Last week’s Blog created a lot of comment both positive and negative!

The negative came from a number of our service clients who complained that they weren’t receiving “this modern green way of cleaning” in direct reference to using biological cleaners in their toilets. We had to point out that though they were 100% correct, they didn’t actually need this method of cleaning as the level of usage in their office urinals were such that there was no problem.

There is a big difference in cleaning needs between a Senior Partners personal washroom and what happens at half time at St James’ Park, home of the Magpies!

On a more positive note by coincidence there was an excellent article in Jan Hobb’s www.thecleanzine.com this week on greening your washroom cleaning programme. This caused me to further research the use of toilet blocks, which we as a company have avoided for many years due to the para dichlorobenzene they release into the water system.

Quite simply my research indicated that I had terribly underplayed the financial benefits that can be achieved particularly with urinals by implementing a microbiological cleaning programme. Look at the following facts:

• The use of ‘green’ blocks can reduce flushing water consumption by 98% and saves you money on your water and sewerage bill! (remember when your supply is metered your sewerage charge is based on the input clean water volume) as there is no need to flush the fixture more than once every 6 hours instead of every 15 minutes, 24/7.
• The average urinal, flushing every 15 minutes wastes 151,000 litres of water a year. In the UK this can costs around £250 per urinal per annum. Using ‘green’ blocks this is reduced by 98%. When you multiply the savings per urinal by the number of urinal bays in your premises, the overall savings can be substantial….
• A small hotel or pub could save 982,800 litres a year (£1,670). A school, college, office or production facility with 500 male students or workers could save 2,850,000 litres a year (£4,8450). A large shopping centre could save a massive 13,000,000 litres (£22,100) of precious fresh water a year.

When one considers that in addition:

• There are no capital costs involved.
• Other toilet cleaning products are no longer required.
• Blockages and slow draining fixtures become a thing of the past.
• You don’t need to get involved in ongoing maintenance contracts.

It becomes obvious that you have nothing to lose but toilet smells by carrying out a trial on your own premises.

To receive our fact sheet to help you organise your own in house trial please contact andy.dixon@newlifecleaning.com. By providing costed examples of the savings potential and simple instruction sheets for your cleaning supervisor and staff you will be able to present irrefutable evidence of the cost/savings benefits within 12 weeks.

Comparable to food preparation areas, washroom cleaning demands critical attention to detail if clean and hygienic standards are to be maintained.

In retail premises, for example, not only does the cleanliness of the facilities impact on the whole shopping experience, but there is a proven correlation between cleaning standards and bottom line profits. Why do you think McDonald’s has pioneered high visibility daytime cleaning in the UK? Even Weatherspoons, every CAMRA members delight, has attributed some of their profit growth to the fact that the British Toilet Association recognise their commitment to improving their ’small rooms’ standards of cleanliness by awarding them a Loo of The Year Award.

Why then do we still all know premises where, even after the toilets have been cleaned, you make sure you touch as little as possible and perhaps even use a tissue or elbow to open the door to get out? Imagine you were a mother out shopping, struggling with a pushchair and two toddlers wanting a “wee-wee Mum” in such a facility. How would you feel then?

Cleaning is meant to be high priority everywhere these days. We’ve all seen those ‘These toilets are cleaned every hour’ signs: but how often do our noses give us an instant negative judgement on the state of the facility the moment we open the door?

Too often, companies simply throw money at the effect not the cause! This results in the excessive use of air sprays, automatic fresheners and even the old-fashioned toilet block.

The truth is none of these works! All they do is to mask the smell, but the root cause – decomposing urine, faeces and other bodily matter is lodged in every crevice, grout line and flooring joint in the facility.

Take a mirror and see for yourself. Look around the interior edges of urinals, under the flushing rim of toilet bowls, down the back of sinks and around the base of the toilet pan. Yuk! That yellowish build up is ‘Meals on Wheels’ for the bacteria that cause ‘toilet smells’.

The simplest and most effective treatment is readily available and has been for 15 years but it is still a big secret. The answer is biotechnology.

Quite simply this involves killing the bad bacteria, which causes the offensive smells by using ‘good bacteria’ to break down their food source of human solids and fluids.

A comprehensive, simple-to-follow cleaning programme using extremely safe biological products only takes eight weeks to prove its effectiveness – by the impartial “nose test”.

The economic benefits are just as noticeable. No longer do you need to buy and store vast amounts of chemicals and then train staff how to use each one. You will remove the need for bleaches, blocks, detergents and de-scalers usually used in toilet cleaning (albeit ineffectually) and you also improve your environmental credentials at a stroke!

High usage facilities such as airports, office complexes and sports stadiums can often suffer from additional problems, especially in the urinals. Here the extensive uric scale build-up not only causes smells but can also slow drain flow or cause regular expensive blockages in the pipework. By installing a simple-to-fit insert into the urinal trap which drip feeds benign bacteria into the urinal U bend, it’s possible to remove all deposits and associated smells quickly and inexpensively.

Simple solutions for an age old problem!