By Denise Williams | WFBSC
It’s been a busy 2026 already for Interclean, which wrapped up its ever-popular Amsterdam trade show in April and, before that, rounded up the top themes dominating the commercial cleaning landscape this year. The Interclean 2026 Trend Report offers insights into how the industry is responding to challenges, from tighter quality standards to cost pressures, through solutions such as increased take-up of data-driven strategies and greater use of AI, robotics, and circular systems. While the report focuses specifically on the European market, the global BSC community would do well to keep a finger on the pulse of what’s happening within cleaning teams across the continent.
Interclean zooms in on 10 prevalent trends for the year. The report touches on how innovation in products and service delivery underpin each movement; the potential roadblocks to successful implementation; and the overarching impact of these activities on contract cleaning. For all of their distinct purposes and unique moving parts, each of these trends shares at least one element in common: an undeniable reliance on human skill, insight, and judgment — whether from the perspective of the operator behind an industrial scrubber or a manager working from behind a desk. That understanding supports the report’s subtitle, “Driven by people, powered by innovation.” Here are the takeaways:
Tech Is Thriving, But Not Thieving
Technological advances represent just one way commercial cleaning is evolving. Examples include automation of physically demanding and repetitive tasks, thereby empowering staff to dedicate their time to quality issues and problem-solving. Additionally, use of robots and AI platforms that drive adaptive cleaning and predictive maintenance; and digitalization of processes, which facilitates a migration to proactive planning from reactive response, are spawning new technical and supervisory career pathways for workers. Without human intervention, AI otherwise has the potential to be ineffective and possibly dangerous.
Interclean’s Relevant Trends:
- Automation supporting people, not replacing them
- AI is helping people with planning, quality, and control
People First!
As technology tackles the tedium of everyday cleaning, human staff indeed have the chance to demonstrate their value in a multitude of other ways. At the same time, leadership increasingly is finding opportunities to show workers that they are important. As they strive to overcome labor shortages and high turnover rates, employers are taking a hard look at working hours, fair treatment, gender pay equity, and inclusion while elevating staff through language learning, multilingual educational opportunities, professional accreditation, training, and clear career pathways. Additionally, people-centered job design is building loyalty and retention while contributing to consistent service.
Interclean’s Relevant Trends:
- Putting people at the center: how workforce pressures reshape job design, safety, and retention
- Tackling social inequality in cleaning and hygiene
- Training and skills development move to the center of operations
Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty
How clean is clean? Assigned little importance in the past and often described as basic and routine, cleaning takes on urgent priority when viewed through the modern-day lens. Now with connotations to safety, comfort, and functionality, this work today is considered essential from a health perspective and central to efforts to prevent accidents and otherwise maintain safe environments. As such, strategic partnerships are gaining favor over conventional contracting models driven by pricing and metrics like user confidence are replacing task completion as performance benchmarks. Companies are also abandoning harsh chemicals that irritate the skin or respiratory system in favor of products that are safe for regular use, including low-residue detergents, foams and wipes, and controlled-dose products. They also are investing in products tailored to specific settings like health care or industrial environments.
Interclean’s Relevant Trends
- Redefining the value of clean to protect people
- The rise of specialist cleaning solutions
- Cleaning and hygiene: supporting people’s health, wellbeing and trust
The Green Machine
Environmental sustainability, once a ‘nice to have’ component within some aspects of commercial cleaning operations, is becoming a ‘must have’ across every nook and cranny of the business. Owner-operators recognize that systems and processes that curb water and energy consumption, curtail waste, and limit chemical usage not only benefit the bottom line but contribute to client satisfaction. Practices reflecting this mindset include smart dosing and dilution systems, cold-water detergents that work just as well as hot-water products, dry steam systems, and refillable and reusable packaging, to name a few.
Interclean’s Relevant Trend
- Sustainability moves deeper into day-to-day operations
Hybrid Is Hot
And, finally, Interclean underscores the shift away from standard cleaning schedules. Occupancy at client spaces fluctuates, making fixed scheduling models obsolete and ineffective. Deploying crews to the areas where and when they are actually needed — possible with the help of digital tools, sensors, and smart systems — saves time and money while maximizing efficiency, minimizing waste, and fostering service excellence.
Interclean’s Relevant Trend
- Hybrid cleaning adapts operations to flexible workplace use
For a deeper dive into 2026 trends in the commercial cleaning sector, find access to the complete report here.