Sustainable Cleaning The cost of being sustainable
Is it possible to reconcile cost with sustainability when equipping the washroomof an office, institution, hospital or other away-from-home establishment? JamieWright from Torkmanufacturer SCA looks at washroom systems that tick both boxes.
out single cloths or wipers to prevent over- consumption which again improves sus- tainability while reducing transport, storage and waste disposal costs. A ‘new’ product in the Tork cleaning and
wiping range - Tork Reflex Single Sheet Centrefeed - is a particularly good example of how cost savings and sustainability can go hand in hand. The system, which was acquired following SCA’s purchase of Geor- gia Pacific EMEA’s brand Lotus Profes- sional, has been designed to give out only one sheet of wiping paper at a time which results in consumption savings of up to 37%. Looking more closely at other specific
products, the Tork Elevation Hand Towel Roll Dispenser automatically cuts a meas- ured length of towel inside the dispenser to ensure that each user takes only what they need, while the Tork Compact Auto Shift toilet roll system comprises two hard- wound rolls, each containing double the length of conventional rolls. Again, fewer rolls are required per facility which reduces the environmental impact of the system. Tork foam soap dispensers, meanwhile,
hold 2500 shots of soap - more than double the number in a liquid soap dispenser of the same size - whichmeans fewer refills and deliveries are required and fuel con- sumption and transport emissions are re- duced. And Tork interfold napkin dispensers are designed to give out nap- kins one at a time instead of in clumps, which can cut napkin consumption by up to 25% in fast food outlets and restaurants which again reduces both waste and costs. Besides coming up with sustainable
In the past it was common - even expected - for products labelled as ‘environmentally- friendly’ or ‘ethical’ to costmore than other products on themarket. Free-range eggs, organic vegetables, ethically-produced cof- fee and ‘natural’ detergents often came with a premiumprice tag. In some cases they were not even expected to be as good as less sustainable alternatives. ‘Green’ de- tergents, for example, were oftenmade up of less aggressive formulations which sometimesmeant they were less effective, while organic vegetables were frequently dirty andmisshapen. However, those of us keen to be green were prepared to overlook such issues in our determination to do the right thing. But can a company remain in business
for long if it is producing products that are inferior to those of its competition - partic- ularly if their products also come at a pre- miumprice? A truly sustainable company needs to be able tomeet ongoing customer demand and be competitive in order to sur- vive. Luckily, the growing demand for sustain-
ability has led to increasing amounts of in- vestment and greater development into this product area. As a result today’s sustain- able products often work equally as well as traditional alternatives - sometimes better. And as an added bonus, an increasing number of companies are discovering that sustainability and providing cost savings can actually go hand in hand. One way in which a company can become
more sustainable is by reducing waste, since this keeps down not only product cost
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www.cleaninghub.net
Besides coming up with sustainable products, companies can also combine sustainability with benefits for the communities in which they operate. One example of this is SCA’smill in Ortmann, Austria, which cooperates with a local energy provider and uses waste fromthe mill to heat 80 private and public buildings. Facilities heated using this system include schools, a kindergarten, civic centre and a Red Cross centre - and, besides saving on energy, the scheme also results in a carbon dioxide reduction of 1500 tons each year.
but also the cost of waste disposal. If the company’s products have the effect of en- abling customers to reduce waste as well, the cost-in-use savings and sustainability will have a domino effect along the supply chain. We at SCA are constantly developing sus-
tainable systems that are designed to re- duce over-consumption and waste. Our dispensers for washroomproducts and wipers, for example, have beenmanufac- tured to be long-lasting and durable so that they will not need replacing formany years. At point of use Tork Elevation washroom
dispensers give out only one hand towel, napkin, shot of soap or sheet of toilet tissue at a time. The fact that consumption is con- trolledmeans that environmental perform- ance is improved since resources are reduced, waste is kept to aminimumand fewer product packs are required per cus- tomer which results in fewer pallets, fewer lorries and lower costs. The space inside Tork Elevation dis-
pensers - and the plastic used to pack the products - have both been kept to amini- mumtomake the packs as compact and waste-free as possible. As a result,more dispensers will fit on to a pallet which means fewer lorry journeys are required and energy is reduced throughout the sup- ply chain. Tork Performance dispensers for work-
shop wipers have been designed to protect the products inside fromdust, bacteria and other forms of contamination and this avoids the problemof any of the product being
wasted.Most dispensers also give
products, companies can also combine sustainability with benefits for the commu- nities in which they operate. One example of this is a scheme run by SCA in Austria. SCA’s mill in Ortmann, Austria, cooper-
ates with a local energy provider and uses waste from the mill to heat 80 private and public buildings. Facilities heated using this system include schools, a kindergarten, civic centre and a Red Cross centre - and, besides saving on energy, the scheme also results in a carbon dioxide reduction of 1500 tons each year. A similar system is in operation at SCA’s
Lilla Edet tissue mill in Sweden where the company has invested in a bio-boiler and sludge combustion unit. This unit takes sludge from recycled paper de-inking op- erations and turns it into steam. The heat and steam from combustion provides a cost-effective method of powering the mill while the surplus is used for district heat- ing in the Lilla Edet community - where 70% of the energy used is now renewable energy. SCA is also constantly striving to reduce
its freshwater intake by cleaning and reusing process water, which combines care for the environment with reductions in water costs. The company’s current target is to reduce its water consumption in water-stressed regions by 10% by 2015 with 2010 as reference year. So becoming sustainable can lead to sig-
nificant benefits both for manufacturers and customers, providing a win:win situa- tion for everyone: the corporations, the customers, end-users, communities and, ultimately, the planet.
www.tork.co.uk
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