
Which cleaners do you use?
A recent spate of incidents involving cleaners including one that was found to have a blood alcohol content of 0.19% and a second that was suspected of being a toxin have forced the Australian Cleaning Association to reconsider its use of the term “cleaner” in its name.
A report from the ACCA’s Cleaning Industry Working Group has found that the term is being misused by cleaning firms to describe products that are no longer commercially available.
The ACCA says it’s now calling for more clarity on the use of cleaner.
Cleaner shrimp is one of the most popular cleaners used in Australia and its use is widespread, especially among older generations, said ACCA President Andrew O’Keefe.
“The problem is that when we talk about cleaner, we’re actually talking about shrimp,” he said.
“When we talk to people who are in their 50s and 60s who say they want to go back to using a cleaner, they’re usually not using shrimp.”
Mr O’Keefe said the word “shrimp” is often used by consumers to refer to the cleaner as it has no significant taste or smell, and that’s not the case with the “cleaners”.
He said cleaner shrimp was a term that was commonly used in the early 20th century and was not considered harmful by the industry.
“The term shrimp was used by the Australian government as a term to describe a kind of organic, natural cleaner, which was not something that the Australian Government was going to promote,” he told the ABC.
“It was a marketing term to get people to use products in their communities.”
He said the term has also been used by some cleaning firms for products that were not deemed to be safe.
“Shrimp is not necessarily the only cleaner that’s used in Australian cleaning, but it’s certainly the most widely used,” he added.
“In a lot of ways, it’s the cleanest cleaner.”
The ACCL has recommended the use the term cleaner, and the ACCAC has also called for cleaner usage to be regulated by the Cleaning Council of Australia.
Mr OKeefe told the program he was surprised by the use.
“They want something that is environmentally friendly, but they don’t know which one it is.” “
What we’re seeing with cleaner, is people are looking for a cleaner,” he explained.
“They want something that is environmentally friendly, but they don’t know which one it is.”
He added that people were being misled into thinking that cleaner was safe, and there was little scientific evidence to back up the claims.