Clean, naturally
Business, environment not incompatible, Mequon company finds
By JULIE LARRIVEE - GM Today Correspondent
MEQUON - Environmentally Sensitive Solutions, Inc. (ESS) of Mequon hopes to make the world a cleaner, safer place.
"Our mission is to increase public awareness of what true environmentally friendly cleaning products are and to make people aware that cleaning can be done with more finesse and less brute force," says Matt Pliszka, ESS technical service representative.
The company recently received a 2004 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Environmental Performance. ESS was the only small company to be recognized. The other seven recipients were large corporations.
Two important factors helped ESS earn the Governor’s Award: company products have helped reduce by 83 million pounds the amount of hazardous materials and waste emitted by their client’s businesses since 1997; and ESS has significantly reduced or eliminated costs of wastewater treatment and/or disposal for their customers.
In the process of manufacturing, Pliszka explains, the part or piece being fabricated must be cleaned before it can go on to the next step. This process cleaning means that the part is cleaned several times before it is finished. The existing products used to clean away things like lubricants, processing aids and buffing or drawing compounds were solvents that were highly alkaline, caustic cleaners.
"Our products have a neutral ph - the same as water," he notes. "They will not burn people’s skin. They aren’t corrosive to the metals being cleaned and they aren’t hazardous."
Manufacturing companies were somewhat skeptical about the products - until ESS proved that their products work and that they save the customers money.
"Most people these days are passive environmentalists," Pliszka says. "What we had to show them was that they could save money by reducing the amount of wastewater and by reducing the costs of industrial accidents. Their equipment maintenance costs are lower and there are fewer rejected parts because the parts get cleaner with our products."
The company wants to retain its small size - employees are "hands-on, multitaskers," according to Pliszka - as they branch out into consumer products. The first offering, a dishwasher detergent, will be available this fall once the naming and labeling process is completed.
"In industrial cleaning, the whole purpose is to clean without human touch," Pliszka explains. "That’s exactly what your dishwasher does. Right now, there’s no real gentle cleaner out there. What is available is harsh. The purpose of the cleaner is to ‘chew’ the soil off. They are caustic and attack both the soil and the surface.
"Our cleaner uses a ‘spatula effect’ where it works under the debris and lifts it off with no harm to the surface. So, you’ll be able to put your fine china, crystal and pots and pans in the dishwasher without damaging them."
More information about Environmentally Sensitive Solution can be found at www.neutralsolution.com.
This story appeared in the News Graphic on May 10, 2004.
