Whether you’re the owner of a portfolio of quick service restaurants, a premier hospitality group with hotels in high-traffic areas or a pharmaceutical brand operating across a network of manufacturing facilities, Ecolab helps ensure that every location is your best location. You may recognize the name Ecolab, but you likely don’t know the breadth of their impact across industries.  As a leader in the sustainability space for more than 100 years, Ecolab  reaches juggernaut companies across 170 countries, offering water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions to more than 40 industries, from transportation, hospitality and healthcare facilities to power generation.

Every CEO should know what Ecolab can bring to the table for them : “Our offerings can help companies produce high quality products while working to achieve their best in sustainability and operating performance,” says Josh Magnuson, executive vice president and general manager of the Global Light Water sector at Nalco Water, an Ecolab company. “When we help our customers have high-performing businesses, they can invest back into those businesses, opening new stores or sites or investing in new technology to increase yield with the same footprint.”

“When we help our customers have high-performing businesses, they can invest back into those businesses, opening new stores or sites or investing in new technology to increase yield with the same footprint.”

Through its cross-industry partnerships, Ecolab is on a mission to make the world a cleaner, healthier and safer place by positively impacting people, the planet and businesses. To that end, Ecolab is an innovator, creating operational models that prove implementing sustainable practices and achieving a successful bottom line are mutually inclusive—the ultimate win/win. Here are just a few of the transformations that Ecolab is driving.

While you might not imagine that Ecolab touches everything from pharmaceuticals to technology for oil and gas refining, the reality is that they have a deep impact across dozens of industries and end-markets. In fact, companies often find that Ecolab can support them not just in one area, but across the board. Their innovative processes keep facilities that create the medications we take clean, pest-free, optimized and efficient while also helping to keep the technology you’re reading this story on right now in stock. 

“In the microprocessor industry, for example, we help our customers fulfill rising market demands so they can become more profitable, produce more products and still lower their environmental impact,” explains Magnuson. At the core of making positive shifts in the industry is making positive shifts in perspective. Too often in the world, leaders think of water as an unlimited resource that can be utilized and discarded, but in reality it’s a finite one. Despite these limitations, Ecolab is able to show its customers how to do more with less. 

“Ten or twenty years ago, there was a misconception that it cost companies more money to be sustainable,” says Magnuson. “What we're finding is that through efficient use of water for heating, cooling, sanitation and manufacturing, our customers can actually produce more while having a lower total environmental impact.” 

“Ten or twenty years ago, there was a misconception that it cost companies more money to be sustainable.”

This year, Ecolab was able to get those results for one of the largest petrochemical manufacturers in the world. By reusing cooling tower water to save resources, they created $1 million dollars in savings and well over $11 million in value delivered, including reducing 18,300 metric tons of greenhouse gasses. They also introduced the company to their Purate Technology, an easy-to-use, cost-effective method for reducing chemical hazards.

When companies set ambitious environmental goals—like decreasing water use or waste to landfill intensity and reducing greenhouse gas emissions—Ecolab leverages its expertise in the industry to achieve them. What’s more, they show businesses how to do it without hurting their profitability. In fact, it can help boost it. 

Ecolab worked with one of the largest food and beverage services in the world to create tangible change at the company that would help the environment and enhance the customer experience. In just one year, they saved the organization 51 million gallons of water, 1.3 billion BTUs of energy and 170 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. 

By introducing the company to their 3D TRASAR Technology, which optimizes water efficiency on an industrial level, they not only increased water and energy efficiency but also were able to safely speed up cleaning times which in turn increased the company’s productivity. And this impact isn’t just in the food and beverage industry. As part of their Ecolab Water for Climate™ initiative, they’ve been able to conserve millions of gallons of water at data centers, chemical companies and more. 

At both quick service and full-service restaurants, Ecolab is not only thinking about business leaders and their customers, but also the employees who help ensure companies are able to thrive. It’s a 360-approach that ultimately leads to wins on many fronts—including the environment. Knowing that 61% of consumers wouldn’t come back to a business that was unclean, the Ecolab Science Certified™ program helps businesses deliver a higher level of cleanliness through science-based products, training, and process efficiencies.

A national restaurant chain who is part of the program has seen fewer critical health department inspection violations while also getting an increase in their review ratings from customers. Having the right procedures in place has tangible results for business leaders, including  higher levels of efficiency and productivity, and happier employees with longer tenure at their jobs and improved customer service.

When Ecolab partnered with one of the leading hotel entities and global companies in the world, they helped shift the company into a more environmentally responsible and profitable operation. Through its initiatives, Ecolab was able to help the international brand dramatically decrease their environmental impact, including saving 23 million gallons of water. Ecolab is able to create this impact across the hotel industry, in a large part due to its groundbreaking processes it has introduced. For example, its Aquanomic Low Temp Laundry Program reduces the temperature on laundry loads in hotels without sacrificing the cleanliness of white linens. And its Wash ‘N Walk No Rinse Floor Cleaner enables a fast, one-step sanitizing process for floors that saves water and efficiency. Everything keeps customers and the environment safe.

But what was just as impressive as the environmental impact were the gains in productivity. Thanks to efficiencies put into place, more than 9,000 hours of labor were gained and safety was enhanced to the tune of more than half a million dollars. When companies see they can decrease their environmental impact while also increasing their bottom line, working to save the planet is an easy yes.