ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY SUSTAINABLE
Not all water coolers are equal warns Phillipa Atkinson-Clow, General Manager of the Briti of your org
There’s hydration. Then there is healthy hydration – of which the obvious choice is water.
For those FMs who are managing buildings, offering a means of hydration is a must. There are also the considerations of the environment and financial cost. The sustainable choice, commercially as well as environmentally, is to install water coolers.
Ensuring the boardroom and offices are stocked with small bottles of water is increasingly not the most popular solution. Single use plastic bottles are environmentally unsustainable and recent publicity means that serving single-use plastics will have a negative impact not only on your carbon footprint but also on the company’s image.
Water coolers come in two types: bottled water coolers and mains-fed (Point of use or POU) coolers. Both are sustainable. In the case of bottles, unlike small packs, cooler bottles are reused time and time again – on average between 40-50 times, according The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). The bottles are then recyclable. For POU coolers, the water is supplied from the mains water system.
There has been a steady trend towards people drinking more water throughout the year regardless of the seasons and the past five successive years of growth in the water cooler sector bears this out.
As the value of the UK water cooler market recently broke the £130m barrier (of the 2017 market value was £133m) and many of the purchasing decisions about coolers are made by FMs, it pays to know which coolers to order to suit the needs of the buildings you are managing.
The trade association for the water cooler sector, the British Water Cooler Association (BWCA) is the organisation which provides training and monitors standards amongst the best suppliers and distributors in the sector.
Convenient healthy hydration has contributed to increased throughput of 900 litres per cooler. Hydration in the workplace should not be overlooked and the provision of safe, sustainable and inexpensive hydration is very much the role of a good FM. There is immense value to companies and organisations to be gained by delivering safe, cool, instantly available and calorie-free hydration via water coolers and thus contributing to optimum productivity.
Apart from the obvious benefits of the cooler, there are benefits in those short walks that keep people’s circulation flowing and rest-tired eyes and backs by changing position away from a screen. Water coolers have the added advantage of preventing colleagues bringing single use plastic bottles to work – bottles which then need recycling by you.
30 | TOMORROW’S FM
It is important to be aware that not all water coolers are equal. Just as you would only use approved suppliers to fit electrical appliances, remove asbestos from old buildings or check carefully who is dealing with your building’s IT systems, you need to ensure that your water cooler provider is at the top of its profession too. BWCA Members undergo rigorous, industry specific training and annual third-party audits to retain their right to membership accreditation.
https://bwca.org.uk/find-a-member/
“The provision of safe, sustainable and inexpensive hydration is very much the role of a good FM.”
It is important for FMs to know that the BWCA is not a cosy members’ club; on the contrary, as an Association we conduct audits and monitor members annually to ensure that standards of excellence are maintained. Companies require this monitoring to be granted membership in the first place and then must undergo annual auditing to be assured of their continued membership and accreditation. We have the ability to strike off anyone who doesn’t comply. It’s not left to hope and trust.
CHECKLIST FOR BOTTLED COOLER WATER Ask your supplier or prospective supplier the following important questions:
• Where is your water sourced? • Is the source protected and tested regularly? • Is the bottling plant registered as food premises?
• What kind of hygiene training do staff members receive?
• Can you tell us about your production, storage, cleaning and transport?
• Describe your process for ensuring empty bottles have not been tampered with.
• What pest control do you have in place?
• How are your full bottles stored before and during delivery?
• Is your company a BWCA Member?
This is not an exhaustive list and of course other equally crucial questions apply to providers of POU (mains-fed) coolers.
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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