BY LAND, BY SEA


When considering sustainability in the cleaning industry, the most common concerns are the harmful chemicals present in many cleaning products, the high volumes of products used, and the waste when products and equipment are finished. Lisa Sheppard, Director of Development for Facilicom UK, looks at some of the alternative approaches that can boost the cleaning sector’s green credentials.


As an organisation with a Dutch parent company and divisions in Belgium, France and Ireland as well as the UK, we are in a fortunate position in terms of learning about, and being able to trial, new sustainable cleaning products from different places as a group, rather than having to do it all by ourselves here in the UK. The effects of not being sustainable know no boundaries, so why should our attempts to be greener be limited.


CONCENTRATE


ON THE BENEFITS One example of cross-boundary co- operation is the use of Ecover products. Ecover is a Belgian company and we’ve been using some of its professional cleaning product range in Holland for the past two years. The products aren’t harmful to the environment and the results have been well received by our cleaning operatives and our clients. Importantly, they are no more expensive to use than traditional, more harmful products.


The multi-use sanitary product is highly concentrated (5ml in a 500ml spray bottle), reducing transport and storage costs, alongside the other environmental benefits.


By using a 5ml concentration the spray bottle can be filled 200 times. This means that if we refill the spray bottle once a week, theoretically we should be able to use the one litre bottle with the concentrated product for four years.


LOOKING AT


THE WHOLE PACKAGE Reducing the volumes of cleaning products used is just one way of reducing the sector’s environmental impact. By paying attention to the packaging of the materials we buy and use, the industry can be at the forefront of sustainability improvements.


18 | FEATURE


The majority of cleaning products are supplied in plastic bottles which are produced using crude oil. This means a significant use of natural resources and the danger of the empty containers being sent to landfill.


Ecover uses packaging which is derived from plastic fished from the sea, along with other recycled plastic, in their production. These bottles are then completely recyclable. Reusing this plastic is not only a better use of the world’s resources, but, by removing the material from the sea, the manufacturers are reducing the build- up of micro-plastic that is increasingly affecting our planet’s marine life and making its way into our food chain. As Ecover itself says: “Healthier, happier oceans are not just essential for marine life, but also for those of us on dry land too.” An added sustainability factor is that Ecover have paid the fishermen to recover the material. Financial sustainability should not be overlooked. If the fishermen can’t afford to recover the material, then there will be no recyclable material to produce bottles from.


Another development is the production of ‘plantastic’ bottles manufactured from sugar cane rather than crude oil. With the sugar grown on sustainable plantations, this alternative to plastic offers the industry a great opportunity to reduce its environmental impact.


GREEN’S NOT ALWAYS


A SMOOTH OPTION Even though we can trial products in a number of locations and situations, going green is not always the easy option. Despite success in Europe, we’ve found that the hard water in the UK, which is not so prevalent in mainland Europe, can mean products are less effective here. We’ve gone back to the manufacturer to look at the implications of strengthening


“The effects of not being


sustainable know no boundaries, so why should our attempts to be


greener be limited.”


the compound of the products to enable us to get around this, while maintaining the same ethos.


There will always be challenges when trialling new products and equipment, whether it’s sustainable or not. We think it’s worth taking the time to work with manufacturers to ensure a sustainable outcome. That way we can offer our clients a great service knowing we’re not just improving their immediate environment, but also the environment we all live and work in.


www.facilicom.co.uk twitter.com/TomoCleaning


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