With more than 30 years of innovation, InnuScience is a pioneer in biotechnology-based cleaning solutions. We spoke with InnuScience marketing director Dominic Coupal about bringing nature into cleaning and how the company is making biotechnology more accessible to the industry.
Can you tell us a bit about InnuScience and your role within the organization?
InnuScience has been developing biotechnology-based cleaning solutions for more than 30 years. From the beginning, our mission has been simple: replace traditional chemical cleaners with safer, high-performance alternatives powered by nature. Today, our products are used by cleaning professionals in more than 40 countries across sectors such as transportation, healthcare, hospitality, and public facilities.
Biotechnology allows us to rethink how cleaning products work. Instead of relying on harsh chemicals, our formulations use microorganisms and enzymes to break down organic matter naturally. This approach delivers effective cleaning while helping reduce environmental impact and improving safety for workers and occupants.
A key part of our mission today is making biotechnology more accessible to the cleaning industry. For many years, sustainable technologies were often seen as complex or difficult to implement. Our focus is to simplify that transition by developing solutions that are easier to use, easier to distribute, and easier for organizations to adopt at scale.
As Marketing Director, my role is to help translate that science into practical solutions the market can easily adopt. I work closely with our R&D, regulatory, and commercial teams to bring new innovations to market and help organizations understand how biotechnology can transform the way they clean.
InnuScience has been a pioneer in biotechnology-based cleaning solutions for decades. What inspired the company to take a science-driven approach to cleaning, and how has that shaped your products and mission today?
InnuScience was founded on the belief that the cleaning industry could do better. In the early 1990s, two Canadian scientists began exploring how naturally occurring microorganisms could be used to break down oil, grease, and organic waste. At the time, this was a very unconventional idea in an industry dominated by harsh chemical formulations.
What inspired them was the realization that nature already provides incredibly efficient mechanisms for breaking down organic matter. Instead of trying to overpower dirt with stronger chemicals, biotechnology allows us to work with natural processes to clean more effectively and sustainably.
That scientific foundation continues to shape everything we do today. Our research focuses on developing formulations that harness microorganisms and enzymes to deliver high performance while reducing environmental impact and improving safety for users.
Over the years, our mission has evolved beyond simply developing biotech products. Today, a major focus for us is making biotechnology more accessible to the cleaning industry. Through innovations in formulation, packaging, and product formats, we aim to make it easier for organizations to adopt sustainable cleaning solutions without compromising performance.
For us, biotechnology isn’t just a product category. It’s a long-term commitment to transforming how the world cleans.
Your solutions harness biotechnology — using microorganisms and enzymes — to replace traditional cleaning chemicals. How does this approach change the way organizations think about cleaning performance and environmental impact?
Biotechnology shifts the focus from simply removing visible dirt to addressing the root causes of contamination. Traditional chemical cleaners often act quickly on the surface, but biotechnology works differently. By using microorganisms and enzymes, our products break down organic matter such as oils, grease, and food residues at a microscopic level.
This approach provides two major benefits. First, it can deliver a deeper and more sustained cleaning action, particularly in environments where organic residues are constantly present. Second, it allows organizations to reduce their reliance on harsh chemicals that can pose risks to workers, occupants, and the environment.
For many organizations, adopting biotechnology also changes how they evaluate performance. It’s no longer just about immediate visual results, but about long-term cleanliness, odor control, and maintaining healthier environments.
From an environmental perspective, biotechnology enables cleaning solutions that are inherently more sustainable. By relying on natural biological processes rather than aggressive chemistry, we can reduce toxicity, improve safety, and support more responsible cleaning practices without compromising performance.
What motivated InnuScience to pursue Green Seal certification, and how does third-party certification support your sustainability and innovation goals?
For us, pursuing certification with Green Seal was a natural step. InnuScience has always believed that sustainability claims must be supported by credible, independent verification. In a market where environmental messaging can sometimes be difficult for customers to assess, trusted third-party certification provides a clear and objective benchmark.
Green Seal is widely recognized in the professional cleaning industry, particularly in North America, and its recognition is growing internationally. As environmental claims become more regulated and scrutiny around greenwashing increases in many regions, credible certifications play an increasingly important role in helping organizations make informed purchasing decisions.
The Green Seal standards are particularly valuable because they evaluate products not only on environmental impact but also on health, safety, and performance. That balance is essential to us because sustainable solutions must also deliver real-world results.
For us, certification is not just a label. It helps guide innovation. Standards like Green Seal challenge us to continually improve our formulations and product formats so we can reduce environmental impact while delivering the performance cleaning professionals expect.
What did the Green Seal certification process look like for your team, and were there any insights or improvements that came out of that experience?
The certification process with Green Seal was rigorous and thorough, exactly as we expected from a well-established third-party standard. Our entire PodOra range went through the evaluation process, which includes a detailed review of product formulations, ingredient safety, performance, and environmental impact.
