Green Care Professional’s innovative Switch system has been nominated for the industry-renowned Amsterdam Innovation Award in the category ‘Sustainability & Environment’. The award will be presented in May 2024 at Interclean Amsterdam, the world’s largest trade fair for professional cleaning. For many years, the Amsterdam Innovation Award has been granted for the most innovative product, service or solution in the cleaning and hygiene industry in four different categories.

In the ‘Sustainability and Environment’ category, awards are given to innovations that focus on corporate social responsibility, sustainability and/or environmentally friendly improvements, like reducing waste, using biodegradable resources or products or solutions that decrease the ecological footprint of the product/solution or even the industry itself.

The innovative Switch System combines efficient and safe dosing without additional equipment with the advantages of sustainable and cost-effective refilling. Ultra-concentrated formulations are available for four different application areas that meet the highest sustainability requirements.

With the development and launch of Switch, Werner & Mertz Professional has taken another step towards a green future for the professional cleaning industry.

Clever dosing is kind to the environment. Effective immediately, the innovative Switch System is available to customers of Tana-Chemie GmbH, the Professional Division of Werner & Mertz. With the motto “It’s time to switch,“ the Mainz specialists for professional cleaning once again focus on convenient use and the circular economy. Switch is the next step toward a sustainable future in professional building cleaning. 

At the core of the Switch System are ultra-concentrated formulations in practical, economical packaging intelligently designed to minimise resource consumption and reduce CO₂ emissions. Every Switch bottle is equipped with a dosing cap that dispenses exactly the amount of cleaning agent needed for each use. When the bottle is empty, it can be refilled easily with the material-conserving, recyclable refill pouch. 

“In our new Switch System with ultra-concentrated products, smart dosing bottle and refill pouch of a monomaterial, we combine all components of a high-performance and circular solution,” says Thomas Ulbricht, Managing Director of the Professional Division of Werner & Mertz GmbH. “Switch stands not only for efficiency and safety, but also for responsible handling of our environment. Once again we show that user-friendly, economical products go hand-in-hand with sustainability in professional building cleaning too.”

Convincingly effective for the entire industry, not just for niche markets

The Switch System covers a wide variety of application areas. For example, there’s TANET uniSwitch for surface cleaning, TAWIP vioSwitch for floor cleaning and maintenance, SANET inoSwitch for sanitary cleaning and GREASE topSwitch for kitchen cleaning.

With each of its three components, the new Switch System reaches its clearly stated aim of combining practical use with ecological features.

• Ultra-concentrated formulations
  It takes only 5 millilitres of concentrate in 4 litres of water to achieve efficient cleaning action. It is possible to produce 800 litres of cleaning solution with a single Switch dosing bottle. The high yield has practical advantages for cleaning companies as they significantly reduce the costs for storage of cleaning product inventory and actively contribute to resource conservation. Furthermore, formulations in the Switch System bear the EU-Ecolabel.
• Bottle with dosing cap
  Users benefit from the integrated dosing cap in several ways. The intermediate step of measuring the product is eliminated and the risk of overdosing or making direct contact with the concentrated cleaning agent is minimised. In addition, no extra expense is incurred for separate dosing accessories. The screw top guarantees simple opening and closing. Bottle and cap are made completely of recycled PP and PE plastic (post-consumer recyclate) and are fully recyclable.
• Refill pouch
  In the Switch System the dosing bottle can always be refilled 1:1 with the pouch. The especially cost-efficient pouch, compared to an empty 1-litre bottle, reduces packaging volume by 85 percent. The lightweight, space-saving pouches reduce the amount of plastic used by 65 percent. As they are made of a monomaterial, the pouches are completely recyclable. The respected Cradle-to-Cradle Institute has certified the pouch’s circularity with the Gold standard.  

Sustainability: The facts speak for themselves.

Because the formulations and packaging of the new Switch System consistently follow circular economy principles, users have enormous potential for environmental and climate protection and resource conservation. The numbers speak for themselves. By changing to the new Switch system, a company that uses 10,000 litres of cleaning agents per year can avoid 39 tonnes of CO₂ emissions, 12 tons of crude oil and three tons of plastic.

Even before the market launch, the Switch System was nominated for the coveted Purus Innovation Award in the Cleaning Products category. The award honors innovative performance in the cleaning industry and recognizes products, tools and systems that impress with high application quality and outstanding overall design.    

“We are proud to have developed a product system that advances the circular economy and resource conservation without compromising on performance and quality,“ says Torsten Haas, Packaging Developer at Werner & Mertz. “Switch is forward-looking both functionally and ecologically. We are convinced this is how the green future of the cleaning industry can and must look like.”

Tana-Chemie is presenting its next innovation at the CMS Trade Fair in Berlin. With SANET extreme, the most powerful sustainable sanitary high-performance cleaner, Green Care Professional is setting new standards in sanitary cleaning. “We are proud of the achievements in our own development department. We were able to set a milestone in combining performance and sustainability with SANET extreme. Awarded the EU Ecolabel, we are not only comparably strong to one of the strongest non-sustainable competitor products in lime solution, but also outperform it in lime soap removal. Tests show we are almost twice as fast,” reports Bianca Nerowski, Head of Product Management Tana-Chemie.

