“Water normally does not work well to remove an oily soil or a greasy mess on the kitchen stove. A cleaning solution has to be fairly versatile and suitable for dealing with a variety of soils,” says Lokhandwala. At the same time, he is concerned over the various cleaning products available off the shelf these days. “There are little or no regulations in terms of the use of harmful ingredients in cleaning chemicals. Moreover, they come in attractive packages which do not often carry information about the ingredients. The users may be unaware of the dangers of frequently handling these chemicals. This results in exposure to harmful toxins that have negative effects on the planet.
Altret manufactures cleaning products under the brand name TrendsTM for professional applications. “We have three ranges of products – water treatment chemicals for boilers and cooling towers; combustion monitoring chemicals for solid and liquid fuels; and eco-friendly housekeeping chemicals. Housekeeping chemicals are cleaning chemicals like floor cleaners, hand wash, marble polish, dish wash, glass cleaner, room fresheners and lots more.”
Based out of Surat in Gujarat, Altret has at Bhuj its comprehensive production facility which follows stringent quality control norms with certification from ISO: 9001-2008 and WHO-GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) compliance. Says Lokhandwala, “Altret continues to peruse the most competent technologies through its R&D and has a unique position in the market due to its focus in many areas of cleaning application, including environmental management and sustainability.”
It is imperative that every cleaning product has with it the Material Safety datasheet, Chemicals Analysis certificate (which gives the product specification and its standard limits), Toxicological reports and Minimum Concentration of Inhibition (in order to identify biocidal action of the product at specific dosage). The key features of the products should include effective and economic cleaning for all applications.
“We operate pan India through our network of distributors. Our chemicals are supplied to housekeeping contractors, hospitals, schools, hotels, malls and temples to name a few. We deliberate upon product application training and water testing in order to ensure optimum results. Definitely this has increased awareness. People have become a lot more aware about what cleaning exactly means and how important it is to use good quality cleaning chemicals to ensure life of their facilities and hygiene for clients/ tourists/patients in different industries.”
As part of its corporate social responsibility, Altret played a vital role during the floods in Surat a few years back. “The scene after the floods was bad. Although the water had gone there was a lot of mud and dirt everywhere – rotten food, carcass – the government had sounded alert to prevent epidemics. We conducted free cleaning and provided a lot of free samples of all different kinds of cleaning chemicals and helped get life back to normal at Surat. Our team not only distributed free cleaning chemical samples but also engaged in educating the public about its usage in different households, hospitals, hotels and wherever possible.”
With increased awareness, growing market and growing competition, Altret is planning to expand and is in talks with a German company for a joint venture. “We are positive as far as our products are concerned and we are sure to have much more good clients using our chemicals.”