Disposable shoe covers have been the industry standard for protecting facilities from harmful pathogen spread via employee footwear. Shoe covers are easy to apply and it appears that the per unit cost is inexpensive, but when facilities look at the true cost of disposable shoe covers, the true cost is apparent and substantial.
Sustainability Concerns of Shoe Covers
Before we get into the financial cost of shoe covers, it is important to talk about waste. While plastic waste of some variety is enviable in production facilities, it is important to try to lessen the impact of single use plastics. Disposable shoe covers are the perfect example of a product to eliminate if your business is looking to improve sustainability. Our experience and research in the field has found that the average employee puts on and discards an average of 5 pairs of shoe covers per day. Now it is good to see proper application and disposal of soiled or damaged shoe covers but if each employee is using 10 shoe covers per day multiplied by 50 employees, we are seeing 500 disposable shoe covers going into the trash a day, multiply that by a year and we see nearly 200,000 shoe covers heading towards the landfill. Corporations are looking to lessen their environmental impact more than ever and eliminating disposable shoe covers is a great place to start at.
Cost Examples of Disposable Shoe Covers in Food Production Facilities
Meritech has done cost analysis of the average cost of shoe covers in production facilities of a variety of sizes. These examples were created using the assumption of a production facility working 7 days a week and each employee using 5 pairs of shoe covers per day. Several popular competitor's products were used for a price reference: Shoe Covers - Disposable and Hand Soap.
Example #1: Hygiene Program Cost of a Facility with 50 Employees
In this example, the facility has 50 employees and are currently using a standard hand soap and shoe covers. Based on usage and costs, their current hygiene program would cost roughly $40,000 per year. Switching to Meritech and installing a CleanTech® EVO One with Sole Clean Enhancement would cost $29,700 in the first year to cover the cost of the new equipment, but every consecutive year would only cost $8,010 in materials. This indicates a first year savings of $10,000, followed by consecutive year savings of more than $30,000. This is significant cost savings by switching to Meritech's Automated Hygiene versus the current program.
Example #2: Hygiene Program Cost of a Facility with 100 Employees
In this example, the facility is larger with 100 employees. They are using the same standard hand soap and the same shoe covers for their hygiene program. Their projected expense for this hygiene program is roughly $80,000 per year. Switching to a CleanTech® EVO Three with Sole Clean Enhancement for this hygiene program would have an upfront cost of roughly $40,000 and then the following year price would be $12,000. This is a first year saving of 50% and the following years the production facility could stand to save up to 85% of the cost of the current hygiene program!
Example #3: Hygiene Program Cost of a Facility with 200 Employees
This is the largest example that we have created, with a facility of 200 employees using a standard hygiene program of hand soap and disposable shoe covers. This current hygiene program is expected to cost this facility nearly $160,000 dollars per year. By switching to three CleanTech® EVO Three with Sole Clean Enhancement, the facility stands to save $80,000 the first year (this savings is lower than following years to cover the cost of the new equipment) and over $130,000 per following year. The cost savings are huge when switching from disposable shoe covers to dry footwear sanitization from Meritech.
From a cost perspective, it's evident that disposable shoe covers come with hidden expenses. The sustainability and financial implications make them a subpar choice for food production facilities. Interested in getting your own personalized cost savings quote from a hygiene expert for your facility?
