The same company that creates products to remove coffee stains from dress shirts is also helping to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Green Bridge Industries, Ridgewood, NJ, offers a wide range of products that includes stain removers, hard surface cleaners and hydrocarbon remediators. But whether they’re found in the laundry room or in the Gulf, all of the product formulas are based on “environmentally-friendly chemistry,” explained David Gubb, the company’s CEO.

“Most products that claim to be green out there aren’t green,” he asserted. “Or they are either too expensive to be cost-effective or they don’t work.”

In contrast, GBI’s formulas are protein-based that enhance the products’ cleaning agents. To prove both their efficacy and their environmental profile, for the past 18 months, GBI has been working closely with Green Seal, the independent, non-profit organization that issues environmental standards and certifies products and services from companies that meet these standards. Last month, GBI received its test results from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI). Green Bridge’s formula passed the GS-8 (Household Cleaners), GS-34 (Cleaning/Degreasing Agents) and GS-37 (Industrial & Institutional cleaners) requirements for the Green Seal Certification Program. Green Bridge is having its all-purpose cleaner, hard surface cleaner, glass cleaner & cleaner/degreaser certified under Green Seal's GS-8 and GS-37 categories.

Green Beast has been deployed in the Gulf of Mexico.

Gubb says all of GBI’s products will be Green Seal-certified within three to five months. In contrast, most of his competitors have only certified one or two products, he insisted. GBI’s product lineup includes glass cleaners, all-purpose cleaners, laundry detergents, toilet bowl cleaners and odor eliminators, in sizes ranging from 1oz. dilutable packets to 32oz. ready-to-use formulas to 275 gallon totes.

“We started out offering products primarily for the I&I market, but since I took over, we’ve been expanding into other spaces.”

In fact, during the past year, Grubb has put several businesses under the GBI banner. Specifically, there’s:

• Organic Product Solutions (a private label business);

• Bright Side (household cleaners);

• Zap (stain removing pens);

• Fusion (an implement manufacturer) and

• Green Bridge Institute, a fund-raising program that enables a school or community to purchase cleaning products, add their own label and earn money for their cause.

To get the word out about its Zap line of products, the company launched a series of two-minute direct response commercials featuring the Zap Stain Remover Pen and ZapSpray Hand Sanitizer. The DRTV marketing campaign is intended to create the “As Seen on TV” branding for the Zap product line that can lead to placement in catalogs, shopping networks and retail stores including, Walmart, CVS, Walgreen's, Target, and Bed Bath and Beyond.

Cleaning the Gulf

Just last month, the Ridgewood, NJ based company’s Green Beast Oil and Odor Remediator was added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) list. The NCP is the federal government's blueprint for responding to both oil spills and hazardous substance releases. Green Beast is currently being put to work in the Gulf to clean up the oil spill that’s ravaging the coastline. Green Beast is a liquid bio-catalytic system that, when combined with fresh or salt water and oxygen, will cause crude oil, jet fuel, diesel oil and other organic substances to rapidly decompose and eventually breaking them down to carbon dioxide and water as end products (see video), according to GBI.

Green Beast may be easily applied with hand or power sprayers or, in the case of Gulf spill, with helicopters, airplanes or floating equipment. GBI recommends that 10 gallons of Green Beast be mixed with 150 gallons of sea water or fresh water for each 40,000 square feet of surface area to be treated

While GBI’s biggest seller is currently a non-streak glass cleaner, it won’t be long before the hydrocarbon remediator takes off in the I&I market—especially if Green Beast plays a big role in cleaning up the Gulf.

More than Cleaners

Most recently, Green Bridge added Absolute Natural Blenders (ANB), a contract manufacturer of custom hotel, resort and destination spa products. The acquisition of ANB represents Green Bridge Industries first foray into personal care. ANB, Melbourne, FL, supplies a broad range of products such as sun care products, shampoos, conditioners and body wash. ANB’s client base includes Pinehurst Resorts in Pinehurst, NC, Sawgrass Golf Resort and Spa in Ponte Verda, FL and Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, AZ.

ANB gives Green Bridge entry into personal care, a segment with higher margins than household and I&I categories.

“It’s a growing segment,” noted Gubb. “Today, people are more interested in taking care of themselves.”

While he wouldn’t divulge Green Bridge’s annual sales, only noting that they are “in the millions,”

Of course, the hours are longer too.

“I’ve always worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day,” he noted. “Now, it’s 18 hours a day, but you have to take advantage of the opportunities that come across your desk.”

With offerings that now include household, personal care and I&I products, the opportunities should keep growing for Green Bridge.

More info: www.greenbridgeindustries.com