Antoine Raynor’s all-natural cleaning product business Quartz Environmental Solutions came about after four weeks in the hospital.

“I had a health scare, and King Edward really saved my life,” Mr Raynor said.

While a patient there, however, he noticed a “weird” smell around the disinfectants the cleaning staff used in his room.

“The cleaning staff did not seem to like the products, either,” he said. “Before I even thought of it as a business, I was thinking they need something else. At that point though, I did not know what.”

Back at home, he had to make sure his environment was well sterilised.

One day, he was cleaning out his dog’s kennel when he almost knocked himself unconscious by mixing bleach with another household cleanser.

“Boy, was that a mistake!” he said. “It created a kind of gas bomb.”

He had to get himself and his dog out of the room, pronto.

“The smell of it just stayed in my nose for ages,” he said.

Friends involved in environmental organisations had been warning for years about the dangers of household disinfectants.

“I was slow to get into the green thing,” he admitted.

Some common cleaners can cause damage to the upper respiratory tract after prolonged or repeated exposure; and excess use of bleach can lead to water and soil contamination, and air pollution.

There are also concerns about the long-term impact of alcohols in hand sanitiser.

After Mr Raynor’s experience in the dog kennel, he started looking for cleansers that were friendlier to the body and the environment.

He turned to his friend Michael Markham, whose business, Bermuda Securities Ltd, sold a line of green cleaners and disinfectants called Pure & Clean.

They had the exclusive rights to the products, but Mr Markham had become busy with other things.

Working in association with Mr Markham, Mr Raynor created Quartz Environmental Solutions Ltd, to take on the selling of Pure & Clean commercial and domestic products and wound care items.

“These products have no alcohol,” he said. Instead, Pure & Clean uses hypochlorous acid, a naturally occurring compound found in the body. “It is non-toxic.”

According to the product literature, the wound cleaner is safe around the eyes, nose, ears and mouth.

Since fear of Covid-19 infection has been waning, he has had to work hard to maintain interest in the Pure & Clean disinfectant line.

“People have relaxed a bit, but we have still had some high-profile Covid-19 breakouts from the coronavirus,” he said. “There are also other things you can get sick from.”

Another challenge was that some clients found it expensive to pay for his products and hire a separate cleaning team.

To rectify that, he added a cleaning division that includes three staff members, plus four people to spray disinfectant for clients such as transportation companies.

“We work with a company that transports the elderly,” Mr Raynor said.

Bermuda Securities Ltd had several local schools using their Pure & Clean items. Mr Raynor is hoping to incorporate those contracts into his own business.

“We just want to get the word out there,” he said. “Obviously, I have a vested interest in these products, but I would not sell them if I did not believe in them.”

Mr Raynor has worked as a journalist and a politician. He ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for Warwick North Central in 2020.