Sterilization: Cleaning Up The Misconceptions

By Jared Sarbit

Picture Perfect Cleaning has an effective system to completely disinfect your place of work. But what does that even mean?

Our Victory Electro Static Sprayer provides an electrical charge to our botanical disinfectant solution, allowing the solution to wrap around surfaces with an effective and even coverage. Double-charged particles envelope the conductive surfaces to fully disinfect them.

The solution we use is a botanical, plant based disinfectant, which is completely safe for everyone, including children, and kills 99.99% of all viruses and bacteria when properly used, including the Coronavirus.

To better understand the difference between sanitizing and disinfecting, how we will eliminate the risk of viruses from your place of work, what type of safe chemicals we use, and more, continue reading below.

Having your office, school or any place of work, clean has never been more important to our health. As it turns out, consumers greatly value cleanliness as well. That’s why we take our business as seriously as we do. When it comes to our homes and workspaces, the spread of viruses, germs and bacteria create the threat of illness or, as we are sadly now seeing, potentially death.

So, to protect our health (physical and mental) from these invasive viruses, we utilize the wonderful solution that is sterilization. Or at least, we think we do.

What Does “Sterile” Really Mean?

Unfortunately, if you went to the street to ask passers-by, you might think this was a subjective concept. Sterile means that something is free of any microorganisms – no bacteria, no germs; essentially, no life.

A sterile environment is difficult to create. Many research laboratories will use sterile environments to prevent contamination of various microorganisms from others. Ever seen someone in one of those hazmat suits on television? That idea gives you a picture of the effort that is sometimes necessary for proper sterilization.

Sanitizing Vs Disinfecting

To sanitize something – say, your hands – means that you are reducing the number of bacteria on a surface, not totally eliminating. Using the idea of hand sanitizer, this makes sense: our hands are likely to be contaminated frequently, so there’s no point in constantly disinfecting them.

Disinfecting means that you are killing bacteria and creating a hostile environment, so if there are any survivors they will not be able to reproduce. Properly washing your hands with hot water and soap will disinfect them of bacteria (for a time). Think of using hand sanitizer after riding public transit, compared to washing your hands thoroughly after touching raw meats.

Watch this video below to see how we train our custodians on how to properly disinfect the work place. There are many excellent tips in this video on how to properly disinfect.

How Disinfectants Work

Disinfectants are commonly used to clean houses, schools, hospitals and other spaces. Disinfectant sprays and wipes are a cleanliness staple for many, and many products are advertised as able to kill 99.99% of bacteria and germs. They can’t say 100% because no-one but you knows what areas you will be using them on – cracks and crevices are where the survivors hide.

However, they often give directions for how to use products as either a sanitizing agent or a disinfectant. Often, to disinfect you simply need to use the product for a longer amount of time or in a higher volume than if you were to sanitize.

Disinfectants use ingredients like ethanol and isopropyl alcohol. These agents disinfect by not only killing bacteria but creating an antiseptic environment in their wake.

In our Victory Spray gun that you see in our video, we are using a chemical called BioEsque to disinfect and eliminate COVID-19. As we know, Health Canada has established a list of products which are effective against human coronavirus strain 229E and likely to kill the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 illness. Here is a link to the list on the Health Canada website. BioEsque is on page 14 and is the only botanical product on the entire list. Company listed is M2 who own the THYMOX technology.

When NOT To Sterilize

The Difference Between Sterilizing & Cleaning

Clean is defined as the removal of visible blemishes such as dirt, stains and other debris. Sterilization is cleaning but on a microscopic level. You can’t sterilize before you clean!

By removing mud, dirt or other messy by-products first, you create the optimal setting to sterilize. Your sterilization methods will be 100% more effective if you take the time to tidy first. For example, wiping a counter down to get rid of crumbs and spills before spraying it with a disinfectant.

Is Sterilization Always Appropriate?

With the above in mind, do you really need to sterilize or will cleaning be enough? This is where things can be a bit more subjective. Do you need to sterilize your bathroom floor, or do you need to give it a good mop? Should you be sterilizing your kitchen surfaces every day, or is this a task to leave with the deep clean?

There are certain tasks that demand the care it takes to properly sterilize a surface. Before and after cooking, particularly when raw meats or proteins are part of the recipe. When using baby feeding products, such as bottles and their accessories, with a newborn child. After a nasty cold or flu, or when leaving somewhere where these germs may have been transmitted to you.

But are there really many other common instances that call for sterilization?

The Problem With Over-Doing It

With the COVID-19, times are very different. Washing and sanitizing your hands as much as possible, is a good thing during this time.

For normal times, when we are not concerned about COVID-19, if you are constantly sanitizing your hands with products that contain harsh alcohols, or forever using bleach on your kitchen counters, you could be putting yourself and your family at risk.

We need a lot of bacteria present in our bodies to function – good and bad. The “bad” ones, like cold viruses, are integral to developing our immune system and therefore creating protection against dangerous illnesses.

If we are not exposed to a high variety of germs and unfamiliar microorganisms, we cannot develop our immune systems to fight against similar germs that could actually present serious harm to us. This is especially true for children. However, we must stress, during this unprecedented time, we do recommend washing your hands and using hand sanitizer regularly, when out in public or at the work place. At home, washing your hands well and frequently is ideal.

