It is that time again. Students and faculty are gearing up for another school year. Is your school custodial staff prepared? If not, we can help prepare you with our back-to-school programs. An effective cleaning and maintenance program will keep your school or university looking its best. Buckeye offers full facility solutions. We have everything a school needs to stay clean throughout the year.

The Buckeye Hard Floor Care Program

Floors are one of the first things people see when they walk into your school or university. It is essential to keep your floor looking its best and durable throughout the year.

From muddy shoes to spills, the best way to maintain your floors is to implement a good floor care program that utilizes superior products requiring less labor.

Buckeye’s Hard Floor Care Program is built on standardized procedures and the highest quality products to save you money.

Buckeye has floor finishes formulated with proprietary technology that never yellows or powders, floor strippers formulated with patented liquescent technology to help remove floor finishes in one application without harsh odor, and floor cleaners that make maintaining your floors efficient without attacking floor finishes.

We make maintaining your floor easier. No matter what floor type, equipment, or maintenance needs you have, we will help you customize your school or university's most successful floor care program.

The Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program

With another school year starting comes flu season—what better way to be prepared than by utilizing Symmetry's Hand Hygiene Program for your school.

Symmetry's Hand Hygiene Program offers customizable education, awareness, and behavioral modification tools to help you maximize hand hygiene practices in your school or university. Symmetry’s complete line of hand hygiene products includes hand washes and hand sanitizers.

Implement tools such as wall charts, posters, placards, and signs that highlight the importance of healthy hygiene.

Also, Symmetry offers customizable dispensers for any school or university setting. showcase your school mascot and colors on each dispenser to rally school spirit!

Buckeye's Eco^® Proportioing Program

A school can only stay clean with the proper custodial tools. Buckeye’s Eco Proportioning Program offers every product you need to keep your school looking its best and fully equip your staff for the school year.

Each Eco product is powerful and ecologically safer, cleaning faster without compromising worker safety.

Buckeye Eco Proportioning offers three different systems to fit any custodial closet, including our Eco Pro, which can dilute up to 6 applications; Eco Element, which can dilute up to 3 applications; and Eco Edge, which allows for 2 mop bucket applications and 1 spray bottle application.

Each of our Eco Proportioning systems is compact, self-contained, and features a cohesive user interface to automatically dilute product correctly every time.

Gateway^® Liners

As school lunches arrive, so does the need for strong liners that are durable and dense. Gateway liners are not only manufactured stronger than other leading brands but are lighter and fit your specific needs.

Our liners bring value to a commodity market, combining the highest quality resins, superior processing and innovative testing methods to achieve industry leading strength, quality and consistency.

Gateway Liners can provide you with the lightest, strongest liners that work 100% of the time. On average, Gateway customers reduce the amount of plastic reaching landfills by 39%.

Using Gateway Liners provides your school with not only lighter but durable liners, and a sustainable product that helps your school stay green by reducing the overall usage of plastic.

Buckeye's Reflections^® Wood Floor Program 

Every student looks forward to seeing a shiny floor in the gym and with the Basketball season approaching , a high performing floor program is essential.

With our Buckeye Reflections Wood Floor Program, you can get a brilliant shine, excellent durability, and extended life for your floors. With easy-to-follow instructions, cost-effective products, and years of beauty provided, our program will exceed all expectations.

Our water-based wood floor coatings have some of the country's lowest VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds). Because of these low VOCs, you may even choose to prep the gym floor during school hours.

Our program also includes:

Coliseum® Low VOC Sanding Seal

Gym Bond

Screen Clean™

Tenacity®

Floortonic®

Buckeye Green Light™

When you are ready to coat your wood floor, the Buckeye Reflections Wood Floor Program covers the proper techniques for applying oil and water-based wood floor coatings, including recommended product coverage, dry times, cure times, recoat windows, and more.

Buckeye's Honors Custodial Training Program

Buckeye's Honors Custodial Training Program is a complete custodial program for schools and universities that presents the products, procedures, and training needed to meet a school or university's highest standards.

This training program incorporates multi-purpose products that reduce labor with easy-to-follow procedures and the resources you need to clean and maintain a school or university.

Buckeye's Honors Website features the complete program and materials available 24 hours a day for your convenience. Log in and view Honors training video segments for everything from routine cleaning to product safety. Corresponding with each video, you may also download customizable PowerPoint presentations, training manuals, Safety Data Sheets (SDS), product literature, and wall charts.

Want to keep track of your employee's learning?

The Honors Program also offers a reporting dashboard, online testing, and facility assessment surveys.

Make this school year great with Buckeye’s programs, tools, and resources for your custodial staff. Click here to learn more about our school programs.

