Phil Pastore and Mark Snyder, entrepreneurs from Scarborough, have created a new specialty cleaning cloth that is truly unique to the marketplace.

That’s because the cloth is made in Maine from wood fiber and it rinses 99.9 percent germ-free after each use. It can also be used for a variety of tasks from doing the dishes, to mopping the floors, to food prep cleanup and more.

DuraFresh is the first commercially available product from GLOBEco Maine, the new company Pastore and Snyder founded to create the “next generation of sustainable bio-products,” according to Pastore, the chief executive officer.

Pastore is in charge of all “operational activities from manufacturing, general management and sales, to sweeping the floor,” he said, while Snyder “is responsible for day-to-day sales and new business development.”

Pastore has more than 20 years of experience in creating high-tech materials, including many from wood fiber, which he calls “the fastest replenishing and most abundant natural resource on earth.”

Snyder, meanwhile, spent 28 years with Tom’s of Maine, which produces natural personal hygiene products from soap to toothpaste.

Both men are also longtime residents of Scarborough, where they are also neighbors.

What makes the DuraFresh cloth special, Pastore said, is that it “promotes healthier living, saves consumers hard-earned money, and the more it’s used the more it reduces environmental waste,” such as paper towels or other one-use cleaning methods.

GLOBEco Maine, which received a $240,000 Community Development Block Grant that was matched by investment funds from Coastal Enterprises Inc., has set up shop in a former Hathaway shirt facility in Dover-Foxcroft, where the DuraFresh cloth is produced.

Pastore said in the nearly five months the plant has been in operation, GLOBEco has received orders from more than 300 stores for the DuraFresh cloth.

And, he said, “People are using (the cloth) for virtually everything. It usually starts off in the kitchen. As it wears, it often gets relegated to the bathroom and since it becomes incredibly soft, it (also) makes a great polishing cloth.”

Although GLOBEco currently gets its wood fiber material from oversees suppliers, the goal is to eventually buy the material from suppliers right here in Maine.

And, at the plant in Dover-Foxcroft, local workers are employed to “weave, cut, sew and package” the DuraFresh cloth, Pastore said.

The overall goal, he said, is “to re-establish Maine’s heritage in textiles in what we believe to be a new products industry based on sustainable bio-materials. Maine has a work ethic and ingenuity second to none, which we believe we can develop into a hub for global supply of this next-generation family of products.”

Pastore added, “We have an industrious, available work force and an infrastructure that represents tremendous opportunity to launch a progressive manufacturing operation.”

In addition to being made from a renewable product, the DuraFresh cloth is also biodegradable and can be composted unlike most synthetic micro fibers, which adds a significant sustainability factor.

That’s one of the reasons that Coastal Enterprises Inc. was so keen to invest, according to Cole Palmer, one of the company’s loan and investment officers.

Palmer said Coastal Enterprises has a strong interest in “natural resource-based products that can be reused.” He also said that DuraFresh’s “durability and quality were key factors” in the decision to help fund manufacture of the specialty cleaning cloth.

He also said the “high level of experience” and the “capable management” provided by the leadership of Pastore and Snyder was also “very appealing when lending to a startup” like GLOBEco.

And, Palmer said, the financial projections provided by the duo were “believable.” They also showed there would be “wide product acceptance and strong customer loyalty.”

Another key factor, according to Paul Scalzone, the director of workforce solutions at Coastal Enterprises, is that GLOBEco is a locally owned company creating manufacturing jobs in an economically depressed region of Maine.

He said five people are currently working at the Dover-Foxcroft plant with plans for the workforce to double during the next six- to nine months.

Pastore said that while he and Snyder are thrilled with how the rollout of DuraFresh has gone so far, the two also have “big ideas for bringing smarter, more sustainable solutions to the global market. And, (we) are committed to making (those products) here in Maine.”

Overall, GLOBEco “is dedicated to producing sustainable, high-performing products that promote healthier living, environmental responsibility and consumer value,” according to the company’s website.

“We aim to be the industry leader and preferred supplier for wood-based, innovative, effective products while energizing our local economies, providing long-term prosperity and setting an example for exemplary social, environmental and corporate responsibility,” the website adds.

A CLOSER LOOK

See www.durafreshcloth.com for more information about the new specialty cleaning cloth produced by Scarborough residents and neighbors, Mark Snyder and Phil Pastore.

Mark Snyder, left, and Phil Pastore, Scarborough residents and neighbors, are the brains behind a new specialty cleaning cloth made from wood fibers.The DuraFresh cloth, created by two entrepreneurs from Scarborough, is a specialty cleaning cloth that can be used for a variety of tasks, from food prep cleanup to dusting to mopping the floor.