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Handy Cleaner: Simple Green, the environmentally safe cleaning solution, is about to get a hand--a hand-cleaning gel, that is.

Sunshine Makers Inc. in Huntington Beach, which has been making Simple Green since 1978, said the new product will prove popular where workers encounter lots of grease and grime--automotive garages and industrial plants, for example.

Like the cleaner, the gel is biodegradable. Sunshine Makers plans to sell the gel at automobile shops and hardware stores. The original cleaner, sales of which total about $40 million a year, is available at supermarkets and other retail stores.

“We are excited to introduce a product that is both effective and environmentally sensitive,” Vice President Rick Parks said. “We have developed a product that gets the job done but does not harm your skin or the environment.”