Highest cleaning performance

Its unique formulation based on methanesulfonic acid and lactic acid enables highest cleaning performance and yet SANET extreme is completely biodegradable.

The performance tests conducted by an independent institute confirm internal results: SANET extreme has been proven to achieve the best limescale dissolution values. It even performs significantly better than sustainable competitor products. Of course, the sanitary high-performance cleaner is EU Ecolabel certified.

Does not compromise on performance and sustainability: SANET extreme. © Tana-Chemie GmbH

Economical and time saving

SANET extreme effortlessly and extremely quickly removes all typical soiling and incrustations in the sanitary area, such as lime soap residues, urine scale, cosmetic residues or rust. The fact that SANET extreme works faster against lime soap than competitive products on the market has also been proven by an independent institute. The effective and residue-free removal of mineral and organic soiling achieves a natural easy-to-clean effect, with water consistently beading off sanitary objects, fittings and surfaces. The sanitary surfaces shine without reworking.

Sustainable and value-preserving

Thanks to its gentle formulation, SANET extreme helps to preserve the value of typical sanitary fixtures such as chrome fittings, ceramic tiles and porcelain objects. Sustainably designed, 58% of the organic carbon in SANET extreme comes from plant-based, regenerative sources.

With SANET extreme, the innovative sanitary high-performance cleaner and descaler, Green Care Professional once again proves that sustainability and maximum cleaning power are not a contradiction in terms.

Lime soap removal: Faster than sustainable and non-sustainable products, SANET removes extreme lime soap stains in test based on IKW method for quality recommendation for bathroom cleaners. © Tana-Chemie GmbH

Saubermacher Outsourcing GmbH relies on Green Care Professional products from the cleaning products manufacturer Werner & Mertz Professional.

Erika Marko, Commercial Managaing Director at Saubermacher Outsourcing GmbH, has been responsible for the entire Facility Services business in Austria since the company’s founding. Today more than 350 staff members are employeed and an area equal to more than 5000 square kilometers is cleaned every year.  

Where cleaning and hygiene products are concerned, Ms. Marko has put her trust in Werner & Mertz Professional Vertriebs GmbH from the very start. Sustainability is in the DNA of Saubermacher Outsourcing whose parent company, Saubermacher Dienstleistungs GmbH, is the world’s most sustainable waste management company, according to a GRESB rating.    

“What we do today
determines how the world
looks tomorrow.“  

Erika Marko
Commercial Managing Director

©Werner & Mertz Professional Vertriebs GmbH

In the cooperation with Werner & Mertz, Ms. Marko appreciates the problem-solving skills of the sales rep responsible for her and his understanding of the needs and requirements of her building managers. Besides the sustainability factors, she says the innovations from Werner & Mertz are so important because they give her, as a customer, an advantage over the competition. 

Particularly in the tendering business, environmental issues are being prioritized, says Ms. Marko, especially with regard to cleaning products. Saubermacher Outsourcing works according to its own guideline, which explicitly points to the use of sustainable Green Care Professional products. The Green Care Performance Calculator Certificate (for resource saving) from Werner & Mertz Professional serves as proof the the company’s environmental awareness. The certificate shows how much CO₂, plastic and crude oil Saubermacher Outsourcing has avoided to date by using Green Care Professional products. It also estimates future savings in the buildings involved in the tender – for an environment that’s worth living in.   

For Saubermacher Outsourcing, the Quick & Easy system is a top favorite for cost monitoring. Thanks to simple use and low dosing, the system keeps operations within budget. The dosing systems for the different cleaning areas, such as kitchen or laundry, also contribute positively to cost reduction. 

©Werner & Mertz Professional Vertriebs GmbH

Erika Marko is impressed by the outstanding cleaning performance and efficiency of Green Care products.  

Saubermacher Outsourcing –
Green Care Professional

Arguments against climate fraud

Many arguments can be made against the creative accounting used in tree-planting projects. Since mid-October, those arguments can be read on the Website of the Circular Success campaign from Werner & Mertz Professional. There the Mainz eco pioneer lists the same valid objections to reforestation raised by many climate protectionists. Among them are the shady business practices of numerous carbon offsetting agencies, including problematic double-accounting of CO2 avoidance and untrustworthy calculation methods for absorbed greenhouse gas.

“Reforestation is fundamentally a good thing. Natural forests are the best climate protection,“ says Ulbricht. “That is true only when companies do not use it to buy themselves a way out of their real responsibility. That responsibility consists of taking the first step of lowering their own CO₂ emissions. Compensating with carbon offsetting should be used only for emissions that cannot be avoided at all.”

