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Father Of Green Cleaning Wins EPA's Safer Choice Partner
Of The Year Award Stephen Ashkin, President of The Ashkin Group and often referred to as "the father of Green Cleaning," is one of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 21 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award winners for 2015.
The EPA Safer Choice Programme is designed to help consumers and commercial buyers identify and select products that are manufactured with safer chemical ingredients and still meet high quality and performance standards.
"Our scientists employ a stringent set of human health and environmental safety standards when reviewing products for the Safer Choice programme," said EPA Cathy
Kitchenmaster Cleans Up With Global Growth
The company, which has been manufacturing cleaning and hygiene products for more than 30 years, based in Carryduff, recently surpassed a notable milestone of £1m worth of sales to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Sales Director Jacqui Walsh said the company took the bold step of setting up its own logistics centre in the region, to replace the services of a distributor.
"The UAE, with the rapid growth of its luxury hotels, eating establishments
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Milbourn. "[This ensures that] a product with the [Safer Choice] label is backed by science."
Ashkin was presented with the award on June 22 in Washington, DC. The presentation of the award saw him honoured for his leadership in the Safer Choice Programme and in several market changing projects in which he was involved including working with the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED V4 for Building Operations and Maintenance for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance Version 4, as well as helping establish an environmentally preferable product procurement programme for the Green Sports Alliance's Playbook on Greener Cleaning in Sport Facilities. He was also honoured for preparing the Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools for the Healthy School Campaign.
After hearing the news about his award win, he said: "The Safer Choice
and thriving tourism industry, offered valuable business opportunities for us and so we established an office in Dubai to capitalise on that potential," she said.
"With five staff now employed in Dubai, this strategy has paid dividends for us and we're delighted with our record sales performance in the region." Walsh also praised Invest NI as a "valued business partner".
Kitchenmaster has benefited from a range of Invest NI support with its research and development, marketing activities, recruiting additional staff and exploring new geographic markets and potential customers through trade missions.
Walsh added that the order book is a result of investing "significant time and effort" over recent years to grow its
programme has made a significant contribution in ensuring that our homes, schools, and the offices we work in and use are healthier for us and the environment. I am honoured to be one of the 2015 award winners."
The Safer Choice Programme, formerly known as the Design for the Environment (DfE) Safer Product Labelling Programme, was developed in 1997 and draws upon chemical and environmental expertise from across the EPA. Safer Choice uses the technical tools and expertise of EPA's New Chemicals Programme to evaluate the environmental and human health impacts of every chemical ingredient in a product, allowing only the safest ingredients in labelled products. As a voluntary partnership programme, Safer Choice brings all interested parties together to advance sustainability in chemical products. More than 2,000 products currently qualify to carry the Safer Choice label.
market presence across Europe and the Middle East.
"Our aim is to maintain a competitive position in the Middle East and we plan to double the size of our Dubai operation over the next 18 months as part of continued international expansion plans," she said.
Damian McAuley, Invest NI's Director of Advanced Engineering and Construction, added: "Kitchenmaster is an example of a longstanding indigenous business which has embraced Invest NI as a strategic business partner when implementing its growth strategy.
"The Middle East has been a particularly lucrative market resulting from the concerted efforts of its management team to establish relationships with key buyers there."
www.tomorrowscleaning.com
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