Contact your nearest representative to get started today.

The Importance of Protective Coatings

Vinyl flooring and Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) have become popular choices for homeowners and commercial spaces due to their durability, affordability, and versatility. However, like any other flooring material, they require proper care and maintenance to ensure their longevity. One crucial aspect of maintaining vinyl and LVT floors is applying a protective coating.

Why Do Vinyl Floors Need a Protective Coating?

1. Wear and Tear Resistance:

Vinyl floors are exposed to foot traffic, furniture movement, and daily use. Over time, this wear and tear can lead to scratches, scuffs, and dullness. A protective coating acts as a shield, preventing direct contact between the floor surface and potential damage.

2. Enhanced Durability:

Vinyl flooring finishes can wear down over time due to cleaning, UV exposure, and chemical exposure. Applying a protective coating reinforces the floor’s top layer, making it more resistant to abrasion, stains, and fading. 

3. Improved Appearance:

A fresh coating enhances the floor’s appearance by restoring its original shine and luster.  Whether you have residential vinyl or commercial LVT, a well-maintained floor contributes to a clean and inviting space.

Aspida LVT Restorative Floor Coating

Aspida is a strip-free LVT Restorative Floor Coating that is a high-performance product designed specifically for LVT and vinyl floors. It offers superior protection against scratches, scuffs, and chemical damage. Aspida extends the life of your vinyl or LVT floor, reducing the need for frequent refinishing. Regular maintenance involves gentle cleaning with compatible products.

What are Aspida’s Key Features? 

• Durability: Aspida forms a durable barrier that resists wear and maintains the floor’s gloss.
• Slip-Resistance: Safety is essential, especially in commercial spaces. Aspida provides slip resistance, reducing the risk of accidents.
• Easy Application: Aspida is user-friendly and can be applied by staff in any facility.
• Strip-Free:Unlike other floor coatings, this coating can be removed without stripping.

In summary, finishing your vinyl and LVT floors with a protective coating like Aspida is essential for maintaining their beauty, durability, and functionality. Investing in quality floor coatings ensures that your floors remain stunning and resilient for years to come.

Remember, a well-finished floor not only adds value to your space but also contributes to a positive experience for everyone who walks on it. Contact your Buckeye representative to learn more about Aspida and the complete Buckeye Hard Floor Care Program.  

Often when considering flooring, facility managers choose LVT because it is low maintenance and comes with a protective coating. However, over time that coating can fade with wear. To reduce the impact of everyday foot traffic, prevent scuffs, and give your floors an added shine, you need a protective coating that won’t damage your flooring.

Buckeye is rethinking specialty floor maintenance with Aspida™ . Aspida is a floor coating formulated to extend the life of LVT and other specialty flooring. Because floor strippers can damage LVT flooring, Aspida is strip-free. It protects the floor, creating a soft, more natural look.

Developing Aspida

Buckeye is unique in that we manufacture our own polymers to create our floor finishes and coatings. These are called Renaissance Performance Polymers. Because we create the polymers that are used in our floor finishes and coatings, we control the attributes of each product. 

In creating Aspida, Buckeye developed Polymatrix Technology, a proprietary polymer blend. Through careful manipulation of particle size and distribution, Buckeye has designed polymers and a resin system that eliminates floor stripping, prevents heavy build up, and makes floors easier to clean.

Antimicrobial Product Protection

Aspida also utilizes Microban® antimicrobial technology to provide an added level of proactive product protection against product damaging microbes* - keeping the floor coating cleaner, longer.

All Microban antimicrobial technologies are approved by the US EPA for their specific use in the product in which they are used.

*Microban technology does not protect users against disease-causing microorganisms. Microban Products Company makes neither direct nor implied public health claims. Normal cleaning practices should be maintained.

Buckeye Hard Floor Care Program 

Daily, interim, and restorative maintenance are all important pieces of floor care, no matter your flooring type. The Buckeye Hard Floor Care Program prioritizes labor reduction with quality products and expert training. This complete program has all of the tools and resources you need to keep your floors looking like new.

For more information about Aspida and the Buckeye Hard Floor Care Program, contact your local Buckeye representative.

Microban antimicrobial technology is a built-in ingredient that helps products resist the growth of bacteria, mold, mildew, and other microbes. It is not a substitute for regular cleaning practices, but does continuously fight the growth of microbes and can keep products you purchase cleaner, longer.

What is Microban Used For?

Many companies infuse products with Microban to keep their products cleaner over time. Buckeye uses Microban in Clarion® 25 Floor Finish and Arena® 300 Water-Based Wood Floor Coating. Because they utilize Microban technology, Clarion 25 and Arena 300 have lifetime antimicrobial product protection and live-on floor protection for the products’ usable life.

