A common housekeeping practice that could lead to health issues.

Chatting with a good customer of ours that runs a group of prestigious hotels, we came onto the subject of his housekeeping team washing up tea cups and saucers in the guest bathroom sinks.

My customer stressed that it was a pet hate of his and all washing up was bought down to the kitchen to be done properly and hygienically.
"Imagine washing up in a sink used for brushing teeth and washing your face." he said. I had never thought of it much before, but it is a very common activity I see and one which we should encourage away from for obvious reasons.

I am sure the cleaners will be less than happy for the added inconvenience but the health & safety risk far out ways this and a simple rack or container on their cart would suffice to exchange clean for dirty.

Move the school holidays forward to catch the sun!

"It's the last week of the school holidays, I can't believe it's already over!" (said by a tourism led business owner today to me).

The rain has severely dented the fringe benefits of the summer school holidays to the UK tourism industry. Talking to the hospitality trade, it's been another average season damaged by the uncertain weather.

One thing you can predict is that as soon as the kids go back to school the sun will come out.Why don't we start a campaign to move the school holidays forward to September and October? It looks like August will be our monsoon season and then we will enjoy 2 months of ambient pleasant days.

The pub gardens, fun parks and leisure sites will fill and realise a profitable seasons return.If we don't, tourism may suffer, businesses will disappear or trim down to fit the reduced business, the offering may then be less attractive and it will enter a negative cycle.....or maybe there is other external reasons I am unaware of why this would never work?

Teach sustainability at schools and prepare the next generation

With the new school term upon us, our thoughts turn towards education, and wouldn't it be great to teach kids sustainability as part of their compulsory course work before they are sixteen as part of their appreciation of the outside world.
I don't mean subjects regards general environmental issues, but more specifically an appreciation of the challenges that will lay before them as the oil runs low and the new energy's replace traditional.
Information regards the impact that the oil price will have on their future regards prices of items such as food and energy. The impact on possessions such as the throw away clothes culture and the cost of importing cheap goods that will be hard to sustain.
Perhaps they could make needlework, crafts and cooking a fixture too as they may have to learn to be alot more self sufficient......unless like my daughter thinks she will, they marry a billionaire!!

World's biggest coffee morning at M&A offices

We are holding a coffee morning at our Devon offices in support of the Macmillan cancer support 'world's biggest coffee morning' event on Friday 26th September between 10.30am-12.00pm inviting local businesses and residents to help raise for this worthy cause.
In addition there will be a chance to look around the premises and perhaps we will think of other ways of making guests dig deep, any suggestions welcome.
If you would like to attend either event please contact us at georgie@ma-enviro.co.uk or call 01647 252855.
For more details on this event and Macmillan cancer charity see http://www.macmillan.org.uk/, if you can not attend and would like to make a donation of any description to help the event please mail georgie@ma-enviro.co.uk or call 01647 252855.

“Take your shoe dirt off at the door please!”

"We have trouble keeping this floor clean, it's an endless task making it look good" This is a pretty regular comment we come across and not unusual.
Did you know a good entrance mat will take off 90% of the soiling on footwear before it enters the building and would be the first step to vastly improving the situation.
Typically most sites spend money on products to remove the dirt but by putting in the correct mat of the right size the pay back would be a matter of months. Reducing water and chemical usage massively not to mention labour time.
Our Devon branch has had one of our Water hog runner mats in the entrance for 4 years now. We are on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in a rural industrial estate surrounded by mud. The mat looks as good as the day I put it down and we noticed an instant difference in dust and soil residue.
Contact our flooring expert Colin Keene at colin@ma-enviro.co.uk with your details to get a recommended size and price for your Water hog mat or call 01647 252855.

Healthy smokes and eco friendly bleach!

For sure smoking will damage your health and bleach is not good for the environment, yet isn't it bizarre that we see messages twisted to win a quick sale.
If you have a toilet bowl that carries a permanent water mark or stain because the glaze or seal has eroded the chances are there is very little that's 'proper green' that will make it white again as well as bleach. You have to tackle the problem not a temporary cover up. If something smells deep clean it and remove the soiling where the bacteria is. If there is a build up of something use a bit of elbow grease or a steam cleaner. If your cloths & towels are dirty it is probably because they are woven and the bacteria is living inside it so change to non woven products where you can.

