All Those Years

Years of using non- organic industry products containing caustic chemicals. How else were you supposed to clean or degrease your facilities, production equipment and machinery? Those years may have added up to ... disease!
Let me back track a few steps. Or a few years, in this case.

Back in the nineteenth century, when the industrial revolution began to change the way we did business, industry managers were mostly concerned about getting their products made and on the market. Making money. Health and environmental issues were not even in the equation, much less whether a manufacturer was "organic" or not.

Flash Back to the Future

A future where anyone with any degree of awareness and sensibility is "going green." A time when employee health and a safe working environment are, more than ever, playing critical roles in the management of the manufacturing processes. And in becoming--overall--a truly organic industry. Even in times of recession, manufacturing leaders such as yourself cannot ignore industrial ecology. Believe it or not, it serves as a building block for your entire operations.

How healthy are your employees? What about your work spaces? Your break-rooms and cafeteria? What kind of toxic, invisible chemicals are present?
Your profit margin depends in part on having healthy employees... And while you can't control their environment when they're away from your facility, you can control it while they're on the job.

The cleaning products used to wash the floors, walls, furniture and equipment at your facility pose hidden health problems for them--and you! Hidden because it's the synthetic chemicals you can't see, that make up the cleaning products' ingredients, which pose the health problems. Those problems translate to health costs. Costs that can affect your bottom line.

Workplace Safety

If you were to revisit your budget worksheet, you would probably note that various line items devoted to security were planned for and included in the final budget. What's likely missing in the security budget, though, is environmental security. Ecosystem services or security.

Ambient air is obviously part of your facility's ecosystem. Residual films left by non- organic cleaning products also form an invisible part of that system. So making your facility's environment secure would require a closer look at the cleaning and polishing products your staff or contract service uses to do the cleaning and maintenance jobs.

The new "laws" of industrial supply, of organic industry, require that you devote a portion of your budget to health and safety issues in the workplace. For your labor force, your visitors, and not the least, your customers.

Whether you have a custodial and/or maintenance staff, or contract a service, they too must begin thinking in terms of organic industry products. Cleaning supplies, maintenance tools, equipment upkeep, production-line machinery degreasing or disinfecting--all fall within the domain of ecosystem services.

The Organic Industry Products Cycle

Becoming a part of an organic industry products cycle is relatively simple. Require your maintenance and custodial staff or contracted services to adhere to organic product guidelines. Guidelines that designate purchasing only products with organic and/or pesticide-free products. No toxic synthetic chemicals on the labels, no mysterious ingredients with names like "surfactant" or "optical brightener." Both contain chemicals known to be toxic to humans. Briefly, no hidden toxic ingredients whatsoever.

Manufacturers must begin producing products that have zero human health and environmental impact. Initially, it's almost technically impossible to do in today's profit-minded economy. It's going to take a lot of responsible management and labor leaders making long-needed changes. And a lot of rethinking and active participation in the Organic Cycle...

Organic Industry Products - They're Out There

It make take some online research to find the right organic industry products, but the time and effort you spend will be well worth it. Your employees will feel better at work. Their attitudes will improve as well because they know you care about them, about their health. And your profit margin will improve significantly with organic products...