Environmentally friendly killers

New Terminix products can be used in food areas

Memphis Business Journal
Jul 27, 2010
By Michael Sheffield

Terminix has developed two new environmentally friendly products directed at commercial and residential customers that it expects to drive sales in future years. The products, Terminix Natural Pest Control and Terminix Drain Fly Killer, are manufactured from botanical oils, including geranium oil, and are designed to kill insects including ants, cockroaches, flies and spiders on contact. Natural ingredients allow Natural Pest Control to be used in areas that normal pest control products cant be used, such as food preparation areas. The demand for natural products is growing in the pest control industry, says Lonnie Anderson, manager of commercial service and quality compliance for Memphis-based Terminix. The products currently represent less than 5% of Terminixs pest control sales, but he says that number could reach up to 20% in the next five years. Consumers want to inherently use things that are more environmentally friendly, especially as it relates to pest control, Anderson says. Pete Nelson, director of the Agbioworks Program with Memphis Bioworks Foundation, says as consumer demand and government regulations increase, along with improvements in product engineering, more viable naturally derived products will be available. Theres going to be more consumer demand related to anything concerning human health or nutrition, Nelson says. This will open the door for other companies in Memphis to make these types of products as well. Terminix offers two versions of Natural Pest Control. The residential product is offered as part of the quarterly spraying service the company offers. Service technicians leave behind a bottle for customers to use in case they need to kill pests between service calls. Stephen Good, senior vice president of business development for Terminix, says the company has distributed more than 300,000 bottles to residential customers across the country since it was released early this year. Good says 65% of the customers who have used it are pleased with the results. Florida-based startup company Tyratech developed the original blend of ingredients for the products, Good says. The botanical oils are refined into a compound that, when sprayed, attaches to the receptors of insects and kills them. Good says other natural pest control products contain similar ingredients, but the effectiveness comes from the percentage of ingredients used in the mixture. The commercial version sells for $80 to $100 per case. Terminix sells the products through Sysco Corp. and U.S. Food Services. While Terminix hasnt traditionally sold consumer versions of its products, Anderson says it opted to sell Natural Pest Control and Drain Fly Killer as a complement to the quarterly service it offers to commercial clients and to gauge demand for the products among commercial customers. Bob Land, an associate with Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects who is certified in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, says cutting down on the use of hazardous chemicals through natural products has a built-in demand as building owners look to be more environmentally conscious. Health concerns also factor into their popularity. With more people getting asthma and buildings being designed much tighter, we need to pay more attention to the chemicals we put in them, Land says. That covers the gamut from the layout and efficiency of the building to chemicals used in the buildings construction to pesticides, he says. Terminix has also developed an outdoor sentry system that uses similar botanical oils to repel mosquitos and flies for up to 20 hours in an area of 900 square feet. The product costs $379. Anderson says the company also has unveiled a rapid freeze system that freezes bedbugs in hotel rooms, immediately eliminating the problem without taking rooms off-line for a period of days, which is required through traditional chemical means. At the end of the day, you want to kill the bugs, and if it required a crop duster, some people would say, do it,  Good says. This blend of chemistry and natural products works as well as and better than synthetics. Terminix President: Tom Brackett Address: 860 Ridge Lake Blvd. Phone: (901) 597-3000 Web site: www.terminix.com msheffield@bizjournals.com | (901) 259-1722