For our team, the process was also an opportunity to review certain aspects of our documentation and packaging information to ensure full alignment with the standard. While the core formulations already met the requirements, the certification process helped us refine how information is communicated and documented.
One of the things we appreciate about the Green Seal approach is its focus on both sustainability and performance. For us, that balance is essential. Sustainable products must also deliver reliable cleaning results in real-world environments.
Overall, the certification process reinforced the direction we have taken with biotechnology. It confirmed that the way we design our products, focusing on safer ingredients, effective cleaning, and reduced environmental impact, aligns well with the expectations of leading environmental standards.
Many organizations are trying to balance cleaning performance, safety for workers, and environmental responsibility. How does InnuScience approach that challenge when developing new products?
Balancing cleaning performance, worker safety, and environmental responsibility is one of the central challenges in the cleaning industry. At InnuScience, we approach this challenge by starting with the science. Biotechnology allows us to design products that work with natural biological processes rather than relying on increasingly aggressive chemistry.
By using microorganisms and enzymes, our formulations break down organic residues such as oils, grease, and food waste at a microscopic level. This approach can deliver effective cleaning while reducing the need for harsher chemical ingredients that may pose risks to workers or the environment.
Another important part of our approach is product design. We look not only at the formulation itself, but also at how products are packaged, transported, and used in the field. Innovations in concentration, dosing systems, and product formats can significantly reduce packaging waste, transportation impact, and product overuse.
Ultimately, our goal is to develop solutions that allow organizations to achieve high cleaning performance while creating safer workplaces and reducing their environmental footprint. For us, sustainability and performance must always go hand in hand.
InnuScience products are used across a wide range of sectors. What trends are you seeing in how organizations are thinking about sustainable cleaning today?
Across many sectors, we are seeing a clear shift in how organizations approach cleaning. Sustainability is no longer viewed as a niche initiative. It is becoming a core part of facility management strategies, alongside health, safety, and operational efficiency. Many organizations are now looking for cleaning solutions that reduce environmental impact while still delivering reliable performance.
One trend we see consistently is a stronger focus on health and worker safety. Facility managers want products that help maintain high hygiene standards but also reduce exposure to harsh chemicals for cleaning staff and building occupants. This is particularly important in sectors such as healthcare, education, and transportation where cleaning happens every day and at large scale.
Another important shift is that sustainability is increasingly linked to operational efficiency. Organizations are paying attention to packaging waste, transportation impact, and product overuse. Solutions that are more concentrated or designed to reduce waste are gaining attention because they help organizations meet both environmental and cost objectives.
Finally, we see growing interest in trusted certifications and transparency. Procurement teams want clear proof that products meet recognized environmental and safety standards. Independent certifications help organizations make confident decisions and align their cleaning practices with broader sustainability commitments.
Overall, the conversation around cleaning has evolved significantly. Organizations are no longer asking only, “Does it clean well?” They are asking, “Is it safe, responsible, and sustainable as well?” That broader perspective is helping drive innovation across the entire cleaning industry.
What advice would you give to organizations or product manufacturers that are just beginning their journey toward safer and more sustainable cleaning solutions?
One of the most important things is to start with a long-term perspective. Developing safer and more sustainable cleaning solutions is not something that happens overnight. It requires a commitment to continuous improvement, investment in research, and a willingness to rethink traditional approaches.
For product manufacturers, my advice is to focus first on the fundamentals. Look closely at ingredient safety, product concentration, packaging, and how products are actually used in the field. Sustainability is not just about replacing one ingredient with another. It is about designing solutions that reduce environmental impact throughout the entire product life cycle.
For organizations selecting cleaning solutions, I would recommend relying on credible third-party certifications such as Green Seal. These standards provide an objective framework that helps identify products that meet recognized environmental and health criteria while still delivering performance.
Finally, keep in mind that sustainability and performance should never be seen as competing priorities. The most successful solutions are those that improve both at the same time. When organizations adopt cleaning technologies that are safer, effective, and designed with sustainability in mind, they often discover that the benefits extend beyond environmental impact to include worker safety, operational efficiency, and long-term cost savings.
Anything else you’d like to share?
One thing I would emphasize is that the cleaning industry is at an important moment of transformation. For many years, the focus was mainly on immediate cleaning results. Today, organizations are increasingly looking at the broader impact of the products they use, including worker safety, environmental responsibility, and long-term sustainability.
Innovation will play a key role in this transition. New technologies, including biotechnology, allow us to rethink how cleaning products are formulated, packaged, and used. The goal is not only to clean effectively, but to do so in a way that reduces environmental impact and supports healthier indoor environments.
At InnuScience, a major focus for us today is making biotechnology more accessible. Sustainable technologies should not be complex or difficult to adopt. Our goal is to develop solutions that are easier for organizations to implement while still delivering professional cleaning performance.
Ultimately, our philosophy is simple. The industry does not just need greener products. It needs to clean differently.