Green Chemistry Innovation Case Study: Coastwide Laboratories
Coastwide Laboratories (formerly Paulsen & Roles Laboratories) is a janitorial and housekeeping distribution firm specializing in unique cleaning chemical formulas for health care, education, government, and building service contractors. Headquartered in Wilsonville with distribution centers in Auburn, Wilsonville and Medford, Oregon, Coastwide employs more than 150 people with a chemical lab in Wilsonville and manufacturing in Salem.
Coastwide’s green chemistry initiatives began in 1988 with the elimination of 2-butoxyethanol from all formulations after research suggested negative impacts on target organs via inhalation and skin absorption. The company continued to replace other “bad actor” ingredients from formulations with new ingredients offering improved EHS profiles, but it was their participation in Governor Kitzhaber’s Sustainable Supplier Council in 1999 that sent the company back to the lab in search of a superior greener chemistry design.
How green chemistry was used by Coastwide:
Coastwide soon recognized that there was an emerging market for greener chemicals and began researching green chemistry options for cleaning products. The company found a number of product design models on which it could base its research efforts, but most didn’t adequately integrate human health and safety criteria. To fill this gap, Coastwide partnered with a university to create a new product design model. The resulting model is called the Sustainable Earth Green Chemistry Standard. The Sustainable Earth line of commercial and industrial cleaning products is based on the standard.
The benefits of using green chemistry:
In 2002, Coastwide introduced its first Sustainable Earth (SE) products. Initial success was limited primarily because earlier “green” products did not perform well and were more expensive. Eventually, side-by-side product demonstrations proved that SE products performed as well or better than nationally branded equivalent products, vastly increasing Coastwide’s sales. In six years, SE chemicals grew from 0% to 75% of Coastwide’s total proprietary chemical sales, and today SE continues to grow at double digit rates.
Customers have reported saving over 50% on chemical expenditures using SE products thanks to improved product performance and proper dilution methods. SE products require less packaging and have significantly improved Coastwide’s profit margins.
SE products were the first cleaning chemicals in the U.S. to be recognized by EPA’s Design for the Environment program and certified by Green Seal. Coastwide won a BEST Award for Product Development from the City of Portland and the Oregon Environmental Council in 2003 and an Environmental Champions Award from EPA in 2008.
