Marble Shine Services is happy to announce a successful application of an environmentally sound floor finish (SuperTop™ EP) in an educational facility dormitory setting.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) April 9, 2011 -- Marble Shine Services is happy to announce a successful application of an environmentally sound floor finish (SuperTop™ EP) in an educational facility dormitory setting.
Iowa Central Community College of Fort Dodge Iowa is proud to be the first educational facility to make use of these important products for the care of hard surface flooring. They will continue to look for ways to reduce their negative impact upon the environment and the health of their workers and students. (for full contact information please email me at wellnesssalt@yahoo.com – EP as the subject.

Product of Note - SuperTop EP: The introduction to SuperTop-EP came because the ICCC maintenance department was searching for a floor finish that would make it a reasonable task to keep the porcelain tile in common areas of the dormitories clean and looking good. All previous efforts to accomplish this goal had failed. I proposed the SuperTop-EP because it contains “a proprietary epoxy component uniquely formulated to deliver the hardness and wear resistance demanding customers with demanding environments are looking for”.
The following will detail the efforts of one company to make a difference. The Richard James Specialty Chemicals Corp.- RJSC. I am happy to have been a client of theirs for over 10 years.

"The term environmentally friendly is a widely used and poorly defined cliché'. RJSC cleansers & sealers and finishes have all three elements to qualify as "environmentally friendly".....

First is the absence of toxic compounds in RJSC products. Surprisingly many cleansers make you believe they are eco-safe by using the grapefruit extracted concentrate d-limonene [orange or lemon smell] that is actually quite toxic. It is first cousin to kerosene and is not biologically friendly at all. Its bio-half life is very long and it is amazingly toxic compared to many other cleaning agents. It gets good press value since it is extracted from grapefruit rinds. Look at some of the labels and warning about “orange” type cleansers- “If skin contact rinse with water for 15 minutes” sounds like a dangerous product to me!
Secondly, RJSC cleansers have short bio degradation time AND [very important] none of the degradation products are themselves toxic. RJSC’s StoneClean “104”, for instance, may have the shortest degradation time of any heavy duty degreaser. The chemistries of industrial cleansers are typically VERY high impact. StoneClean “104” is not only fast in environmental breakdown, it is also truly neutral pH and low toxicity, while at the same time unusually effective in capturing oils/grime and transferring it to the mop head to be rinse away in a bucket.

Another earth friendly spirited way it is crafted is the fact that is a salt free cleanser! Excess salts in our waterways are creating havoc with water treatment centers. (typical water softeners that use salt should be eliminated if possible) This means that being green “spirited” also means to consider whether a product is “drain friendly”!
Look at the label of ingredients and if sodium or potassium is in the names of the cleaning agents then are you really green in spirit or intent?
Third, and importantly, is the "free rinse-ability" of RJSC products. If a product leaves a scum on the floor it will also leave a scum on the environment it contacts. Many cleaners require multiple rinses whereas RJSC cleansers float free with the first rinse. (this also saves in labor time as well)

Soy derived cleansers leave behind residues that by definition provide food for fungal growth. This starts another important point to cover: the control of mold and mildew environmentally! Lawsuits and litigation experts agree that this is a “cash cow” of legal proportions. Problematic, is that often solutions to cleaning mold are also toxic in themselves, and that by definition add to the overall “problem” of mold concerns. A mouthful of words to say, “let us look at a different way to control mold.”
Safely removing mold without resorting to using any type of chloride chemical is key to protecting the environment of the drain and waterways. StoneClean™ Plus is an excellent product for the specific purpose of making surfaces resistant to discoloration, odor and degradation by microbial and fungal contamination. It breaks down the chitin shell of the fungal growth makes it a much safer way to remove mold/fungal growths. It also contains Vantocil IB for an FDA approved antimicrobial for food service use.

Many are fooled into believing that for such a nasty job you need nasty strong chemistry. Looking at the labels of such strong chemicals proves they are not good for the environment and also the end user. One such label says to avoid any skin contact and to flush your skin for 30 minutes if it comes in contact with your skin! A friend of mine uses such a cleanser in his cleaning and mold remediation service.
RJSC designs their sealers and cleansers with the specific thought of bio-half life and toxicology of all inclusions. Biodegradability of surfactants and de-foaming additives is a concern as these are usually not regulated except in the case of fluorocarbons and heavy metals. A famer friend of mine thinks that some agricultural chemical surfactants never really break down environmentally.

