EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES RAGE AGAINST THE LATRINE With some kids unable to resist the urge to throw toilet rolls around, Liam Mynes from Tork
manufacturer Essity, considers how to cut the cost of equipping washrooms in cash-strapped schools – whilst making those vital consumables go further.
A series of troubling news stories has emerged over recent years concerning our overstretched school budgets.
Parents are increasingly being asked to supply essential items to keep these establishments running smoothly. Besides educational aids such as books and stationery, schools in a number of areas including Richmond, Maidenhead and County Antrim have also asked parents to provide more basic items such as toilet rolls.
In fact according to a recent survey of 1,500 people by Parentkind, 12% of primary and secondary school parents in the UK were asked to supply toilet paper during 2018 while 21% were asked to provide stationery, books and glue pens.
Whether parents should be expected to supplement the budgets of state schools is a matter for debate. But from a practical point of view, we as hygiene manufacturers believe that asking parents to supply toilet paper could actually be counter-productive.
At home we tend to equip our bathrooms with domestic toilet rolls, so these are presumably what parents will give their children to take in to school. However, at Essity we believe conventional toilet rolls to be unsuitable for school use.
Some years ago the Department for Education issued a document setting out guidelines for equipping school washrooms in the most practical, hygienic and cost- effective way possible. This advised against supplying loose toilet rolls on the grounds that they can encourage anti-social behaviour.
For some reason, schoolchildren find it difficult to resist the urge to throw toilet rolls around or put them down the toilet. Once a roll has been used as a missile and allowed to unravel, most or all of the paper will have become unusable. Meanwhile it will create a mess on the floor which will need to be cleaned up by maintenance staff – a task that will add to labour costs.
If a roll is inserted into the toilet, the whole roll will be wasted and worse still, it could cause a blockage which will lead to a costly visit by a plumber. The Department for Education advocates the use of toilet tissue supplied in systems that control consumption and dispense the paper in single sheets.
Our own studies confirm the fact that conventional toilet rolls can be exceptionally wasteful in schools – even when not being misused. Students find it all too easy to tear off a long length of paper from a roll whether or not they need it. This extra paper will end up on the floor or down the toilet where it will lead to waste, mess and potentially blockages – particularly in a school with poor plumbing.
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It therefore makes sense to supply toilet paper in a system designed to prevent vandalism, contamination and over- consumption. Our own Tork SmartOne system works well in educational establishments since the dispenser is designed to give out only one sheet of paper at a time. This helps to reduce consumption by 40% which will help keep down costs. And the fact that the dispenser is lockable means there is no risk of rolls being taken out and thrown around the washroom.
Once toilet paper consumption has been controlled, maintenance costs will also go down since the cleaner will need to make fewer visits to the washroom to refill dispensers. The same is true of soap and paper dispensers: high-use systems that prevent vandalism while also controlling consumption will help to save on product and maintenance costs.
The DoE document advocates the use of cartridge-style soap dispensers since traditional bulk-fill systems could lead to product contamination before use. The task of manually refilling soap dispensers with liquid soap is also time-consuming and has the potential to create mess, which again adds to labour costs. The most cost-effective type of soap system for schools should therefore create a minimal amount of mess on the worktops while also reducing the number of maintenance checks required.
Tork Foam Soaps are a good option because the dispenser contains 2,500 shots of soap compared with around 1,000 in most liquid soap systems, ensuring a long-lasting supply. The dispenser for Tork foam soaps also requires a particularly low push-force which will facilitate hand washing among younger schoolchildren. Another good option for schools is Tork Spray Soap, since each long- lasting cartridge contains 3,000 shots of soap.
For hand drying purposes, the DoE advocates the use of recycled paper towels which are described as being: “the most hygienic and environmentally-friendly method of hand drying.” Though here again, consumption needs to be controlled so that the risk of towels ending up on the floor or down the toilet is minimised.
C-fold hand towels are often supplied in schools as a low- cost option, but these can lead to excessive consumption, waste and mess - particularly when loose towels are stacked on the units to avoid the hassle and expense of installing a dispenser. Any student picking up a hand towel will inevitably drip water on to the other towels in the pile, making some of them unusable.
Even when a dispenser is installed it is all too easy to take out clumps of towels from a C-fold dispenser. The unused towels will then be discarded on washroom units or on the floor where they will become damp and soiled.
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