How Does Microban Antimicrobial Technology Work? 

Microban Antimicrobial Technology is built into Clarion 25 and Arena 300 during the manufacturing process. Once the floor finish or wood floor coating is applied to floors, the built-in Microban technology prevents microbes from growing and reproducing. When bacteria, mold, and mildew come in contact with floors, Microban will penetrate the cell wall of the microbe, disrupting the cell and preventing its ability to make food, grow, and reproduce.*

How is Microban Tested? 

Clarion 25 with Microban technology has been tested using the JIS Z 2801 standard laboratory method and test protocol for antimicrobial activity. the JIS Z 2801 method tests the ability of hard surfaces to inhibit the growth of microorganisms over a 24-hour period of contact.

Why Microban Matters

Floors and soles of shoes are major sources of contamination in healthcare, retail, and educational facilities. In schools, students play on gym floors quickly transferring microbes between their hands and the floor. According to the American Journal of Infection Control, contact with objects on floors frequently results in the transfer of pathogens to hands.

Microban technology in Clarion 25 and Arena 300 can proactively fight microbes 24 hours a day at no additional cost. Find out more when you contact your Buckeye representative.

*Microban technology does not protect users against disease-causing microorganisms. Microban Products Company makes neither direct nor implied public health claims. Normal cleaning practices should be maintained.

Bacteria, mold, mildew, and microorganisms are everywhere, even airborne, covering surfaces you come into contact with every day. Studies have shown that floors and soles of shoes are sources of contamination.

A study done by the University of Arizona found that soles of shoes average 421,000 units of bacteria and that pathogens can transfer from the floor to shoes and back to floors.

An American Journal of Infection Control study concluded that contact with objects on floors in hospitals frequently results in the transfer of pathogens to hands. They found there is a need to reduce the bacterial burden on floors. 

Whether you work in a hospital, school, or retail facility, finding ways to fight bacteria growth can improve the patient, student, and guest experience in any facility. Clarion^® 25 Microban^® Antimicrobial Floor Finish offers 24/7 product protection to proactively and continuously fight microbes at no additional cost, with no additional labor or procedures.

Microban International was founded in 1984 and is the global leader in surface modification technology which allows an EPA registered antimicrobial to be embedded in a surface. Microban technology is built-in to over 1,000 products in 30 countries on four continents.

How Does Microban Antimicrobial Product Protection Work?

More Than a Product

As part of the Buckeye Hard Floor Care Program, Clarion 25 with Microban technology can provide clarity, durability, and repairability to your floors. The Buckeye Hard Floor Care Program offers products and procedures that reduce labor and product costs while keeping your floors in top condition. 

From routine floor care to annual maintenance, Buckeye products include cleaners, floor finishes, and floor strippers that reduce labor costs and give years of beauty to your floors.

Are You Disinfecting Your Floors?

Buckeye Eco Neutral Disinfectant E23 is a multi-purpose disinfectant that can kill a variety of pathogens without attacking floor finish. It has also been approved by the EPA for use against SARS-CoV-2 with a one-minute contact time. 

See the results for yourself! Contact a Buckeye representative today to schedule a floor demonstration at your facility.

*Microban technology does not protect users against disease-causing microorganisms. Microban Products Company makes neither direct nor implied public health claims. Normal cleaning practices should be maintained.

Buckeye’s Hard Floor Care Program is built on innovation, resulting in the highest quality products that are proven to increase efficiency, produce excellent results, and save money. Renaissance^® Performance Polymers serves as the foundation for the Hard Floor Care Program, creating polymers specifically for Buckeye floor finishes.

Renaissance is Buckeye’s exclusive line of floor finish polymers. Other floor finish manufacturers buy polymers from companies who do not specialize in making floor finishes. Some of these competitive floor finishes lose clarity or become less durable over time. Because Buckeye is committed to providing the highest quality products, it’s important for Buckeye floor finishes to achieve maximum durability and water clear clarity. With Renaissance, Buckeye is able to replicate exact specifications of a polymer for floor finishes giving Buckeye complete control over the characteristics of each floor finish.

Buckeye’s polymer research has resulted in longer-lasting floor finishes that can reduce your facility’s strip out cycle. Renaissance Performance Polymers provides value by eliminating the cost of third-party polymers and creating top-of-the-line polymers that reduce labor costs for the end user.

