Great News on the Green Cleaning Front

The Green Cleaning movement is embracing innovative solutions that will continue to minimize cleaning's impact on the environment, cleaning workers, and building occupants, while enhancing cleaning efficiency. These innovations will use advanced technologies and new materials to enhance training, cleaning, product packaging, and ensure end-customer satisfaction.

Here are some things evolving now and to look forward to in the future:

Augmented Reality Technology

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that enhances our perception of the real world by overlaying digital information onto it - all in real time. AR can be experienced through various devices, including smartphones, tablets, AR glasses, and headsets. These devices have cameras, sensors, and displays to blend digital content with the real world.

You've probably already used AR before and not known it. Have you ever gone online and considered purchasing a chair for your living room? With AR technology and a smartphone, you can see the chair as it would look in your living room, try different colors, and move it around. That's how AR is used in sales.

In professional cleaning, AR can guide cleaning workers through cleaning procedures, highlighting correct techniques and how to avoid common mistakes. This technology even simulates various scenarios, such as spill clean-ups or hazardous material handling, enabling staff to prepare for and deal with real-life situations.

Moreover, AR can be continuously updated, ensuring employees can access the latest guides and procedures. To help protect the environment, AR offers remote training, reducing travel-related carbon emissions.

Green Cleaning with Robotics

Robotics are transforming the cleaning industry by automating repetitive and labor-intensive tasks. Robotic cleaners, such as autonomous vacuums and floor scrubbers, are already common. Doing these tasks manually can negatively impact the health of cleaning workers, which Green Cleaning is focused on eliminating. These machines operate with high precision and consistency, ensuring thorough cleaning while freeing employees for more complex tasks.

Robotic cleaners with sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) navigate complex environments and avoid obstacles. They can adjust their cleaning methods to different surfaces. Future innovations will include robots with arms capable of performing multiple cleaning tasks.

Robotics optimizes cleaning and reduces waste. It helps ensure proper dilution ratios and allows cleaning during off-peak hours to help reduce energy costs.

Demand-based Cleaning with Sensors

Demand-based cleaning technologies use real-time data rather than fixed schedules to trigger cleaning activities. It reduces resource consumption by eliminating unnecessary cleaning actions. And with the use of IoT-enabled systems, cleaning crews know when restroom dispensers need refilling, improving the restroom user experience and eliminating unnecessary tasks for cleaning workers. These systems also signal when preventive maintenance is needed, alerting facility managers to potential issues before they become problems and extending the lifespan of cleaning equipment.

Film Pouches Replacing Plastic

Cleaning products have traditionally come in rigid plastic bottles, leading to high material usage and transportation inefficiencies. Multi-layer film pouches present a promising alternative. These flexible pouches require significantly less material to manufacture. Their lightweight nature leads to lower transportation costs and reduced carbon emissions.

Multi-layer film pouches have built-in barriers that protect against moisture and oxygen. Constructed of biodegradable and compostable films, they offer eco-friendly disposal options. Refill systems using these pouches encourage consumers to reuse rigid containers, reducing waste.

This innovative shift in packaging minimizes environmental impact and appeals to eco-conscious consumers. Future innovations will eliminate packaging by producing cleaning chemicals on-site.

Final Thoughts 

I’ve never been so excited about the future of Green Cleaning.  An entire new era is opening.  And just as Green Cleaning changed our industry 25 years ago, the advances discussed here will change our industry once again, potentially even more profoundly.

Stephen P. Ashkin, founder of The Ashkin Group, is the Father of Green Cleaning and the professional cleaning industry’s leading advocate for sustainability. The Ashkin Group, LLC, is an internationally recognized consulting firm working to Green the professional cleaning industry.