| I have always been quite interested in | | | | added advantage of having good detergency, |
| environmentally friendly cleaning, having worked as an | | | | meaning it is effective in loosening soil for the |
| industrial chemist for 8 years and latterly as a carpet | | | | removal by the extraction equipment. |
| cleaner for 25. | | | | The solution is sprayed onto the carpet, agitated |
| A greener way of cleaning carpets grew out of this | | | | using a brush machine to release dirt and other soils |
| and suppliers becoming more aware of the sales | | | | and then extracted with a rinsing solution containing |
| opportunities, meant that better products became | | | | almost nothing but water. There is a small amount of |
| available. | | | | surfactant to make the water wetter and a ph |
| It is quite possible to achieve excellent cleaning | | | | balancer to restore your carpet to a neutral pH. |
| results using a green approach. | | | | The water can either be hot or cooler, even cold if |
| How you may ask? | | | | the customer prefers this approach, the lesser |
| Well first and foremost is the use of much less | | | | cleaning effect of cold water being made up by more |
| cleaning chemical, meaning less pollution and less | | | | agitation and dwell time. |
| chemical left in your carpet. These cleaning solutions | | | | The equipment used would be a hot water |
| must also be mild, pH balanced and easily rinseable. | | | | extraction machine with powerful pumps and |
| Secondly the equipment used to clean must be | | | | vacuums, meaning you the customer gets a very |
| efficient and effective so that good results can be | | | | thorough clean and the carpet is left only damp and |
| achieved at a low carbon cost. | | | | quickly dries naturally. |
| So how is this achieved? | | | | Sofas and other upholstery can also be very |
| There are several different green carpet cleaning | | | | effectively cleaned using this method. |
| chemicals available to the discerning carpet cleaner, | | | | I have achieved excellent results using this approach |
| my favourite is the sodium salt sodium | | | | and the cleaning environment is much healthier for all |
| tripolyphosphate. Now this might sound like a chemical | | | | concerned as there are no perfumes, optical |
| nasty but is in fact a regular ingredient in food and | | | | brighteners, bleaches or hydrocarbon solvents. |
| other related products like tooth paste. It has the | | | | |