Stuart Yates, Marketing Manager at Vileda Professional, looks at how integrating microfibre products can help reduce energy usage and costs
Within the healthcare sector there’s an ongoing focus on reducing the impact the sector has on the environment. From lowering energy costs and minimising reliance on chemicals, there’s lots of different ways in which changes can be made.
As far as hygiene is concerned incorporating changes to cleaning regimes can help make a difference. From equipment to energy costs and cleaning chemicals, changes are being made. A big difference pioneered initially by Vileda Professional is the increased use of cutting-edge ‘quality’ microfibre based cleaning products. Used across cloths and mops it is one of the main reasons why energy usage and costs associated with laundry have been reduced. Because of its highly effective composition it cuts down on the amount of laundry that takes place which in turn cuts down on labour and energy costs. Products such as single use microfibre ensure that the number of wash and dry cycles decrease and thus consumption of energy because the product is disposable.
As the focus during the COVID-19 pandemic has shown using quality microfibre products as the first fundamental step in cleaning process is key. They are used to ‘mechanically’ clean surfaces. All surfaces have hairline scratches, cracks, nooks & crannies and these may be several microns deep below the surface line under a microscope. In these surface defects skin fat (sebum), bacterial and virus harbouring biofilm, moisture and salts accumulates. These all build up without effective mechanical cleaning methods using microfibre products first which should then be followed by surface disinfection. The amount of disinfectant used can also be reduced by ensuring mechanical cleaning is carried out successfully. It’s key to remember that applying disinfectant without mechanically cleaning the surface first would just reach the top layer. Microfibre productspenetrate deep into surfaces and the biofilms harbouring bacteria, viruses, dirt and grease are removed. This improved cleaning performance reduces the dependency on chemicals. In fact they can reduce the need for chemical agents in some cases by 100% depending on the cleaning task as well as removing 99.99%* bacteria and viruses. Quality microfibre has the ability to gather large amounts if soil, hold it in the fibres and lift away from the affected area.
A recent ‘cost in use’ study comparing both single use and double-sided microfibre products with traditional mops carried out within a healthcare environment found a number of interesting savings. Single use and durable product work hand in hand in hygiene critical environment, both have important roles to play. In summary chemical costs were reduced by 90%, laundry costs reduced by up to 45% and water consumption by up to 90%. Double sided pre-prepared microfibre systems can make huge savings to your capital spend budget. In a more detailed breakdown the time taken to clean a 400m2 ward using a traditional cleaning system is 2.46 hours, with a double sided pre-prepared system it takes only 1.24 hours. This enables healthcare teams to ensure they can carry out their role to the highest standards and are able to then focus on other requirements within their job role.
In summary using quality microfibre products to mechanically clean surfaces is key. The clean you achieve is only as good as the product you are using. It can help reduce energy usage and the amount of chemicals used to clean. The use of microfibre in mops and cloths has seen a drop in the amounts used and, because microfibre mechanically cleans above and beyond what was delivered by using chemicals alone. It is now used with great success across healthcare facilities in the UK and around the world.
For information on the Vileda Professional range of products please visit https://www.vileda-professional.co.uk/ email [email protected] or call 01706 759597.
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