For more honest straight forward advice on tackling your toxic problems fill out our green audit to see how we can help.

Give it on one hand and take away with the other

With the increase of green cleaning fluid ranges from the big commercial supply houses , I find it alarming that having spent the time and money developing a product range with care that the issue of packaging wasn't covered at the same time.
Ready made trigger sprays are convenient but the old triggers end up in land fill or if they are lucky recycled with a carbon cost. Why not just sell the idea of adding your own water at site.
Typically it's the customers saying it is just easy to pull one out of the cleaning cupboard, but if you are promoting green products they should operate in a green way. Customers should be educated that we have to optimise the use of plastics and be more sustainable. Product packaging and dispense is a quick win regards cleaning, condiments and guest bathroom giveaways.
The cost saving benefits are immense and once the staff understand the way the site operates, like recycling at home it will become the norm and the more places that eliminate unnecessary packaging the more the habit will form in the industry.
For a full range of high grade green cleaning fluids with refillable screen printed triggers with clear dilluition instructions on to add your own water and save money click on our website http://www.greenmybusiness.co.uk/ and see 'our products'.

Stub rolls and clumping waste £££'s of budget

Here's one way to not run out of loo roll, but seriously with conventional single roll or stacking systems, no matter how large they are typically there comes a time when you have to make that decision to change it or run out. Empty dispensers upset customers and gives a bad impression as well as adding pressure to staff. Trials have shown up to a 25% wastage and that's not including staff time on checking and changing.
Another system that wastes paper and time are the traditional c shaped folded hand towels that you have to fight out with your thumb and fore finger and end up with a batch to try and create a surface area to dry with. Similar numbers have been recorded on these and let's not forget our friend the centre feed roll that comes out in a cone shape and allows you to walk unimpeded for miles as it free flows.
There is an answer in the form of our simple intelligent system dispensers available free on loan to customers who need 15 or more. They offer dual roll, inter folded double tabbed towels and lever down flat paper in stylish opaque units that deliver savings in excess of 15%.
In a time when a recent report outlined that the paper tissue industry is in crisis and losing money because end users want paper cheaper and cheaper. This has driven down prices by half over about a decade but raw materials and energy costs have rocketed. We need to be counter balancing the increases that are inevitable by buying smarter. Call or mail us today and find out how we can offset the increase on 01647 252855 or sales@ma-enviro.co.uk.

Lack of training can hamper progress and savings of Microfibre systems

We have noticed lately on reviewing a couple of sites that had adopted our Microfibre cloths and mops that staff were still feeling the need to use chemicals to no benefit.

On questioning it turned out to be all in the head rather than attaining a better result. Worse cases involved actually using glass cleaning chemical spray together with Microglass cloths and chemicals on sealed floors with Microfibre mop pads that led to clogging and smearing.

It is a common teething problem also we find that products are laundered in too much detergent or being used with harsh chemicals leading to the Microfibre being ruined and in effect useless.

Another common mistake is using cloths scrunched up and therefore not benefiting from a flat contact with the surface and allowing the fibres to work rotationally into the pore.

Staff training is key and most of these situations have been where staff had not attended a training session and were not aware what or how the product worked and therefore proceeded as with the old woven cloths and chemicals.

Therefore we have put together a list of common mistakes to avoid.

1) Use as little as a third of your normal dose of laundry detergent for washing.

2) Avoid over use of any sanitisers used with Microfibre stick to recommended dilution rates.

3) Never allow them to come into contact with fabric softeners or bleaches.

4) Avoid any contact with harsh chemicals, use M&A recommended detergents only.

5) Check the surface to be cleaned, particulalrly old floors where they may be breaking up, Microfibre will suck up any old sealant and this will clog and ruin the product.

6) Make sure all staff are aware of what and how these products work.

7) Always use product flat/folded and in a figure of 8.

8) Use only water with Microfibre mop pads and Microglass cloths, Microfibre cloths may be used in sensitive areas with M&A natural Sanitising products only.

9) When first changing to a Microfibre system make sure the surface is as clean as possible especially kitchen floors where years of residual grease will flow out and you will be changing pads constantly.

10) Launder about a dozen mop pads seperate to about 30 cloths as the mops aquire alot more soiling and may affect the cloths.

Mail or call our team on 01647 252855 with any further suggestions.