I think you will actually be shocked to find out how the combination of right chemistry and environmental safety can outperform ones that claim “Rules Green” / certified! Safely cleaning floor grouting without resorting to acids or strong pH cleansers is another way to test how well they clean! They are all safe for delicate substrates like polished marble as well.
The next area of concern being dealt with in the article is the chemistry of sealers/ finishes. Solvent borne coatings have been around for over a hundred years. Only recently did science come up with acrylic and polyurethane resins that were solvated in various hydrocarbon solvents to produce widely used coatings that are still applied today (albeit illegally in many states).

As air quality concerns elevated to new awareness in the 70’and 80’s, there was an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the vapors, inherent toxicity and flammability of solvent coatings. The letters “VOC” became a more recognizable standard to judge whether a coating was toxic and to which degree. VOC then became the newest regulatory datum.

RJSC was the FIRST manufacturer (1992) in floor coatings/treatments to open its business exclusively with waterborne coating and sealers. Since that year they have developed a host of other products for virtually every kind of flooring/ substrate! They have a menu of at least 9 industry standards to measure their coatings. They consistently meet or beat solvent systems in virtually every performance dimension!! This is especially true for abrasion resistance, flexibility, tensile strength and of course flammability.

Among the first products introduced by RJSC in the early 90’s was StoneLok™ “MLT Plus”. The first big application was in 1993 at Penn Station in NYC (with traffic of 500,000 people a day). It was selected because it was the only product MTA management could find that met their stringent air quality tests. It saved them several thousand dollars that would have been spent venting the fumes from this 24- hr/day facility.
The flamed granite is still easily cleanable to this day. StoneLok™ sealers are now specified for installations from museums, hotels, retail spaces, and finer homes.
The real spirit of “Green” is much more complex than the current idol of VOC, or volatile organic content. Most resin systems other than 100% epoxy need some solvents to gain required performance. Most state VOC requirements are generally in the low 200 g/liter level but there are several areas where 100 is the max and we can only see this trend being amplified lower.

Low Impact Green in Spirit (Low Environmental Impact) must therefore consider appropriate VOC for air quality, PLUS low bio-toxicity, low contact irritation and fast bio-degradation.
Small amounts of solvents are found in almost all sealers including waterborne products. Many pose no air quality threat and are low in toxicity. Some solvents are higher in impact. Ethyl-group glycol ethers (butoxy ethanol) are used in waterborne coating, and “EB” was the solvent in original Windex and 409. This chemistry is metabolized in the body with some by-product liver retention.
RJSC uses Glycol Ether Acetate that has a safety rating of “1” (safe) without DOT toxic shipping. Glycol Ether Acetate is generally metabolized and passed thru the body with no retention.

It is interesting to note that they did a job for The National Bureau of Technology and Standard (nuclear lab). They had to demonstrate the uniquely “safe” catalyst chemistry. The officer was totally unconcerned with the Glycol Ether Acetate. The product was also cleared for use by an equally stringent safety officer for a major airplane manufacturer.
RJSC has not undertaken the time and expense to gain “Green Rules” for their sealers since when the coating system is cured, it is chemically inert and therefore does not emit, exchange or degrade into biologically hostile chemistries. Also, unlike high- and petroleum- solvent sealers that emit “volatiles” for months, RJSC sealers emit the low-level biologically acceptable propisols only until full cure (usually four days).

As chemically inert system, they do not provide nutritional basis for microbial growth, and with its overall chemical resistance, it can be cleaned with a variety of microbial cleansers!
This sort evaluation of being “Green Spirited” as opposed to being “Green Rules” shows that it is what a company does, not what it says, and pays to have advertised that matters most! RJSC rarely advertises and for that reason sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of big business contracts and deals. It is the hotel GM, building manager, janitorial supervisor/owner that truly want

More information can be found online at http://www.wellnesswaterandsalt.com

college floor care     environmentally friendly     floor finish     low v.o.c.     no off gasing     no stripping     StoneClean Concentrates     SuperTop EP