The shift towards sustainable cleaning is underway. With an imperative need to improve our lives and the planet around us, people are demanding sanitization products that won’t damage their skin or harm their environment and waterways.
The growing demand is supported by global market sales, with green cleaning’s retail value expected to reach $72.9 billion this year. By 2026, the figure should reach $109.7 billion, representing an 8.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Businesses Addressing the Global Concern
Global demand for chemical-free solutions is already here. Even without it, the need for green solutions is present in the world around us. Increased algae blooms and a planet heating up indicate that something needs to be done. Unfortunately, many chemical-based cleaning products and other harmful substances continue to be dumped into our waterways everyday.
More action is needed from global companies and governments. However, there are those doing their part today.
Sanitation solutions company Aphex BioCleanse Systems, Inc. is one company embracing that future through its cleaning brand, Hy-IQ Water. The New York state-based chemical-free, alcohol-free cleaning line offers an array of products for sustainable sanitization. Backed by independent lab studies, the company offers the first proprietary nontoxic, hydrogen-based, alcohol-free cleaning solution on the market. Instead of relying on flammable chemicals and alcohol, Hy-IQ uses a safe formula for humans, pets, plants and other valuable properties.
A recent acquisition has the company believing it has filled a sanitation gap in one of the few remaining areas it had yet to address.
Hy-IQ Water Adds BioFoam to the Fold, Intends to Combat COVID-19
In June, Aphex and Hy-IQ Water acquired the patented open-cell tech foam-based cleaning technology BioFoam and a line of absorption tech products. FDA-approved since 2003, BioFoam stood out as an ideal acquisition partner due to its many benefits, including its resistance to microbial growth, ability to kill 99.9% of harmful pathogens when paired with an EPA registered disinfectant, reusability, and its potential to replace paper towels..
The move bolsters Hy-IQ’s nontoxic cleaning brand with an array of chemical-free products. A substantial BioFoam customer base also comes with the deal, including partnerships with militaries from over 35 countries. Of its many uses in the military, BioFoam is used as a medical lotion on chemical burns caused by sarin gas and other harmful agents. Beyond the military, BioFoam has assisted in cleanups of everyday home spills and much more substantial events, including the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Hy-IQ expects to assert itself as a tech leader in the cleaning market with its roster of complementary products, including BioFoam’s popular BioMitt, BioSponge and BioWipe.
The deal should also further solidify what the company calls The Hy-IQ Difference to chemical-free cleaning. The agenda was heightened in urgency and importance by the COVID-19 pandemic, with attention to self-cleaning and germ spreading soaring.
BioFoam creator Scott Smith shared a similar urgency for the pandemic, with his daughter, a frontline worker, becoming severely infected with COVID-19 in April 2020 despite wearing full PPE gear and a N95 mask. After conducting research into contamination events, and collaborating with the Australian National Science Agency, Smith adapted BioFoam’s military technology to help remove COVID-19 droplets on surfaces that paper towels could leave behind for an additional 28 days.
Noting the spread of the Delta variant of the virus, Smith said surface disinfection can’t be overlooked. “People think surfaces are disinfected when using a paper towel with disinfectant and that is not the case,” said Smith, adding that paper towels allow the virus to spread more rapidly.
It is expected that the world’s focus on sanitization will remain high in the years to come. “I personally believe that the majority will continue to sanitize everything they touch,” predicts Aphex President and CEO David Weaver.
Scott Smith Joins Aphex, Hy-IQ in Deal
BioFoam was just one component of why Aphex was excited to close this deal. Weaver highlighted the inventor and creator behind BioFoam, Scott Smith, as a key acquisition for the company. “I knew a partnership with him would unlock incredible shareholder value,” Weaver said. Smith is now the Chief Sustainability Officer for Aphex.
“With BioFoam now under our line of products and Scott Smith as Chief Sustainability Officer, the opportunities ahead of us in regard to value and revenue are nearly endless,” Weaver said.
