ECOLAB’S APEX WAREWASHING SYSTEM HELPS RESTAURANT AND FOOD SERVICE OPERATORS IN THE UK IMPROVE RESULTS, SAVE WATER AND ENERGY

Innovative system wins Trendsetter Product Award from leading trade organization.

NORTHWICH, UNITED KINGDOM – January 26, 2015 – Ecolab Inc., the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services, has launched Apex, a warewashing system that will provide the cleaning results restaurant and foodservice operators in the UK expect, while reducing water and energy use.

“Apex is the gold standard that gives customers greater control over the warewashing process,” said Nicolas Granucci, vice president, Institutional Marketing – Europe, Ecolab. “This leads to superior cleaning performance and lower operational costs.”

Apex uses a unique combination of products, equipment and consultative services to address the operational challenges in foodservice warewashing. The suite of Apex detergents includes a rinse additive, presoak, pot and pan soak, and manual detergents.

Apex helps deliver superior cleaning performance and improve warewashing efficiency by reducing the need to rewash items, resulting in improved sustainability through lower water and energy use. In addition, the system’s solid detergent technology reduces packaging by more than 95 percent. Field tests showed that, compared to the average rack dish machine, Apex helps to:

Save up to 3,700 kWh of energy annually, which equates to more than 400 days of electricity use in an average European home.
Conserve up to 27,500 liters of water per year, or more than enough water to meet the daily basic needs of 540 people, according to the World Health Organization.
Reduce waste by up to 60 kg of plastic annually, or the equivalent of more than 1,200 empty two-liter soft drink bottles.

The Apex system’s controller provides real-time monitoring of operations and logs critical elements of the warewashing process, such as wash and final rinse temperatures. Ecolab sales-and-service associates use a tablet PC to download, process and analyze the Apex system’s operational data to establish each restaurant’s operational challenges and ideal efficiency ratios. The information is presented in a dashboard report, allowing users to review system operations, including data for every rack washed. This enables Ecolab associates to establish and maintain first-class results, and reduce total operational costs for customers in the UK.

A comparative study, undertaken by Ecolab and the Institute for Work Safety in Germany, found using solid warewashing products reduced body strains by up to 90 percent when compared with liquids. The solid products are lighter and easier to lift, and will not spill, helping to improve employee safety.

Internorga, the leading catering and foodservice trade show in Europe, recognized Ecolab’s advancements in warewashing and awarded the company its Trendsetter Product Award for the Apex warewashing system.

“The Apex system developed by Ecolab is a good example of a sustainable business model aligned with the future,” said Carl-Otto Gensch, Internorga judge. “The focus is not anymore just the sale of cleaning products, but a customer-oriented service that ensures work safety, hygiene and operational reliability for canteens and catering.”

About Ecolab
A trusted partner at more than one million customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources. With 2013 sales of $13 billion and 45,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions and on-site service to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world. For more Ecolab news and information, visit www.ecolab.com.