The majority of industrial and institutional facilities are expecting an upturn now that COVID-19 is under control in the United States, according to a recently released, structured survey by Kline.
Nearly 83% of respondents foresee a return to pre-pandemic business operations by the second half of this year or the first part of 2022, largely due to a drop in coronavirus cases, wide distribution of the vaccine, and lifting of lockdowns; some 45% had said that COVID-19 had a negative impact on their business overall. A total of 750 I&I facilities were polled.
Meanwhile, some of the changes end users made to their cleaning procedures, and some trends that were prevalent before the pandemic, are taking on secondary importance. For example, 32.2% of end users indicate that as part of COVID adjustments, they switched from environmentally friendly cleaning products to stronger, chemical-based products; now, however, when asked which factors are most important when deciding which cleaning products to purchase, 49.7% indicated that the product’s environmental friendliness/green/sustainable ingredients are extensively important in their purchase decisions.
The green trend is expected to continue ― given the increase in regulations on single-use plastics that are being implemented across many states on retailers. Moreover, in education, lodging, and restaurants, end users will be focused on reusing, recycling, and using more natural cleaning ingredients in their facilities. Also, with the halo effect from consumers’ focus on living greener lifestyles with less impact on the environment, we expect that the need for green cleaning products and sustainable professional cleaning processes and products will be a crucial trend for the industry in the coming years.
The topic of Sustainable Cleaning will be analyzed in Kline’s upcoming report as part of our KlinePULSE Industrial & Institutional Cleaning Industry Trends: U.S. Annual Subscription Service. The report is due to be published later this month and will provide an estimate of sales of professional green cleaning products, a five-year forecast, and analysis of the leading suppliers and brands in this space. For more information, contact us.
