How can the humble washroom contribute to Corporate Social Responsibility?

We’re being actively encouraged to create cleaner communities, reduce food waste at home and plastic packaging in our supermarkets, and personally to do whatever we can to use resources responsibly at home and in our workplace.

Here, Nikki Phillips, our divisional manager for washrooms and waste management talks about how we can address some key sustainability issues in the public washroom:

What are some of the main sustainability issues in the washroom?
Water use and energy consumption is high and consumables can be used far too liberally in the washroom. Toilet, urinal and hand-washing can account for anything up to 90 per cent of a business’s water use.

This is clearly a key area where service providers can support customers with advice on water and urinal flush management systems and other resource-reducing products.

And then there’s the ongoing debate of paper hand towels or air dryers. People forget that paper towels use a high level of energy in production and frequently need to be replenished, with transport and fuel-use implications making them, on balance, more harmful in terms of energy use than air dryers. They also take up space in landfill and, because there are often inadequate bins to dispose of the towels in the washroom, they are disposed of inappropriately in other waste disposal units, such as nappy or sanitary. This results in extra resource being used segregating the waste items at disposal plants.

The negative environmental impact of paper hand towel and toilet roll disposal can be moderated with some simple steps such as using intuitive hand towel dispensers and toilet roll dispensers. This encourages reduced use, especially when toilet roll is dispensed sheet-by-sheet. Using jumbo toilet rolls also means that these last longer with reduced transport and packaging: as does using larger soap dispenser refills and foam soap where a little feels like it’s going a long way to the user.

Do you offer any sustainable washroom systems? How do these help to reduce our impact on the environment?
Our Sensaflush urinal flush management system controls water usage and avoids excessive wastage by intuitively controlling the frequency of flushing, only when the urinal is being used, while our ES50 Water Management System allows companies to control the number of times the urinals flush each day with pre-set functions.

We are committed, going forward with new clients, to introduce our Oxy Air and Oxy Pro systems which, unlike an aerosol or spray system, release fragrance continuously, working well immaterial of airflow, temperature, and humidity, and filling a 170 cubic meter room.  This offers a varied intensity level, is compliant, and is safe for human health and the environment.

As well as our latest urinal flush and water management systems and our air care systems – Oxy Air and Oxy Pro, we are helping to reduce toilet paper usage by up to 40 per cent in some facilities with the Tork SmartOne sheet-by-sheet dispenser.

Working together to make a difference
It can be tricky to have conversations with customers to encourage them to go down the route of choosing the most environmentally beneficial product when cost is often, by necessity, a huge factor in decision-making. And suppliers, of course, must balance sustainability with commercial considerations too. But, ultimately, it must be about education, collaboration and doing the right thing, and we need to have the right discussions and work together to achieve this.

To find out more call Nikki on 07789 815387 or email nikki.phillips@amservicesgroup.co.uk