INDUSTRIAL

About - History

L-44® Safer Choice Products

With so many options for your cleaning and degreasing applications, finding a product that is recognized for safety, performance, worker exposure, and environmental concerns is increasingly more important. Our team’s goal, since formulating our flagship product L-44® ECD in 2008, is to give the industrial and maritime industries safe, highly-effective, and cost-efficient products that assure worker and our environmental safety.

Our Why – Worker & Environmental Safety

For decades, degreasers have been formulated with ingredients that pose serious risks with respect to worker exposure and the environment. These products are frequently blended with strong alkalis and solvents in order to enhance their efficiency in cleaning oily or greasy soils.

While effective, these formulations have been and will continue to be the cause of worker injury in the form of skin complications and eye damage. From a safety standpoint, these products pose potential liabilities for the employer along with risks to workers. Additionally, their use adversely impacts air quality as a result of volatile solvents which can evaporate into the atmosphere.

Thankfully, in many areas of the country, these harmful ingredients have been targeted or restricted by legislation. Local, state, and federal agencies are aggressively promoting chemical manufacturers replace the old toxic chemicals with newer, more eco-and-human-compatible choices.

We believe our growing line of L-44® products will not only meet your expectations for performance, but we are also confident in its economies of use, and certain our Safer Choice-labeled products will alleviate your concerns for the worker and the planet while contributing to efficiencies and cost-control.

The Process to EPA “Safer Choice” Certification

L-44® ECD Degreaser, the cornerstone and concept product of our line of L-44 trademarked cleaning products, was specifically designed for marine and river operations. The process was long and involved; our dedication to making the safest degreasing product with top performance was steadfast.

  • Early 2008 – laboratory development began.
  • Throughout 2009 – actual field trials and many revised formulas.
  • Late 2009 – final formulation submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for recognition under the qualifying criteria of the Safer Choice Program.
  • December 2009 – awarded a “Recognized Partnership” by the EPA.

What “Safer Choice” Certification Means

December 2009, we excitedly announced our company and product had been awarded a “Recognized Partnership” by the EPA. Granted with our new partnership was the right to use the “U.S. EPA/Safer Choice” logo on our label and associated literature. The Safer Choice logo attests that our product has been rigorously tested, reviewed, and certified as compliant under the lengthy requirements of Safer Choice Standards for this focused EPA program of environmental safety and human health concerns.

Our Full Product Line – Fulfilling Safer Choice Standards

As with our other products, our most recently approved L-44® OSD’s development was the result of a direct request by a respected industry member. Our roll in this industry/formulator/EPA process was to ensure and research the starting ingredient base for performance characteristics, but most importantly as it impacts concerns for worker safety and the environment.

We feel this interchange of all involved represents a perfect example of how industry, manufacturing, and regulatory agencies can, and have worked together to achieve a common goal for safer chemicals. This is not just a nice feature for our product – it exemplifies the value of the process, a cooperative effort of many that resulted in better products for a better environment, and when combined, dramatically supports an even greater value – a better planet for us all.

Contact Our Team Today

Be sure to view our entire line of L-44® products and contact us if you have any questions or to place your order. We love to help, answer questions, and make it easy to get the industrial-strength degreasers and outdoor cleaning products you need to get the job done well and with safety for all. 855-638-8661

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What People Say

  • “Our company enjoys a very special supplier relationship with the Henry A. Petter Supply Company of Paducah Ky. To have our L-44® products associated with this historic and respected 105 year service provider to the river and marine industry is a an enormous privilege and advantage for our company. We are humbled for our association with Petter’s known reputation in the industry”

    Henry A. Petter Supply

  • “Thanks again for the opportunity to test your L-44® degreaser in our harbor fleeting operations. I now see why you had enough confidence in your product to offer a free sample for testing. Boy, were we pleased with the results! It’s nice to see a degreaser that not only cleans well, but also one that is safe for our employees and our equipment. Thanks again for opportunity to test your degreaser.” You now have a new happy customer!

    Terry F. Ferebee
    VP Vessel Operations, Helena Marine Service, Inc.

  • “I wanted to take a minute to thank you and Custom Compounders for putting out the L44ECD degreaser. Our crews use your degreaser on a daily basis and feel that it preforms very well. As the manager of our facility I appreciate the fact that your degreaser is user friendly, environmentally friendly, and meets or exceeds our government standards. I regularly pass the information on L44 along to others that we work with in the industry including fuel and oil suppliers.”

    Karl Berthelot
    Manager BMI Ste. Gen.

  • “I have worked for Luhr Bros. Inc. for 26 yrs on the boats and in their office. I came in the office in 1996 as a Safety Manager. We have been using the “L-44 ECD” Degreaser for about 4 yrs. From my perspective as a Safety Professional, the L-44 “ECD” Degreaser we are using is better than any other degreasers we have used by far. With “L-44 ECD” Degreaser we have an environmentally safe product, and no crew members having to attend medical facilities due to being burned by direct skin contact. Also it does a great job cleaning our engines and not fading the paint job. I encourage all the river companies to give it a try.”

    Bill Klingel
    Luhr Bros Inc. Marine Division

  • “We enjoy an honored privilege for the opportunity extended our company by Joe Brantley of AEP River Operations to have L-44® ECD Degreaser evaluated as part of their corporate “Go Green” mission aboard the mv. Donna Rushing. We are uniquely indebted to AEP, and for the detailed efforts of Rob Korte and Jim Wilson for their testing reviews of L-44® ECD on multiple tugboats of the AEP fleet."

    Project Go Green

  • “I have been using degreasers for many years and have never had the quality of degreaser that I am now using with the L-44 ECD. It reduces the amount of time I have to spend in the engine room cleaning which allows me more time to concentrate on my other duties. The younger generation of engineers are going to be spoiled by using a higher quality of degreaser than we had to use in the past. They will spend less time cleaning and no burning or skin irritation when it comes in contact with your skin.”

    Rick Myers, Chief Engineer, M/V Twyla Luhr