With state-of-the-art equipment, research, and the highest quality standards, Renaissance helps Buckeye construct floor finishes that consistently provide an enhanced appearance for floors with the least amount of labor. Renaissance Performance Polymers are manufactured in a state-of-the-art polymer production facility. This facility was designed with employee and environmental safety measures in place. Governmental agencies have rated our VOC emissions as “de minimis” (too small or insignificant to be considered).

Beyond Renaissance, Buckeye continues to innovate with its patented Liquescent^® technology, designed to eliminate hazardous ingredients like butyl, solvents, and alcohol bases. Even more recently, Buckeye has incorporated Microban^® technology into its Clarion^® 25 floor finish to inhibit the growth of bacteria on floors. As new technologies emerge, Buckeye’s Hard Floor Care Program will continue to evolve to bring the best value to customers.

For more information on Renaissance Performance Polymers and Buckeye’s Hard Floor Care Program, contact your local Buckeye representative.

Restaurants, retail stores, and schools are preparing to reopen during COVID-19 and the CDC urges these facilities to develop and implement a plan to reduce the risk of exposure.

Following CDC protocols, Buckeye programs can help keep these facilities on the right track. With cleaning products, disinfectants, hand sanitizers and more, Buckeye programs have the necessary tools for visitor well-being.

Complete Hand Hygiene Program 

The Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program offers a complete line of hand hygiene products. Symmetry’s high quality, low cost products are less likely to contribute to dry hands and leave no sticky residue behind.

In addition to high quality products and reliable dispensing systems, Symmetry offers education and awareness materials, and behavior modification tools. Education and awareness materials include wall charts, posters, product literature, and handwashing videos that focus on the “HOW” and “WHY” or proper hand hygiene. The Symmetry Behavior Modification System uses customizable placards, visual lighting cues, and more to capture attention in the moment and inspire an immediate hand hygiene event.

Enhanced Cleaning and Disinfecting Program

 

Frequently clean and disinfect high touch objects, surfaces and areas using our EPA recognized emerging pathogen disinfectants approved for use during COVID-19. Our Eco Proportioning Program is fully integrated with effective, hermetically sealed products, including EPA emerging pathogen disinfectants, for any application.

The complete Eco^® Proportioning Program allows you to consider space availability, how many products you will dilute, cost, and whether or not your products need additional security. Eco products are diluted automatically through Eco proportioning systems, ensuring their effectiveness and preventing product waste.

Microban^® Antimicrobial Product Floor Protection 

 

A recent study conducted in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and a COVID-19 General Ward (GW) at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China confirmed that the virus was widely distributed on floors, computer mice, trash cans, and sickbed handrails. Another study found that bacteria and fungi can live on soles of shoes for up to five days.

Clarion^® 25 Microban Antimicrobial Floor Finish and Arena^® 300 Microban Antimicrobial Wood Floor Coating can provide an added level of 24/7 proactive protection against damaging microbes. Though Microban is not a substitute for normal cleaning practices, Microban protection continuously fights the growth of microbes, and makes floors easier to clean - keeping floors cleaner, longer at no additional cost to you.

Training Programs 

 

Buckeye’s training programs provide step-by-step manuals and customized wall charts to accompany in-depth, in-person training. Provide your staff with the proper products and procedures to meet the needs of your facility.

Social Distancing Decals

 

In order to reopen, facilities need to maintain safe daily habits in order to reduce the risk of exposure. This includes reminding patrons to wear face coverings, practice social distancing, and avoid public places when sick. Buckeye can help bring awareness to the people in your facility with social distancing signage at entrances, on floors, on walls, on carts, and at registers.

For more information about how Buckeye can assist your facility in reopening, contact your local Buckeye representative. 

As the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to evolve, it’s important to take steps to protect yourself and those around you. Buckeye takes COVID-19 seriously and continues to take a proactive approach in our effort to prevent the spread of germs. Buckeye programs strive to educate the public on the importance of best cleaning, disinfecting, and hand hygiene practices.

CDC Recommendations

Because there is no vaccine to prevent COVID-19, the CDC has presented several guidelines to help slow the spread. The CDC recommends:

Cleaning Your Hands OftenAvoid Close ContactCovering Your Mouth and Nose with a Cloth in PublicCovering Coughs and SneezesCleaning and Disinfecting

Cleaning and Disinfecting

According to the CDC, everyone should clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. As always, if surfaces are dirty, clean them. Then disinfect with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered disinfectant.

