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Cleaner Goes Beyond Green:VIVESAN



There are more green products coming on the market everyday. It can’t be denied we need them. However, just as the “All Natural” tag that bloomed on so many things 20 years ago green can be relative, and relative at best sometimes.

Commonly used cleaners have turned out to be fairly toxic. Green versions of some of these cleaners may still have phosphates, dyes and chemical fragrances that generate fumes. All these components are less than green and when they get to the marine environment via drains and ground water they continue to be a problem.

Vivesan, an Ohio company with Maine connections makes cleaners developed to go beyond green according to the company’s founder and president. He said he was determined to get the carcinogens out of commonly used cleaners and out of his house. Research, tossing ideas around with scientists, and determining what cleaners need to do and to not do led to proprietary formulas. Formulas with an ingredients list that’s easier to read than that box of muffins in the supermarket. The cleaners are a mix of the processed extracts of tree sap, coconut, corn, grains, and sugar cane.

Fishermen on Isleboro used the products he developed to clean their boats and offered feedback. The manufacturer has noted that some cleaners have a smell, but Vivesan does not.

It biodegrades in 21-28 days depending on water temperature and soils, etc. Vivesan said there is no official definition of the word green in this context, and therefore biodegradable in some so called green products means in 134 years.

The company representative said there are no synthetics in their products and their products do not clean synthetics, like motor oil scum. But since it is made from organic substances it does clean organic scum, which includes about everything else that is not made from petroleum. Regionally Brooks Trap Mill, Friendship Trap, Rose’s Marine in Gloucester, and the Ilseford Coop sell Vivesan products. www.vivesan.com