JUNE, 2002

COMPANY'S SCENT IS GETTING PICKED
"Orange Cleaners Gain in Popularity, Driving Up the Price"

THE TIMES-UNION
By: Kristen Moczynski

ST. AUGUSTINE -- It looks like milk and smells like a sweet orange Creamsicle, but this boat cleaner, its makers say, is a pioneering product in the cleaning industry.

During the days of lemon-scented cleaners, Wallace and Sons owner Toni Main took a different route and opted for an orange scent when developing a degreaser for boat bilges, the lower parts of ships' hulls.

Nine years later, other companies are catching on and causing the price of the orange scent to rise. "Everybody's getting on the bandwagon," said Main, who operates her business out of a small warehouse off State Road 207.

In May 1993, Main was looking to develop a natural bilge cleaner that wouldn't pollute the water or harm sea life. But she wanted it to smell good.

Main asked her chemical suppliers to develop an orange scent for her Tuf-Enuf bilge cleaner, part of a family of cleaning products. The result was twofold -- the orange chemical, called d'limonene, cut through grease and smelled great.

"I just love the smell of fresh oranges," Main said. "It smells wonderful. That's why everyone is going to the orange."

Recently, Racine, Wis.-based SC Johnson & Son Inc. announced new orange-scented versions of its Fantastik and Pledge products. The Web site markets the Fantastik Orange Action as "an advanced formula that powers through grease and grime on more surfaces than other leading orange cleaners."

Greenwood Village, Colo.-based Orange Glo International, maker of 25 orange cleaning products, also produces a multipurpose cleaner that "leaves your house smelling like a freshly peeled orange," according to its Web site.

John Otterson of International Flavors and Fragrances in Jacksonville, a flavor and fragrance supplier with offices in 37 countries, said the orange chemical aids cleaners with disinfecting and degreasing agents.

"It's not just a nice citrusy smell. They [orange chemicals] have some good properties," he said.

Main said the price of d'limonene, an oily penetrating agent made from orange peel, has risen 12 percent in recent months, but she has not raised the price of her cleaning product.

Tuf-Enuf Bilge Cleaner retails for $29.95 a gallon -- on the high end of bilge-cleaning products. "But you get what you pay for," Main said.

But Main's daughter, Karen McGee, said the company already is seeing effects of d'limonene's price increase.

"We're eating plenty," she said about assuming the ingredient's extra cost. But they hope to hold off raising their prices until after the first of the year.

"I want to see if this orange thing lasts," Main said. "Maybe they'll find that it's too expensive."

D'limonene not only breaks up grease, it penetrates plastic, Main said. So the bottles have to be specially coated for protection, another added cost.

The chemical is shipped usually from Brazil, Main said, even though Florida is home to vast orange groves.

Josh Snively, vice president of Florida Chemical in Winter Haven, said the price of d'limonene also has risen because of bad orange crops.

"But demand is certainly an important aspect of that," he said, adding the timing of orange popularity hit when crops were poor.

The price will come down, Snively said. Just how much though depends on the rising demand for the scent.

Wallace and Sons ships about 500 gallons of the bilge cleaner each month to industrial and household consumers all over the world. Demand for the product is growing. And the rising costs won't deter Main from continuing to use the scent in her products.

"I still would not give up the citrus scent," she said.

Main is looking to add a boat soap to the line of Tuf-Enuf products.

"I still haven't decided what kind of scent I want," she said with a smile.