What do the digestive system and Ecoworks Marine have in common?

by Angus Johnston November 25, 2020

Ecoworks Marine’s products incorporate enzymes, bacteria, organic acids or a suitable combination of these technologies, very much like our digestive system.

Digestion of food begins in the mouth, using enzymes, and continues as food passes through the human digestive system; enzymes are essential for breakdown of organic matter within our products too. Enzymes are not alive but are essentially proteins that speed up certain biological reactions.

Enzymes, when used in biological cleaning products, as in the digestive system, break down organic matter into smaller molecules. This then allows them to be easily washed away by the cleaning process or subsequently degraded by beneficial bacteria. They are important for the immediate or first-stage breakdown reaction.

Enzymes used in our products include lipase and protease. Lipase digests fats, oils and greases and is used in our degreaser where it enhances cleaning power by cutting through greasy deposits. Protease breaks down proteinaceous matter and is important for stopping odours as it breaks down organic matter responsible for the generation of unpleasant odours. The stomach also produces several enzymes including protease and lipase for the digestion of proteins and fats.

Hydrochloric acid in the stomach aids the breakdown of food and helps to kill harmful bacteria entering the stomach. Naturally-derived organic acids carry out similar functions in our sanitiser for example, helping to kill harmful bacterias and viruses and enabling the product to be tested and approved to EN14476 against enveloped viruses such as coronavirus.

“Friendly” bacteria in the large intestine have an important role in the final stages of digestion and in our health & well-being. These living, microscopic organisms require nutrients to survive, just like us. When used in Ecoworks products they will grow and colonise the area of application, creating a healthy microflora and forming films called ‘biofilms’ on suitable surfaces.

The bacteria colonise areas that normal cleaning products can’t reach, penetrating into cracks in bathroom tiles, teak decks or deep into carpet fibres. They digest simple compounds produced by enzymatic cleaning but more importantly they also produce and secrete their own enzymes to degrade organic matter around them over extended periods. This means the beneficial bacteria are able to produce a long-term cleaning effect and break down organic matter responsible for unpleasant odours, long after “normal” cleaning has finished.

Our products including the All Surface cleaner and Fabric Cleaner incorporate this valuable technology enabling residual cleaning which helps make our products so effective over time and making them more advanced than others.

Just like the physical processes of chewing and involuntary movements of muscles, breaking up the food we eat and keeping it moving along the digestive system; when using cleaning products, a little physical action is often necessary! Sorry, scrubbing is still required.

We are hugely resilient creatures with an immense system within our bodies to keep us clean and healthy. That system can be penetrated with prolonged use of nasty toxic chemical cleaners, but by using a cleaning process which is similar to our own, we can work alongside our bodily system for a cleaner healthier environment.