Clean Conscience had a great time with over 600 Colorado dog lovers that rallied to fight canine cancer on Sunday, August 21, at the Morris Animal Foundation K9 Cancer Walk at Denver’s beautiful City Park. The walk is part of a national effort to help our best friends live longer, healthier, cancer-free lives. This year, Denver raised nearly $40,000!
Glad we could participate and support the Morris Animal Foundation with this great event. Please follow the link if you are interested in learning more or making a donation
When walking around in Whole Foods or Sunflower Market one will come across a selection of great home cleaning products: Method, Seventh Generation, Simple Green, etc. These products work great and some even come in biodegradable containers! It is amazing how far things have come in the last 15 years in terms of the available selection of non-toxic cleaning products. Gone are the days of your home smelling like lemons and Christmas trees!
While the standard versions of these products are great, it’s a good idea to always search for the concentrated versions of the products when you are able to. The most prevalent example of this is concentrated laundry detergents. Below are three benefits of switching over to concentrated products (using laundry detergent as an example).
Transportation – concentrated laundry detergent comes in smaller containers when compared to non-concentrated laundry detergent. The bottles are going to be shipped all over the world; smaller bottles equal less weight and less space required on trucks. The end result of this is less gas used in the transportation process.
Resource Use – the amount of material required for the containers is reduced due to the smaller size of the containers. Less water is used in the detergent production process because the detergent is ‘thicker’ in its concentrated form.
Cost Savings – the savings (due to minimized transportation and resources costs) are passed along to the consumer. Cheaper and more efficient… sign me up!
Although these benefits seem small when viewed on the individual level, the benefits really add up when applied on a large scale.
The three benefits above hold true beyond laundry detergents. At Clean Conscience we use only concentrated cleaning solutions with reusable bottles and containers. Along with being non-toxic, our system is highly efficient and results in minimal waste over the product life-cycle. We think that our concentrated cleaning system is great and we hope that you will too!
Earlier this month, LED lighting company Cree debuted their newest prototype LED lamp. This latest iteration achieved over 1,300 lumens at 152 lumens per watt. As an efficiency comparison, a traditional 75-watt incandescent light bulb produces 1,100 lumens at only 14.6 lumens per watt. Cree claims that “full deployment of lighting this efficient could reduce U.S. energy consumption by 16.5%, equivalent to 1987 levels.”
No ordinary light bulb! Source: creeledrevolution.com
At Clean Conscience we get excited about new products and processes that allow us to do more while using less natural resources and reducing harmful impacts on the environment. Whether it’s at work using the PortionPac cleaning system that reduces the use of harmful chemicals and precious fresh water supplies while delivering a superior clean; or at home using efficient lighting solutions to reduce electricity usage while not sacrificing lighting quality or output. It all comes down to a comprehensive approach to achieve a healthy, fulfilling and sustainable lifestyle.
The 21st century LED lamp prototype benefits from technology developed under Department of Energy (DOE) funded contracts, which are part of Cree’s ongoing collaboration with DOE through projects such as the Bright Tomorrow L Prize competition and the 21st Century Lamp competition to advance the successful adoption of energy-saving solid-state lighting.
Check out the video below to learn more about the new 21st century LED Lamp and see it in action:
[youtube rWx_2fqhzOQ CreeInc YouTube video]
To learn more about low energy lighting systems, check out Cree LED Revolution to see more of their cutting edge products in action.
Petroleum distillates, ammonia, sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid. What do these chemicals have in common? Not only do they have tongue twisting names, all of these chemicals, and more, are serious skin harming substances. Common ingredients in many household cleaners, these chemicals can do major damage if they come into contact with skin, and can cause chemical burns and rashes (not to mention a host of respiratory, eye and other bodily irritation).
Most chemical burns in the home occur accidentally, from cleaning, spilling or coming into contact with household cleaners on surfaces unknowingly. Usually on the face, eyes, arms and legs, the exact symptoms of a chemical burn depend on the chemical involved, and a chemical burn or rash will develop in the location where the chemical touched the skin. It may appear simply as a red area on the skin or may blister if more severe. The skin may peel or break out in hives, may feel sore or itch and may become very painful, either immediately or a few hours after the initial exposure.
