Cleaning with a conscience
Robert Scott’s Sales Director, Alastair Scott, explains how the company is focusing its expertise and cleaning know-how on developing more sustainable and environmentally- considered products for its customers and end users.
The world around us is changing and we must take responsibility for our actions to stand a chance of protecting this planet for future generations. While we cannot make changes overnight, Robert Scott is focusing its efforts on innovation, in order to deliver more sustainable choices for our customers.
The roadmap for a sustainable future has been provided for us by scientists the world over, many of whom say greenhouse gas emissions could be halved in the next decade if a number of environmentally-friendly behaviours are adopted on a wider scale.
We’ve seen supermarkets such as Sainsbury's pledging to halve plastic packaging by 2025, and Google promising to create products from sustainable materials. We’d like to take this opportunity to let you know how Robert Scott is working towards a number of greener practices.
Recycled packaging
Packaging is one of the biggest offenders in all sectors, not just in the janitorial market. It’s clear that there is an issue with how much single-use plastic is being used in the packaging of products.
According to a recent survey by GlobalWebIndex, 53% of consumers in the UK have reduced the amount of disposable single-use plastic they used in the past 12 months. With this in mind, we are currently looking at how we package our products for distributors and customers to source sustainable alternatives and reduce unnecessary plastic waste.
We’re in the process of trialing a 100% recycled and 100% recyclable spray bottle that’s made here in the UK out of plastic milk bottles that would otherwise go straight to landfill. The aim is to provide an eco-friendly choice for an everyday product that we sell thousands of units of every year. This allows end users to dispense cleaning fluids without the waste and environmental impact of single-use plastic bottles, which are often made from virgin plastic.
What’s more, it takes much less energy to create bottles from recycled plastic than it does to use virgin plastic, meaning we are also reducing our carbon footprint during the manufacturing process.
The bottles can be screen printed with a specially formulated UV ink, which means no additional materials are needed for a label. Once our recycled spray bottles have been used, they can be refilled by the end-user or recycled once again into car parts, pipes, clothing, and much more.
Additionally, we are in the early stages of formulating and testing bio-degradable pallet wrap for transporting our
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products to customers. This would allow us to make a significant reduction in single-use plastic waste so we’re pushing ahead with this as a goal for 2020.
Chemical-free cleaning
We’re continuing to develop our electrochemically activated (ECA) bio-cleaning range, Toucan Eco, a chemical-free disinfectant and cleaning solution that uses only table salt, water and a small electrical current.
Working closely with Centrego and scientists at the University of the West of England (UWE) who are developing this technology and its application, the solution removes the need for up to 80% of chemical cleaning products while significantly reducing single-use plastic bottles and cutting costs for a business.
Gillian Clayton, Postdoctoral Researcher at UWE, said: “The technology behind Toucan Eco is low energy, which means it can be run off solar panels, making it one of the greenest disinfectants on the market. The running costs are also lower in the long term, making it a good alternative to chemical-based disinfectants, especially on a larger scale.
“Additionally, if you accidentally make too much solution, you can pour it down the drain with no environmental impact, as the solution simply consists of salt and water. Whereas if you pour bleach down the drain, the chemicals make their way into our environment, causing damage that isn't sustainable.”
The technology has been adopted by many industries and it’s used widely as an everyday disinfectant and non- harmful cleaning solution. It can also be used to disinfect drinking water, combatting Legionella and other bacteria in water supplies, and can even be sprayed onto fresh fruit and vegetables to prolong their shelf life – keeping food fresher for longer.
The applications are endless. And it’s being used more and more by the cleaning industry on site in restaurants, schools, nurseries, universities, government buildings, airports and offices.
There’s more to our mops
We’ve also set our sights on our core offering of traditional cleaning products such as mops, brooms and cloths – products that are used day-in-day-out and which aren’t often associated with being typically ‘green’ – and feel it’s time to remind ourselves on the sustainable merits of traditionally produced products.
Take our floor and dish cloths for instance: these are manufactured using recycled shredded clothing, which
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