Innovation in the Time of Coronavirus: Out with the Juice, in With the Hand Sanitizer

The world turns no matter what and, for the most part, we turn with it. It is only when something comes along to throw us out of balance that we find ourselves in a dead stop or, for some getting dizzy. This year, that something has been the coronavirus.

For our key partner, Envirotech Chemical Services Inc, the sudden response to the virus meant a heightened demand for one of the products – hand sanitizer.  Though they had the raw product in ready supply, they quickly realized that it was impossible to keep up with demand with their current packaging process.
They reached out to us at Meras Water Solutions to deal with the end-user interface. We began to distribute the hand sanitizer through our shop, prioritizing front-line workers, and essential services. Still, within a week, orders were backlogged for six more weeks.

This predicament was weighing on our CEO, Bryan O’Connell’s mind when he attended his monthly Alliance of Chief Executive Officer meeting. At the meeting, Grant Carlson the CEO of Good Use shared his own company’s struggle.

Good Use is a company that recovers otherwise discarded produce from local vendors in order to create artisan juice that he then distributes largely to office buildings in the Bay Area. Due to the mandates in place, most of his customer base was working from home. The loss of revenue meant that his packaging plant was at a stand-still and that layoffs were likely in the future.
Bryan saw an opportunity. If Good Use could put its packaging plant to work processing Envirotech’s sanitizer, they could not only supplement their lost profits, but our customers would also receive better, more timely service. That day, an unlikely partnership was born between a chemical manufacturer and a juice company.

Together, we have created a whole new service that addressed the customer’s immediate needs, protected jobs, and ultimately helped the world be just a little bit safer.  You can now find Envirotech’s quality hand sanitizer parceled up neatly in Good Use’s bag-in-a-box packaging for sale on their website. You can find hand sanitizer and other high-quality industrial-strength surface sanitizers for sale on Meras Water Solutions website.

In this time of confusion and fear, the answer to our individual struggles would have never been found within. Instead, we looked outward and made the connections that allowed us to thrive where it would have been very easy to lose our footing. So, yes, the world keeps turning but it is much easier to stay standing when you have partners around to lend support.