CASE STUDIES SUSTAINABILITY + CLEANING KNOW-HOW: New Surrey Kärcher Centre’s Clean Environmental Conscience


eco!efficiency: Achieve more with less.


Last month saw the opening of a brand new Kärcher Centre at Betchworth, Surrey and the inspirational attitude of its owner to environmental protection sets a new benchmark in sustainability.


When it opened its doors on September 30th, Kärcher Centre JMS became the UK’s 17th Kärcher Centre and joined a network of more than 500 Kärcher Centres worldwide. The UK’s newest centre boasts a friendly and knowledgeable team with extensive combined experience in sales, service and the cleaning industry, headed up by owner Mark Joslin.


The Kärcher Centre concept is designed to provide a one-stop-shop for both domestic and commercial customers, offering sales, service and advice and practical learning for the entire Kärcher range. Bucking the internet order trend, Kärcher believes that selling effective cleaning solutions requires application- specific knowhow that should be shared with customers face-to- face to help them make informed, sustainable purchase decisions.


Speaking at the opening ceremony, Christian May, Managing Director Retail Channels at Kärcher GmbH, Germany explained: “We want to set standards in the industry, not only in economic but also in environmental


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terms.” The company has a rich heritage in doing just that. Celebrating its 80th anniversary this year, Kärcher was the first in its field to be awarded ISO 40001 environmental certification and continues to design longevity, reparability and recyclability into its products as standard whilst striving to make each new product ecologically superior to its predecessor.


The new Kärcher Centre JMS site is also responsible for the reworking of Kärcher UK‘s Retail products and has gone to amazing lengths to ensure the operation is as “green” as possible throughout.


“Our environmental approach starts with the repair and refurbishment of Kärcher machines, which come to us in a variety of conditions,” explained Mark. “Our priority is to get these machines back into the marketplace and back into people’s homes as quickly and sustainably as we can. 78% of all machines which enter our facility are re-sold. This means machines aren’t thrown away or scrapped, which is our chief aim. We’re always looking for ways to be more sustainable.”


Machines enter the facility in cardboard boxes, on pallets and wrapped in industrial cellophane, generating significant quantities of business waste. Keen to find a responsible disposal route, JMS applied to the


government, and were granted permission to shred the pallets into woodchip. This woodchip is then passed through a machine to remove any nails, and burned to power the heating and provide hot water. The system is so effective that the facility is actually generating excess heat which is then sold back to the government.


Kärcher eco!efficiency is our philosophy for more sustainable working: the way we manufacture products, and the way those products perform throughout their lifecycles.


Some pallets are retained to be turned into mulch for the gardens and lawn which are a key feature of the centre; the reclaimed nails are sold on as scrap iron.


“The majority of Kärcher machines use water in one way or another”, stated Mark. “One of the ways we increase our own efficiency is by harvesting the rainwater. This is then used to test all our machines as well as for day to day use. Indeed, the only mains water which is used goes to service the kitchen and dishwasher.”


These novel measures have resulted in the whole facility requiring just 50,000KW of electricity per year. JMS isn’t stopping there, however. They have recently made an application to add 197 solar panels to the roof of the structure, which is estimated to generate enough electricity to run a 15% excess.


Kärcher Centre JMS has shown that thinking sustainably means so much more than simply swapping your lightbulbs for low voltage; it’s a passion, and it can be lucrative.


Tomorrow’s Cleaning Sustainability Supplement 2015 | 27


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