In addition, chemical burns can be deceiving. Not only can topical skin damage occur, chemicals absorbed through the skin can cause greater damage to internal organs and tissues which are not readily apparent when you first look at the burn.
So how do you protect your skin from exposure to these harsh substances? First and foremost, eliminating them from the home is the best place to start. If you do keep chemicals in the home, storing them in a secure, locked cabinet is advised to prevent accidents and contact with children and pets. Replacing conventional cleaners with non-toxic, safe cleaners is recommended, and choosing eco-friendly and ‘green’ cleaning services instead of conventional is your best bet to reduce exposure to chemicals inside of the home.
If you have experienced a burn, make sure you take care of it immediately. First aid should be given immediately after a chemical burn occurs. All traces of the chemical should be removed from the surface of the skin and any clothing or jewelry that came in contact with the chemical should also be removed. The burned skin should be rinsed in cool water for 15 to 20 minutes.
If the burn is severe, showing signs of blistering or tissue damage, the individual should report to a hospital. At the hospital, the doctor will want to know what caused the burn and what first aid has been applied. The doctor may clean the wound and apply an appropriate neutralizing substance. She may also cover the burn with a protective dressing and apply a topical antibiotic cream to stave off any secondary infections.
Once all immediate danger has passed and you have completed basic first aid, call your doctor to review your injury and the chemical involved to make sure you need no further emergency treatment. Remember – any chemical burn can be a legitimate reason to summon emergency medical help. Always err on the side of safety and call 911 if you don’t know the severity of the injury, medical stability of the person injured, or if you have any concerns about a chemical injury.
Not sure how to treat a chemical burn? WebMD can answer some of your basic questions. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/chemical-burns
Most of our clients consider their pet a member of the family. At Clean Conscience, we completely understand and treat pets as if they were our customer too! Our cleaning crew enjoys working in homes with pets; they often have great stories about the cats and dogs they meet at client homes. Anyone who has ever owned a pet knows the challenges faced in keeping your house clean. As an owner of a yellow lab, I can relate to the mess our furry friends leave behind – dog hair, slobber, chewed up sticks, toys – the list goes on! At Clean Conscience, we not only concern ourselves with these cleaning challenges, but our crew also needs to know how to enter a home with a pet and work around their space.
We are always looking for additional training opportunities for our employees to drive continued learning. Given our pet friendly culture at Clean Conscience, and the large percentage of customers that own a pet, we thought it would be great to offer pet training to our cleaning crews.
As part of its ongoing commitment to keep pets and people safe, Bark Busters, the world’s largest dog training company, offered their world renown Dog Safety Program™ to the Clean Conscience team. Bark Busters’ dog behavioral therapist, provided our cleaning crews with dog safety and bite prevention tips while helping them understand how to communicate more effectively with dogs by using voice control and body language. This training helps employees who encounter dogs as part of their daily work routines to:
Understand how to safely enter an area where dogs are present
Recognize the signs of aggression in dogs
Recognize and apply canine communication techniques
Learn techniques to avoid dog attacks
Thanks Bark Busters, we appreciate it and our clients furry friends appreciate it!
I was speaking with one of our customers a little while ago who shared a humorous experience with me. Another cleaning service came into his come and wiped down everything with a single smelly rag. Needless to say everything was less than clean afterwards. This used to be a somewhat common problem until the creation of microfiber.
Microfiber is a combination of two basic fibers that when formed together properly create a series of extremely small fibers; so many that 200,000 cover a square inch! The shape of the fiber is unique and results in a dramatically higher surface area than a normal fiber material (think about trying to brush dirt around with a rake versus a broom). When applied to cleaning, microfiber is without question the superior cloth. I hope you find this to be as exciting as we do (please note the mesmerizing microfiber diagram below)!
There are many health and environmental benefits stemming from the use of microfiber during the cleaning process. Microfiber is a hypoallergenic material that is easily cleaned between uses – thus eliminating the possibility of bringing external allergens into your home. Another benefit is that the material is roughly 4x as effective as a standard cloth. This means that not only will it clean better, but the cloth itself will have a smaller environmental footprint due to the reduced amount of water required to launder the material. Adding to the environmental benefit is the increased life of microfiber material when compared to a standard cloth; longer life equates to less resources used to create cloths!
Glad we could participate and support the Morris Animal Foundation with this great event. Please follow the link if you are interested in learning more or making a donation
