The British Cleaning Council and members write monthly columns for both Cleaning and Maintenance and Tomorrow’s Cleaning. You can read recent columns below.
To read the columns as they originally appeared, please visit https://cleaningmag.com/columnists and https://www.tomorrowscleaning.com/back-issues
Make going green your New Year resolution
By British Cleaning Council Chair, Delia Cannings. (This column first appeared in Tomorrow’s Cleaning magazine).
The start of a new year can often mean looking ahead at what we want to achieve over the next 12 months. As part of this, many of us will make a new year’s resolution or two.
We might pledge to lose some weight, stick to Dry January or spend less time on social media. Sometimes we aim to achieve a long-held goal like changing career or moving abroad.
Our new year’s resolutions do not have to be about ourselves. We could promise to help others or do our bit for the environment, for example.
If you want to go green this year, then choosing environmentally-friendly cleaning products is a step worth considering, whether you are an individual or you represent a business.
Conventional cleaning products contain chemicals which can pollute waterways, harming wildlife and humans alike. Packaging waste is another ecohazard, with plastics that do not degrade for decades or centuries causing huge harm to our environment.
The cleaning and hygiene sector has made huge strides in this area in recent years with sustainability becoming an essential consideration for many producers.
You can now buy greener products with non-irritant, non-hazardous and biodegradable components, made from recycled plastic or cardboard and distributed using sustainable methods.
But whether you are an individual doing the weekly shop or a business making major purchases of cleaning supplies, it is a lot to consider.
Fortunately, our colleagues at the Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers Association (CHSA) can help.
All members of the CHSA adhere to the requirements of the relevant accreditation and have signed the association’s rigorous code of practice, which includes the Competition & Markets Authority’s Green Claims Code, so buying products from CHSA members is a way of ensuring the producers trade ethically and sustainably.
There are other resolutions that individuals can make to go greener in 2025.
Make a start this twelfth night by ensuring your real Christmas tree is recycled. Many local authorities arrange drop-off points or special collections for real Christmas trees in early January. Or you should be able to chop it up and put it in your green waste bin, if you have one.
Going forward, why not pledge to cut down food waste? UK households throw away millions of tonnes of food waste each year, causing a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
Some simple steps can benefit the planet and help you save money into the bargain, such as making a shopping list and planning meals ahead, buying fresh food in smaller purchases across the week as needed, practicing portion control and refrigerating or freezing leftovers rather than binning them.
Other tips for reducing your household waste more generally include opting for products with less packaging and only buying what is needed.
Why not make a resolution to support the reuse of unwanted household items whenever possible, for example, through donating them to charity or repurposing them?
If you are not already recycling, you could make that your resolution and get to know local recycling guidelines to ensure more of your waste is diverted from landfill.
I have a final couple of suggestions for your new year’s resolutions.
The first is another way for employers to help make the world a better place. Help to address domestic abuse by signing up to the free-to-join members’ network the Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA), if you have not already done so. Find details here: www.eida.org.uk
Finally, for everyone in the cleaning and hygiene sector, why not make a resolution this year to go to the Cleaning Show in March 2025? Register to attend in advance and for free. It promises to be an outstanding showcase for our sector. Visit www.cleaningshow.co.uk/london
Local authority building cleaning services improving sustainability despite funding pressures, new survey shows
By Vickie Hacking, Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Principal Advisor. (This column first appeared in Cleaning and Maintenance online).
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, local authority soft FM services had started to implement measures to increase environmental sustainability and reduce carbon emissions. However, the upheaval caused by the pandemic meant local authorities quickly re-focused on the unprecedented challenges it posed – as a result, environmental sustainability became less of a priority.
In the post-pandemic era, local authority building cleaning and catering services have returned to previous delivery models, with managers’ priorities turning back to ensuring their services are resilient and sustainable. To achieve this, clear policies, strategies, and leadership are required – alongside data and targets to measure the outcomes being achieved.
The Environmental Sustainability and Carbon Reduction in Local Authority Soft FM Survey recently carried out by APSE found that only 35.71 percent of building cleaning services have an environmental sustainability policy or strategy – with 33.33 per cent of respondents stating that the cost of sustainable products and supplies is the greatest barrier to improving sustainability.
