe it. Convincing a client about trying the eco-cube in a washroom with high traffic is a difficult battle, especially when it comes to washrooms which have issues of bad odour, cleanliness and disinfection. The wait-and-watch concept of eco-products on any given day is a difficult proposal. Even if I were to suggest trying the product on a lean day, convincing clients is rather a slow process,” adds Pratibha

“Green cleaning is more an international concept and most MNCs in India go for green products as a global practice. Generally, Indian companies are not very keen on eco-friendly practices because of the cost factor.” – Amit singh.

Effectiveness of Green Products

Green products are definitely effective, agree most service providers. However, the quantum to be used and the dilution ratios are much higher than that of the regular chemicals. “Instead of a 10ml quantity, I would have to use 20ml in case of green chemicals. Being a neutral chemical, we may need to use a little more to clean better. But there is no doubt that green chemicals are effective and we have been using green products extensively,” says Prashant.

“Agreed that use of green products is an expensive proposition, but in the long run it is a sustainable solution. And, if green products are more affordably priced it would be an effective proposition in convincing clients to adopt green practices. I would always advocate the use of green products because it is a necessity for the survival of our future generation. India may not turn green in our life time but we have to initiate it now for our future generation,” emphasises Prashant.

Says Michael Ray, who is in the commercial janitorial supply business in the US, “I am confused why stamping something “green” increases cost – not just chemicals but everything! In some cases it makes sense. For instance a product is going to cost more if it is third-party certified (e.g. Green Seal). But supply and demand have lowered the cost of green chemicals in recent years. Think about Hydrogen peroxide. In 2002, only a very few manufacturers made the product. In 2009, I can’t think of any national manufacturer who doesn’t have at least one hydrogen peroxide based product in his line. So today, speaking commercially, we can usually provide green alternatives for many products without a real cost difference over traditional products.

“I do agree that some green alternatives are ineffective. For instance, I think zinc free floor finish is absurd. Everyone in the janitorial business knows that these coatings do not hold up as well as their zinc counterparts. So, is it more “green” to have to strip your floor every three to six months or put down a zinc product that can last for years? Having said that, green cleaning chemicals have come a long way in recent years. I find that poor choice of chemical (e.g. not understanding chemistry) or poor process (e.g. not enough dwell time) is usually the problem – not the product itself.”

“But, there are companies that have offered to match the price of green products with the existing one,” says Pratibha. “When I am dealing with region-based clients and prepared to extend the existing consumption levels even to green products at the same regional level, the cost of the product remains unaltered. But when it comes to servicing segment wise like premium clients, the cost would differ. In which case I would have to bear the expenses or put it on the client. It’s not a win-win situation either ways.”

“We too have heard of companies customising the eco-product to suit costs but so far no one has come forward with any proposal. We would definitely like to introduce such products for our ISO clients and match costs,” says Amit.

“As far as Caere goes, most of our clients are pan-India, with a centralised system and hence, the feasibility of implementing eco-friendly practices at such a scale has not been possible. If one decides to take the eco path, then it should be on a pan-India basis and not partly. I would prefer to go all out and that depends on the cost of the eco cleaning products at a pan India level,” Prathibha adds.

“If green products were more affordably priced, then clients too would take interest in initiating eco-practices at their offices and factories. In fact, they would be keener as green cleaning practices enhance the company’s value. Being an ISO certified company, we advocate eco-friendly practices at all our offices and encourage our clients too,” says Amit Singh.

Eric Van Wetering, Managing Consultant of the Netherlands based ThinkTankz, agrees that the price of green products are a bit higher. “With green products there is a need for more development, processing and the use of more expensive basic materials. Costs of which have to be recovered somewhere and hence the higher prices,” he explains.

In conclusion, the prime reason for the demand curve rising only marginally is the cost factor. But, which product is not determined by cost? If cost is the baseline of every other product, then why is it that cleaning products still remain the elephant in the room?

It is a pity that innovations in the cleaning technology and sustainable product line though are ready & reliable in increasing efficiency, the industry is buckling under the pressure of price. When Intel co-founder Gordon Moore stated that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits doubles every year, it became the guiding principle of the hi-tech industry. The Law predicted that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. Moore’s Law was much more than just physics. The application of Moore’s Law with the generational improvement in the innovations of cleaning technology, integrated to profitability, foresees a sustainable future. Cleaning products alone is being projected as defying market economics. One major detrimental factor is the notion created in the market today towards eco or green. Given the scope for price improvements, Green is being projected for a niche market and meant only for select consumers. This decisive note is being advertised by every other player in the industry so much that the product has lost traction.

We have innovations in hand that can take the industry towards a future that we want. We have to understand that the product’s uptake comes with the client understanding of not just today’s innovations but tomorrow’s success. Products have to be expressed in terms of innovation that are here today, what will come out of the R&D tomorrow and what the future will look like across the horizon. We are probably not getting this across to the client and we have to.

Sustainability as business today is a transformation made in the past business and in creating that transformative change in the future is big time business. The need thus is to negate the cost factor in the light of what you forsee as your client’s sustainable future.

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