If you think your building has no mold, read this

According to the Centre for Disease Control, even if you can’t see or smell it, there is “always a little mold everywhere” – in the air and on many surfaces. And most buildings, particularly those using cardboard-framed filters (which is most of them), have more than just a little. They have measurable amounts of mold and bacteria.

Think about it. Cardboard is not a secure seal. Cardboard gets wet. Cardboard can fails and breeds mold. Moisture in the air and in air conditioning systems weakens the frame letting in more mold and bacteria from outside.

And everyone from the World Health Organization to CDC to Health Canada have linked mold in buildings and homes to hay fever-like symptoms, asthma, difficulty breathing, headaches and other chronic ailments. In fact, 50% of all illnesses are aggravated by poor indoor air quality (American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology).

The upshot is that most businesses purchase the cheapest cardboard filter. In their view it’s a commodity to be tossed and replaced every three months or so.

But that’s a shortsighted viewpoint. We spend 90% of our time inside. Staffing is 90% of operating costs. And when you’re talking about numbers that big, the impact of mold on your people represents big dollars – thousands and tens of thousands – in absenteeism (2.4-4% of payroll), poor productivity (8-11%) and sky-high insurance costs.

So tenants or employees, if you could change the air in your building, increase productivity, reduce health and insurance costs, have better employee/tenant retention and happier, healthier people, save thousands – and use the only fully recyclable air filter in the world (as proven by multiple environmental awards) – why wouldn’t you?

We see it as a competitive edge no matter what business you’re in.

And, in case you need more convincing: According to the World Green Building Council, 34% of office workers polled in the US said it caused missed time at work. Absenteeism cost the Canadian economy an estimated $16.6 billion in 2012. 77% of 94,000 workers in the US have a chronic health condition, with lost productivity equaling $84 billion (gallup).