Finally, a Method for the madness of keeping a clean home. Method Products makes and sells home-cleaning products, hand and body cleansers, and air fresheners and candles. It differentiates itself from larger, more established competitors through innovative design -- dish-washing liquid in sleek bowling-pin-shaped bottles, teardrop hand soap bottles, and futuristic-looking mops. It also carves its niche by offering nontoxic, environmentally friendly products in a price range that costs less green. Products are sold at Target, Office Depot, Costco, and other major retailers and grocery stores in the US, Canada, and the UK. Chemical engineer Adam Lowry and account planner Eric Ryan founded the firm in 2001.

H. Heller & Co.'s loading dock is where the rubber meets the road. The company manufactures plastic and rubber raw materials through affiliated companies American Thermoplastics, Heller Performance Polymers, and Gulf Performance Polymers. Heller manufactures thermoplastic resins, recycled plastics, and rubber compounds and additives; it also provides custom blending and compounding. The company serves customers in the packaging, film, wire and cable, and sheet and molding industries throughout Canada, Mexico, and the US.

Buckman Laboratories International defends the world against tiny invaders. The global specialty chemicals manufacturer originated as a producer of chemicals that control the growth of microorganisms such as mold and fungi. Today the company's more than 1,000 products are key to aqueous industrial processes used in manufacturing and treating pulp and paper, leather, paint, coatings, plastics, and wood. They include chemical intermediates, coagulants, corrosion inhibitors, defoamers, dispersants, flocculants, microbicides, polymers, and scale inhibitors. The family of founder Stanley Buckman owns the company through Bulab Holdings.

Not all chemicals are a naturalist's nightmare. Croda International gets most of its sales from its industrial specialties segment, primarily from oleochemicals (chemicals that are derived from natural oils). Other products made by that segment include polymer additives, coatings, and automotive and industrial lubricants. Its other segment is consumer care and includes products for the personal care, health care, and agricultural industries. For example, wool grease (more commonly known as lanolin) and its derivatives are used in nearly every cosmetic from lipstick to moisturizers as well as in medical care treatment products.

When super glue isn't enough, it's time to turn to the pros at Sound Specialty Coatings. The company makes epoxy, paint, coating, and adhesive products for residential, commercial, maritime, and military uses. They also manufacture hydrophobic and antistatic coatings for use in clean rooms, on rebar, in fisheries, for the lining of brewery tanks, and for marine vessels. Their products are nontoxic and environmentally friendly, which means anyone can use them.

ADEKA serves the chemically dependent. The company's sales come primarily from producing chemicals including caustic soda (used in soap and paper), oleochemicals, additives for resins and polymers, and electronic materials. Founded in 1917 as a part of the Furukawa Group, ADEKA expanded into margarine in 1929 and now also makes shortening, mayonnaise, and raw food materials, among other food items. Independent now, ADEKA operates primarily in Japan, but also has business throughout Asia as well as in France, Germany, and the US.

Rodda Paint, one of the largest paint manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest, makes paints and other coatings that it sells in its 45 stores located throughout Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In the summer of 2004 Rodda joined forces with an even larger regional paints maker, Canadian company Cloverdale Paint. The two companies merged operations but planned to keep using separate names in their respective countries and to maintain separate management teams. Art Rodda founded Rodda Paint in 1932.

SNF manufactures water soluble polymers such as synthetic flocculants, coagulants, and dispersants used for municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment. Other industries served by SNF include paper processing, textile printing, oil production, agriculture, and personal-care products manufacturing. The American arm of French polymer maker SNF Floerger, the company has about a dozen polymer production facilities around the US. Business units include Chemtall, Floquip (polymer preparation equipment), Polychemie, and Polydyne.

Where does Barbie get her red lips and blue eyes? From the color-loving folks at Coatings Resource Corporation (CRC). The company makes paints, lacquers, and varnishes for use on metal and wood products, as well as injectable colorants, blowing agents, processing aids, UV stabilizers, and anti-oxidants used on various types of plastics. The company's products are used in automotive interiors, consumer electronics, and sporting goods in addition to toys. President Edwin Laird founded Coatings Resource in 1976 and sold it to international coatings giant PPG in 2007.

Toagosei Co. is active in both organic and inorganic chemicals. The company's largest business segments produce acrylic acids and esters (used in fibers, rubber, and paper processors) and chloralkali chemicals, including caustic soda and chlorine. Toagosei also is a major producer of plastic products such as PVC pipe and couplings and other inorganic chemicals such as sulfuric acid (used in fertilizers) and industrial gases (oxygen and nitrogen) for medical use. The company also produces adhesives, including instant adhesive Aron Alpha, which is better known as Crazy Glue in the US. In 2010 Toagosei formed a joint venture with Mitsui Chemicals to produce ethylene carbonates for lithium ion batteries.

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