The answer to that question might surprise you. It’s not just dirty, it’s dirtier than that toilet handle you pulled 5 minutes ago in the public restroom; 270 times dirtier in fact. While we have all known that carts are relatively dirty for a while now, and some people have been wiping them down with the little container of wipes left at the entrance of most grocery stores for years, Covid-19 has shown a new light on just how dirty carts can be. They truly are the epicenter of potential virus and bacterial spread in grocery, or other retail settings where they are present. A recent study linked above, showed just how dirty these carts can be. Not only this but their level of contamination is seemingly impacted by the size and overall cleanliness of the store at hand. The results and comparisons within the image below are truly astonishing.
Superstores and traditional grocery stores show the most gram-negative bacteria. This can cause all sorts of infections from the common cold, all the way to strep or other forms of serious illness. We has to begin thinking about addressing this issue in a manner that is efficient, safe, and thorough. The grocery stores of the future will undeniably all have to account for shopper safety, and that begins with the cart.
So what can be done? Well, big box and grocery brands have tried to address the issue by hiring employees to wipe down, or potentially even spray the carts with some form of sanitizing solution. Not only does this lack efficiency, it also lacks thoroughness and safety. Human cleaning inevitably lacks the ability to clean and sanitize every single section of the cart that you as the consumer might touch. Harsh chemical sprays also have to dry or remain present on the cart for long periods of time to actually kill the viruses and bacteria present. Not only that, but there have even been some cases documented where children have been burned by these solutions.
This leaves the market with a wide hole when it comes to truly sterilizing shopping carts. Thus, we set out to solve that problem for both the consumers (which we are ourselves) and the grocers (many of whom have been our clients for years in other retail fabrication settings). Enter UVC sterilization. We like to call it the power of light! Read more about it here and learn how it can kill bacteria and viruses in merely seconds. This is the same technology that hospitals use to sterilize operating rooms and hospital beds. It checks all of the boxes, it’s safe, provides thorough cleaning, and is scalable. This led Bluewater to create Soteria a complete and enclosed shopping cart sterilization system powered by UVC sanitization. Put a shopping cart into the machine (which takes up a very small amount of space in the store by the way) and out it comes the other end in merely seconds fully clean. There aren’t any chemicals, or harsh solutions, just light. The grocery store of the future will feature Soteria systems that reduce the cost of human labor, and provide safety and security for their customers. Learn more about Soteria shopping cart UVC sterilization today by contacting us.
