If I were to ask you how long has hand sanitizer been around, what would you say?

30 years? 40 years? 50+ years?

What if I told you that it was only commercially marketed as of 1997, and further to that, became “mainstream” as of the early 2000s, less than 20 years ago.

It’s easy to think that it has been around for longer, especially as it has become an integral part of our lives over the past 6 months where time has seemingly stood still.

How is this relevant to device sanitization? Read on…

Most attribute the emergence of hand sanitizer into the public consciousness to GOJO (a company named after the founders Goldie and Jerry Lippman) and the launch of Purell, which was the first hand sanitizer to use 70% ethyl alcohol (endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control in 2002 as as effective alternative to hand washing when soap and water were not available).

The CDC also noted that in certain applications (a nurse in the ICU for example), use of hand sanitizer could save upwards of an hour’s worth of time in an eight hour shift.

Effective, and time saving.

Then came the next major boost for hand sanitizer, 2009, which many of you may remember as the year of H1N1. The World Health Organization came out and gave a further boost to hand sanitizer by endorsing it as an effective option for health care professionals, especially those in countries where access to soap and water wasn’t as prevalent.

Sales of hand sanitizer jumped by 70% in 2009 in the U.S. alone. And then, of course, came 2020. We are all too familiar these days with the run on hand sanitizer early on in the pandemic. Companies have pivoted to produce their own hand sanitizer products to fill the gap in need. 100s of millions of dollars are being spent on hand sanitizers in the U.S. alone.

Today, it is estimated that the global market for hand sanitizer could top $2.1 Billion by 2027.

Phone sanitization is about to follow a similar trajectory. It wasn’t that we weren’t talking about phone hygiene before the current pandemic...we were. The challenge is that there has not been an effective solution on the market that has combined true efficacy, accessibility, and the ability to be fast while integrating into our daily lives.

Hand sanitizer is also NOT an effective solution for cleaning your phone. The alcohol in the product ends up eroding the oil-based coating on a phone’s screen, which effectively renders it less touch-sensitive and water-resistant over time.

Newer, UV-C light based technologies are being used to deliver doses of specific wavelengths to deactivate viruses and bacteria by breaking down their DNA.

There is a wide spectrum of solutions available. There has yet to be a “Purell” of the phone sanitization world.

Glissner is creating a suite of solutions that combine the industrial, commercial-grade efficacy of UV-C light, and make it available in accessible, safe to use, and time saving devices, starting with the CleanPhone™

Our goal is to be the leader in the space, while we help businesses continue to be leaders in theirs.

We are here to help.

Reach out, and let’s talk!

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