Dangerous Products

Further, consistent exposure to chemicals like bleach and ammonia are terrible for our health. For one thing, consistently getting these agents out to use them for common cleaning purposes increases the chances you could spill them. This could result in anything from a ruined carpet to a chemical burn.

Using dangerous products regularly can also expose you to a subtle build-up of toxicity, similar to the way smoking cigarettes will eventually catch up with you. As long as you are not using these harsh products more than a few times a month, you should be ok.

It is not always necessary to use harsh chemicals to sterilize: if you need the peace of mind that sterilizing your baby’s soother brings, boil it. Using our BioEsque Botanical chemical is extremely safe, plant based, and does everything required to disinfect.

In Review: Things To Remember

Sterilization is not always necessary, but when it is, you should be sure to do so properly.
Use agents that kill bacteria, not deplete them – sanitizing and sterilizing are not the same. Disinfectants are extremely useful for sterilizing common surfaces.
Educate yourself on the best ways to clean or sterilize for different jobs, and when sterilization is actually necessary.
When we are not concerned about COVID-19, don’t over-sterilize! This can present a variety of health concerns.
When you are unsure of how to handle a cleaning job, get in touch with the pros – we are always happy to help!

Cost Calculator

What Is In-House Cleaning Really Costing You?

Adjust the four numbers below to see your true annual in-house cleaning cost, an estimated cost range with Picture Perfect Cleaning, and what you'd save by making the switch.

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Estimates are based on average commercial cleaning rates across Alberta and typical management and coverage costs. Your actual quote depends on square footage, service frequency, facility type, and scope of work. Request a custom quote above for an exact number.

The Hidden Cost of In-House Cleaning

A wage comparison only tells part of the story. Here’s what usually gets left out:

Wages and Benefits

Payroll is usually the first number people look at when they think about cleaning costs, but it rarely tells the whole story. Supplies, equipment, manager oversight, scheduling headaches, and the inevitable sick days all add up over time. By the time you account for everything, the true cost of keeping cleaning in-house can look very different from what’s on the payroll report. That’s exactly what our cost comparison tool is designed to help you see, along with what outsourcing might save.

Supplies and Equipment

Cleaning products, paper goods, vacuums, floor machines, and the replacement parts that keep them running all add up over the course of a year. Businesses that clean in-house often buy retail-grade supplies at retail prices because they don’t have access to the commercial pricing that a cleaning company gets from its suppliers. Equipment also breaks down, and replacing a vacuum or floor buffer every few years is a cost that rarely gets planned for in advance.

Management Time

Somebody has to schedule shifts, check the quality of the work, order more supplies when they run low, and step in when something gets missed. That’s real time pulled from a manager’s actual job, and it rarely gets assigned a dollar value, even though it should. If a facilities manager or office lead spends even a few hours a week on cleaning oversight, that’s time not spent on the parts of their role that actually move the business forward.

Absenteeism and Coverage Gaps

Sick days and missed shifts are part of running any team. When they happen, the work still has to get done, which usually means paying someone else to cover the shift or accepting that some tasks will have to wait. Over the course of a year, those extra costs can become surprisingly significant. There’s another effect that’s harder to measure, too. When cleaning is inconsistent, people notice. Employees notice it, clients notice it, and visitors notice it, even if they couldn’t tell you exactly why the space feels different.

Cost Category	What It Covers
Wages & Benefits	Annual pay for in-house cleaning staff
Supplies & Equipment	Products, tools, and machine upkeep
Management Time	Hours spent scheduling and supervising
Absenteeism	Missed shifts and last-minute coverage

Why Outsourcing Often Comes Out Ahead

Once you’ve seen your own numbers, the reasons behind the gap start to make sense.

Predictable Pricing

A cleaning company quote covers labor, supplies, and equipment on a single line. You know what you’re paying before the work starts, and that number doesn’t shift because someone called in sick or a vacuum broke down. Budgeting gets easier when the cost of cleaning is a single line item rather than four separate ones scattered across payroll, supplies, and management time.

No Coverage Gaps

When a member of an in-house cleaning team calls in sick, someone on your staff has to figure out what happens next. With a professional cleaning service, that responsibility shifts to the provider. If a cleaner is unavailable, arranging a replacement is part of the service, so your team isn’t left scrambling to fill the gap.

Accountability Built In

Picture Perfect Cleaning holds COR certification and provides regular service reporting, so you can see what’s being done and when, without spending your own hours checking on it. That’s the management time most in-house teams never get back. Our team also uses EcoLogo- and Green Seal-certified products, so you’re not trading cost savings for a lower cleaning standard.

Get Your Custom Quote

Wages are only one line in what in-house cleaning actually costs. Once you add in supplies, the hours a manager spends overseeing the crew, and the gaps left by sick days, the real number is usually higher than what shows up on a payroll report and often higher than what a professional service would charge for the same work. That’s the gap the tool above is built to show you, along with what outsourcing could put back in your budget.

Our cost comparison tool gives you a reasonable estimate of what you could save by switching to a professional cleaning service, not a final number. Every building is different, and factors like your cleaning schedule, the size of your facility, and the services you need will affect the actual cost. If you’d like a more accurate quote based on your space, contact Picture Perfect Cleaning, and we’ll walk you through the options.