However, despite most building cleaning services not having an official sustainability strategy, there is clear evidence of these concerns being addressed, with 60 per cent of respondents reporting that they have reduced the number of chemicals used and 53.33 per cent reducing the use of single-use plastics.
It is clear from the survey that there are barriers to services achieving environmental sustainability, including the additional cost to the service and the effectiveness of products to meet the requirements of the service – reflecting the financial pressures facing frontline services.
Although these barriers pose a challenge, managers continue to trial and adopt approaches to improve environmental sustainability in their services. Examples of successful sustainability measures include new cleaning equipment made from 75 oer cent recyclable plastics, replacing hand towels with hand dryers, using bio-degradable bottles and bio-hygiene chemicals, and using products with less packaging.
Going forward, APSE will be carrying out this survey on an annual basis to gain a snapshot of the progress that Soft FM services are making to improve environmental sustainability and reduce carbon output in the sector. You can read the full survey analysis on the APSE website.
In addition, the APSE Facilities, Catering and Cleaning Management Seminar 2025 scheduled on 30 and 31 January 2025, will bring together expert speakers that will explore the challenges facing soft FM services and the innovative approaches local authorities are adopting to ensure the service is fit for the future and delivering for their communities.
A lot to look forward to in 2025
By Chair of the British Cleaning Council, Delia Cannings. (This column first appeared in Tomorrow’s Cleaning magazine).
At this time of the year, as we head towards Christmas and New Year, we all tend to look back on the key events of the previous 12 months and think about what could be coming up next year.
Of course, 2024 started with a bang for the cleaning and hygiene sector, with the launch of the hugely exciting Level 2 Cleaning Hygiene Operative apprenticeship.
I want to appeal to sector companies to consider implementing the apprenticeship in their workplaces and to strongly encourage interested staff members to sign up to study for it.
If we do not have enough interest from the sector in the apprenticeship, there is a risk it could be withdrawn altogether by the Government. This is a case of ‘use it or lose it’.
The announcement in September that a new Growth and Skills Levy will replace the Apprenticeship Levy is hugely encouraging and we hope next year to see the idea being firmed up.
The launch of our new website earlier this year was another key achievement. On the site, there is a guide to Government schemes in England which provide support for employers to invest in their workforce. So please do take a look if you represent a cleaning and hygiene sector business looking to develop the skills of your staff. Find it here www.britishcleaningcouncil.org/education
We will be launching another website next year which will address the lack of educational structure in terms of pathways for staff progression in the sector. This major project will see disparate information about industry education and training opportunities brought together in one easy to access place.
Throughout the year, we have continued to lobby the Government in support of the recommendations made by the sector’s All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), which aimed to put cleaning and hygiene at the heart of the national agenda.
In September, we met with industry colleagues and lobbying experts to discuss revitalising this campaign. We are hopeful that the current Government will be receptive to our message.
You can expect to see further developments next year and, in the long term, we are working to re-establish an APPG for the sector, as all UK APPGs were dissolved ahead of the General Election.
This year’s Cleaning Show in Manchester was the biggest and best-attended Manchester show ever and next year’s London show is also promising to be a real cracker, with more exhibitors and conference speakers than ever.
Registration is open and it is free to attend. You can sign up today here www.cleaningshow.co.uk/london
The industry research we released at the Manchester show valued the cleaning, hygiene and waste industry at £60bn and noted it employed 1.47m people, ensuring our sector remains one of the biggest in the UK. I will be very interested to see what has changed when we publish our updated figures at the London Show in March.
We continue to promote take-up of the Employers Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) in our sector, and you can expect to see a lot more from us in support of this vital initiative next year. Visit www.eida.org.uk to find out more.
Finally, I want to say thank you to everyone in the cleaning, hygiene and waste sector for your hard work in 2024. The vital, skilled and professional job that sector staff do keeps people safe and well and contributes to the health and wealth of the nation. You deserve the country’s gratitude. I hope you have a wonderful festive period and a very happy New Year.