What's the Word?

Rick Wickham had been in the pest management business for more than two decades when he established Green Shield Pest Pros, so he was well aware of the direction the industry was headed. “I’ve been IPM since the beginning. I cut my teeth on inspection, baiting, dust, monitors, pheromones and structural controls. As customers become more focused on the safety of treatments, we’re here for them.”

Including the word “green” in his company name was no accident, Wickham added. It gives his team a competitive edge. “People need to know that we want to be good stewards of the environment — responsible with pesticides and taking a green approach to their pest issues. That resonates with certain people; it’s at the forefront of their minds. ‘Green Shield’ lets them know that we’re not going to show up, splash pesticides everywhere and call it a day.”

Once in a customer’s home, Green Shield technicians communicate what their green approach entails. Until demand for organic products ratchets up, that approach is more about IPM and applying pesticides sparingly than using all-natural products. Wickham likes to share this analogy: “If there’s an ant on a countertop and I drop a stone the size of a fifty-cent piece on it, that ant is dead. If I take that same ant and drop a 10-pound boulder on it, the ant is no more dead than if I had used the smaller stone. In pest control, less is more.”

WORDS MATTER. It’s not only company names that can benefit from “green” language. Increasingly, pest management companies are using terms that reflect their environmental stewardship in social media posts and other marketing. While we’ve seen terminology evolve over the years, the hot descriptors of 2026 seem to be “environmentally friendly” and “eco-friendly,” with 42 percent and 41 percent of survey respondents, respectively, saying they use these to promote their green products and services. Other favorites are “safe around children/pets,” “green,” “all-natural” and “organic.”

“Whenever we market our services, we lean into our eco-friendly approach,” said FullScope Pest Control’s Camille Landry. “We want people to know that we are very conscious of, and committed to, their children, pets, home and overall safety.”