Over the last few years, Initial South Africa has been on a journey to replace as many of the chemicals used in the business as possible with more environmentally friendly products.
In May this year, we took this one step further by introducing our Signature bio-enzyme soap that not only cleans your hands immediately (like traditional soap) but also creates a long-lasting, protective bacterial layer at the same time (unlike traditional soap).
We’ve written about cleaning with bacteria before, but just in case you missed it, here is a wrap up of our 5 top reasons to love bio-enzyme based soaps.
5 reasons to use bio-enzyme soaps
- Long-lasting protection from cross-contamination:When washing with traditional soap, hands are only clean for as long as it takes for you to touch a dirty surface. As soon as that happens, your hands are contaminated again, and if you touch your mouth, nose or eyes, you run the risk of getting sick. Not to mention passing the germs on to any other surface you – and then other – people may touch.
Initial’s Signature bio-enzyme soap uses “friendly” bacteria to colonise the hands and create an ongoing protective layer that prevents harmful bacteria, yeasts and moulds from multiplying and spreading. This protective barrier lasts for up to 5 hours after hands have been washed.
When you consider the number of surfaces that your hands touch every day and the fact that germs can stay alive on those surface for up to 48 hours, the idea of a protective layer is pretty appealing. - Bio-enzymes support your microbiome:Researchers have defined the human microbiome as “the genes of the 10 – 100 trillion symbiotic microbial cells harboured by each person, primarily in the gut” but also on the skin and in the mouth.
Dermatologists agree that the skin’s microbiome is vital not only for skin health but also for overall health. “A healthy microbiome can protect against skin infection by preventing the overgrowth of pathogenic organisms,” says Dr Patel. You can read more about your microbiome in our previous blog post.
Just like we should be supporting our gut health with a probiotic in the face of antibiotic treatment, we should be supporting the colonies of beneficial bacteria on our skin when we wash by using bio-enzyme products that target harmful bacteria but leave us with the good bacteria and the confidence that your “good” hygiene practices are supporting both your skin’s microbiome and your own general health and wellbeing. - Kinder to the environment:In addition to the long-lasting protective barrier they create on the hands, bio-soaps are better for the environment.
Unlike bleach-based cleaning products which have no residual effect and are thought to have a negative impact on the environment (bleach is formed from the organochlorine family of chemicals which are rarely found in nature and which can take centuries to decompose) the friendly “active” non-pathogenic bacteria contained in these products remain on surfaces and continue to work for days after the service is finished.
In addition to containing no harmful chemicals, the surfactants are plant-based and fully biodegradable, and the enzymes created by the bacteria are non-toxic, non-irritating, non-gaseous, non-flammable, non-pathogenic, non-hazardous, and completely biodegradable. The soaps are also Global Green Tag** certified. - A better product – at no additional cost:We firmly believe that for the reasons listed above, bio-enzyme based soaps are better – for our customers and the environment. And our customers get to experience these benefits at absolutely no additional cost. We’ve switched across from traditional soaps to our bio-enzyme based soaps without passing on any cost to our customers.
- Expanding our bio-enzyme range of products:As a business, we take health and safety extremely seriously and as a result, have moved away from the use of harsh cleaning chemicals in our business.
In a recent blog post The Dangers of Harsh Chemicals we discussed work-related asthma, as well as a host of other symptoms such as itchy skin, rashes, sore eyes and burns can all be traced back to one common denominator; cleaning products.
Our bio-enzyme soaps provide us with yet another safe, effective product to add to our stable of bio-enzyme based products.
Initial’s ablution hygiene treatment (AHT) uses environmentally friendly bio-preparations that contain bio-enzymes, as does our eco-cap urinal odour control product.
Initial’s FHU service uses an entirely green preparation – Sanitact Green – to disinfect and control odour within our FHu’s, and our cleaning products utilise biodegradable bio-enzymes in place of traditional harsh chemical cleaning agents. We are pleased to be able to add a hand-soap to this range. Find out more about Feminine Hygiene here.
Find out more about feminine hygiene**Global GreenTag certification is a globally trusted, independently certified, certification standard recognised in over 70 countries.
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