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OctoClean has begun to transition its cleaning services to “green cleaning”  - using cleaning products that are friendly to the environment.   So anytime I see something from a company making an effort to do the same, I am interested to learn more  (I must confess I am a closet tree hugger).

I teach science once a week at All Saints’ Carden Academy, Riverside. This month we are focusing on the Earth in honor of Earth Day on the 22nd of April.  One of the first graders brought me a SunChips bag that stated by Earth day 2010  all their chip bags will be the totally compostable !  You can visit their website (www.sunchips.com).  The site has a time lapse video and other information on their effects to preserving our earth.  Kudos to Sun Chips!

Dan Bernstein, a columnist with the Inland Empire’s Press Enterprise, wrote a humorous piece about America’s preference for fluffy toilet paper AKA “Fluffy”.

But fluffiness comes at a price: millions of trees harvested in North America and in Latin American countries. Although toilet tissue can be made at similar cost from recycled material, it is the fiber taken from standing trees that help give it that plush feel, and most large manufacturers rely on them.

Customers “demand soft and comfortable,” said James Malone, a spokesman for Georgia-Pacific, the maker of Quilted Northern. “Recycled fiber cannot do it.”

In the United States, which is the largest market worldwide for toilet paper, tissue from 100 percent recycled fibers makes up less than 2 percent of sales for at-home use among conventional and premium brands.

Now, I have used recycled toilet paper–it not that bad.  And it is not recycled recycled toilet paper.

Toilet tissue made from recycled paper is made from both colored and white stock, with staples and pins removed. The paper goes into a huge vat called a pulper that combines it with hot water and detergents to turn it into a liquid slurry. The recycled pulp then goes through a series of screens and rinses to remove paper coatings and inks. The pulp is whitened somewhat and sanitized with oxygen-based products like peroxide. It then goes through steps 7 through 10 like virgin paper products, producing a cheaper, less-white paper.

Consider saving the forests of the world for future generations and give the up the 3 seconds of comfort fluffy gives us.

I was on CMM on-line today and ran across a post on the bulletin board called “Franchise Cleaning Companies Can’t Clean”  http://cmmonline.com/detail.asp?Parent_ID=138542#138542 . I have to say that this raised the hair on the back of my neck! I hear this from employee run companies all the time. As a matter of fact when we were an employee run company I often said the same thing.

When Service Pros chose to become OctoClean and offer franchises to the public it became my life’s work to ensure we did not become like the “others”. There is truth in the comments being made in this post but it is also true that employee run companies especially small family owned ones give away the farm while promising the world. As I posted on the bulletin board there is a formula for success. It does not matter if you are a franchise or an employee driven company, if you fail it is because you have forgotten a piece of the formula.

Franchise vs. Employees

Employees working in a facility are only as good as the training, support and philosophy driving them. The same is true of franchise owners. The difference is to truly create consistency in cleaning systems you need consistent staffing. Employees come and go and often it is GO! When you find a great employee you cannot pay them what they deserve so they leave. In most companies the culture then becomes hire low and cap low. That equals inconsistent staffing. Franchise Owners on the other hand are well trained, well paid, committed business owners.   We are partners with successful, like minded business owners. I think it is a no brainer. For those people that have heard this “pitch” before from another franchise company consider that marketing is their core competence not cleaning.

All BSC’s need to take inventory of themselves and not place judgements. Personally I look at The Big 3 as an opportunity to transform the janitorial industry one “true” franchise owner at a time.

I was honored to be at the Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards in November where Charles won the Innovator Award.  Many people spoke that evening with “their” story of success.  One of those happened to be our family when we were honored in our Family Business division.

None were more inspirational than what Charles had to say - “Follow your dreams!”

He may not be with us on earth but hear his words and follow your dreams whatever they may be.  Our thought are with his family and friends.  It is our wish his business continues to thrive in his absence.