Several Buckeye products have been pre-approved by the EPA for use against emerging enveloped viral pathogens and can be used during the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak. This list includes:

Buckeye Sanicare Mint Quat^®  Buckeye Eco Neutral Disinfectant E23  Buckeye Eco One-Step Disinfectant-Deodorizer-Cleaner E22  Buckeye Sanicare Lemon Quat^®  Buckeye Sanicare Pine Quat^®  Buckeye Sanicare Quat 128^®  Buckeye Sanicare Quat 256^®  Buckeye Sani-Q2™  Buckeye Terminator^®    

24/7 Antimicrobial Product Protection 

A recent study confirmed that bacteria and fungi can live on soles of shoes for up to five days, making it important to remember to disinfect floors and shoes. In Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and a COVID-19 General Ward (GW) at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan China, another study showed SARS-CoV-2 positive tests for surfaces samples of floors, shoe soles of medical staff, computer mice, trash cans, sickbed handrails, and doorknobs.

Buckeye’s Clarion^® 25 Antimicrobial Floor Finish can proactively and continuously fight microbes on floors. With 24/7 protection, Microban^® technology disrupts the cells microorganisms making them unable to grow and reproduce. While not a substitute for normal cleaning practices, Microban protection continuously fights the growth of microbes, and makes floors easier to clean - keeping them cleaner, longer.

Hand HygieneCleaning your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is essential to slowing the spread of COVID-19. The CDC suggests using hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap is not readily available. The Symmetry^® Hand Hygiene Program offers hand soaps and hand sanitizers that will help keep your hands clean after blowing your nose, coughing, sneezing, or touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

To find the most up-to-date information about CVOID-19 and how you can help slow the spread, visit the CDC and WHO websites.

Did you know that 90% of a floor maintenance budget is spent on labor?

Reducing the amount of labor it takes to strip and refinish floors provides the biggest opportunity for total program cost savings. Buckeye has developed its Hard Floor Care Program with superior products and training in proper techniques to maximize labor savings. With Buckeye’s Hard Floor Care Program, facilities can save 20-40% of their floor maintenance budget.

Superior Products

Buckeye products are developed with patented Liquescent^® technology. This water-based technology strengthens the cleaning power of Buckeye products and replaces hazardous chemical ingredients including butyl, ammonia, solvents, and alcohol bases. Products like Buckeye’s RipSaw^® Floor Stripper use this technology to remove floor finish in one application.

Buckeye’s floor finishes use Renaissance^® Performance Polymers, specifically designed for Buckeye. Competitors buy polymers from companies who do not specialize in making floor finishes. Renaissance replicates exact polymer specifications for Buckeye floor finishes, which guarantees consistent results for customers. Because of this, Renaissance helps Buckeye floor finishes achieve maximum durability and water-clear clarity.

Clarion 25^® Microban Antimicrobial Floor Finish 

In addition to providing clarity and durability, Clarion 25 with Microban Technology provides 24/7 antimicrobial product protection. When microbes come in contact with the product surface, Microban technology penetrates the cell wall of the microorganism and disrupts the cell, making the microorganism unable to grow and reproduce.

Customized Training

Buckeye’s Hard Floor Care Program is tailored to your facility. Buckeye representatives provide in-person training to ensure staff members have a solid understanding of proper procedures. One Jacksonville, FL school’s head custodian notes Buckeye’s attention to training, saying, “The reps stand out, always coming by to check on me, offer help, or provide training.”

For schools and universities, Buckeye also provides the Honors^® Custodial Training Program. Available 24/7, this online program is complete with videos and tests to improve staff knowledge. Supervisors can view reports on test scores and conduct facility surveys to see how maintenance has improved over time.

To see how Buckeye’s Hard Floor Care Program can be customized to fit your facility, contact your local Buckeye representative.

Founded in 1984, Microban® International is a global leader in surface modification technology. Microban antimicrobial product protection provides added protection that inhibits the growth and reproduction of harmful bacteria, mold, and mildew. Microban’s goal is to provide live-on protection for products that prevents problems before they begin. Their goal is to give consumers peace of mind with their antimicrobial technologies.

Buckeye’s Clarion 25 floor finish is the first floor finish with built-in Microban technology. Clarion 25 uses Microban antimicrobial product protection to protect finished floors from the reproduction of microorganisms. Once Microban is infused into a product, it begins working as soon as a microorganism comes into contact with the product. It continuously works to prevent bacteria growth for the useful lifetime of the product.

Floors and the soles of shoes are sources of contamination in any facility. Whether you work in a healthcare facility, school, or retail space, the spread of germs can impact the health of visitors. Microban technology in Clarion 25 provides 24/7 antimicrobial product protection. This means your floors stay cleaner, longer because Microban prevents bacteria from multiplying between cleanings. Built-in protection can give you peace of mind while visitors walk the halls of your facility.

For more information on Clarion 25 with Microban technology, contact your local Buckeye representative.