The mission of Northwest Exterminating’s Green Pest program is simple: to create healthier living environments and control pests in a way nature intended.

The program, founded in 2006, aims to be as environmentally friendly as possible and offer reassurance for clients’ children and pets. Since the program launched, Rockwell Labs products have helped the company accomplish those goals.

“We only use products with actives derived either from botanicals or minerals, and that’s kind of been our standpoint as we’ve designed our program throughout the years. What fits in that program has to meet that stipulation,” says Adam Vannest, ACE, vice president of training and technical services at Marietta, Ga.-based Northwest Exterminating.

Throughout the years, several green products have entered the market, but Northwest Exterminating has found success specifically with Rockwell Labs’ offerings, including its InTice 10, CimeXa and EcoVia WH.

“The very first product that we incorporated into our Green Pest program was the InTice 10 Perimeter Bait,” Vannest recalls. “We were looking for something that we could use as a general application around the exterior of our customers’ homes, and target multiple insect pressures that we had in our area. It fit in right from the very beginning, and it’s been part of our rotation since then.”

Finding a product that met Northwest Exterminating’s stipulations was a challenge, but InTice 10 offered an all-encompassing solution for the company.

“Its active ingredient is a boric acid that fits our program,” Vannest says. “We find it highly attractive for the pests we’re dealing with in the area. It also has a broad label, which allows us to use it where we need to — indoors and outdoors — so it fits where we need to use it, when we need to use it. It has done a very good job, from both a corrective action and a preventative action, to help us reduce pest problems before they happen.”

The company specializes in several areas of pest management and has used Rockwell Labs products to treat a number of insects, including ants, bed bugs, wasps and hornets.

“In the southeast, we have constant pressure with Argentine and odorous house ants, so some of their ant products have really helped us out,” Vannest says. “We’ve used the InTice 10 and InTice Gelanimo ant bait a fair amount. CimeXa was also a game changer as an alternative to some other dust products we were using when targeting bed bugs. We’ve also used the InTice cockroach bait — that’s part of our Green Pest program, and so is the EcoVia WH.”

Upholding the “green” status has been paramount for Northwest Exterminating as it grows its Green Pest program, and integrating environmentally friendly products plays a critical role in maintaining that status.

“I think Rockwell Labs has been one of the leaders in trying to figure out how to use mineral or botanical products,” Vannest says. “They’re constantly bringing new products into the market that fit into what they label as their ‘green zone,’ but are also products that are attractive to us because they fit our ‘green’ definition.