For this reason Werner & Mertz Professional pursues climate protection in another way that is significantly more extensive, says Ulbricht. “Planting trees is not enough. That’s why we go a step further, aiming to take on problems in the right order and with a holistic approach. We put our stake on the circular economy and systematically improve all areas we can influence as a company.“

Building blocks for genuine climate protection

The climate protection guide used by the Mainz eco pioneer is the European Green Deal, with whose help the European Union wants to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. As in the Green Deal, Werner & Mertz Professional divides its climate protection measures into several action areas. On the new Circular Success Website, the company outlines six building blocks to reduce energy and resource consumption, to protect the planet’s biosphere, and to prevent environmental pollution. Behind every building block are concrete innovations and projects with verifiable success:

1. Cooperation and projects for biodiversity conservation
2. Biologically degradable formulas and regenerative raw materials in all products from Green Care Professional
3. Protection of forests, soil, bodies of water
4. Recycled and recyclable packaging with special focus on Post-Consumer Recyclate from European household waste collection
5. Sustainable construction and use of renewable energies such as wind power, photovoltatics and geothermal energy
6. Environmentally friendly water management in the Mainz headquarters building and in Production

“At Werner & Mertz Professional, climate protection, environmental protection and the circular economy have always gone hand-in-hand, touching all business areas“, says Ulbricht. “We always strive to stay at least a full step ahed of the current eco standard. So we offer our customers products for which climate protection is not an empty claim, but a matter of fact.”

You’ll find the new Circular Success campaign site:

When developing laundry detergents and fabric softeners, the focus is usually on cleaning performance and the effect on the fibres and shaping of textiles. For some years now, environmental properties have additionally gained in importance, as this topic increasingly concerns the public and more and more people are interested in reducing their ecological footprint.

The ideal product, however, should master another challenge: it should be skin-compatible and cause neither skin irritations nor allergic reactions. The cooperation with Dermatest GmbH, an independent dermatological institute for testing the safety and skin compatibility of industrial products, marks Tana-Chemie’s pioneering role. The sustainable detergents and fabric softeners of the Green Care Professional brand have been successfully tested and have been awarded the Dermatest seal for proven skin compatibility.

The Dermetest seal of approval is a scientific label for independently tested products which come into contact with the skin. Products which are labelled with this seal have proven their safety in terms of exposure time and site of application in patch tests. Exceptional safety when it comes to your skin!

Our skin is only a few millimetres thick. And yet it protects us from many dangerous environmental influences and performs vital functions for the body. It prevents the penetration of pathogens, fungi and moisture, houses nerve fibres, immune defence cells, touch receptors, blood and lymph vessels, stores energy and serves as a heat insulator. It also plays a significant role in our well-being. Daily contact with hundreds of substances, liquids and surfaces poses a great challenge and danger to the skin. Textiles, and thus also the detergents and fabric softeners used, are in particularly long-term and extensive contact with our skin on a daily basis. Additional friction can also irritate the skin. Therefore, the skin compatibility of these products is particularly important. 

In order to meet this demand for its products, Tana-Chemie had the skin compatibility and safety of the Green Care Professional detergents and fabric softeners tested by Dermatest GmbH. Epicutaneous tests of the use concentrations according to the application instructions were carried out on volunteers under dermatological control. These tests follow internationally recognised guidelines*: 

• At least 30 test persons are selected for each test 
• Male and female test subjects are included regardless of the subsequent target group of the product 
• All test persons are older than 18 years 
• By selecting certain skin types, e.g. sensitive or atopic skin, the tolerance for certain products and skin types can be tested 
• The one-time contact in the context of a test is intensified in comparison to the later application in order to achieve a meaningful result 

For testing, the test products are applied in a suitable concentration to a self-adhesive patch and stuck on under occlusive (closed) conditions for 24h. The occlusive conditions under the patch intensify the contact of the skin with the product, which increases the significance of the result. The assessment of possible skin reactions is carried out according to the recommendations of ISO 10993-23:2021 (Section 8, Annex E). 

Since the course of the reactions provides information about the type of reaction (allergic or irritant), three readings are the quality standard at Dermatest. The first assessment takes place 30 to 60 minutes after removal of the patch, a second and third reading takes place 24 and 48 hours after the first reading. 

Only when the product has successfully passed this test is the Dermatest seal and the rating “dermatologically tested” awarded. 

The detergents and fabric softeners in the Green Care Professional line have successfully passed the tests and have thus been awarded the Dermatest seal and are thus proven to be skin-friendly and safe to use. 

* (10993-23:2021, Section 8 and Annex E (Irritation testing of medical devices on human skin), the guideline of the German Dermatological Society (DDG) and the German Society for Allergology and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) on “Performance of the epicutaneous test with contact allergens” (AWMF guideline register). 

About the Dermatest GmbH

Dermatest protects your skin. Since 1978. The independent dermatological institute tests all substances and items that come into contact with the skin for safety and skin compatibility and awards safe products with the Dermatest seal. The effectiveness of cosmetics is also independently checked at Dermatest. A large team of scientists from dermatology, allergology, food chemistry and biology ensures scientific competence and accuracy. Many tests are carried out with the help of volunteers, some of whom have been working with Dermatest for years. All tests take place under medical supervision and in accordance with international guidelines. Since 2009, Dermatest’s quality management system has been certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001 and audited by TÜV Rheinland.