Cleaning Tips for Reducing Allergies

May 26, 2009 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning Advice, Cleaning Tips, environment , add a comment

Chemical fumes from cleaning products are among the most common allergens in the home, according to the Asthma Society of Canada.

Here are a some cleaning tips for reducing asthma and allergies, using natural products:

Avoid using commercial air fresheners, as they release chemicals into the air. To create your own natural air freshener, add 10 drops of your favourite essential oil to water in a spray bottle.

Toilet cleaners contain strong chemicals, so for a safer cleaner, use undiluted vinegar. Or even pour a can of fizz into your toilet to bubble away grunge and dirt.

Vinegar is a great cleaning product and a natural disinfectant. You can dull down the strong smell using a few squeezes of lemon or a few drops of essential oil.

Baking soda is a natural odour-absorber. To scrub dirt and clean away stains, use a microfibre cloth with a mixture of baking soda and water.

Vacuum all carpets and even curtains and your bath mat regularly. If someone in your household has allergies or asthma.

For more details about our services, please visit our office cleaning page.

Special Vacuum Cleaners Brought in to Get Rid of Cigarette ends

April 29, 2009 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News, News, environment , add a comment

Scotland city centre streets have been riddled with cigarette ends since the smoking ban was introduced.

So council chiefs have brought in a new specialist vacuum cleaner to sweep fag ends up more effectively.

The ‘Green Machines’ cost around £12,000 each and are produced by Applied Sweepers, which has supplied the street vacuums to more than 30 countries worldwide.

Francis Galashan said his firm received a “noticeable increase” in orders from countries and cities shortly after they introduced smoking bans.

He added: ‘We’ve supplied the machines from Broadway to Buckingham Palace, where we have royal assent from the Queen to clean up outside the palace.’

‘In America they can be found from San Francisco to Times Square. We even had the voice of actor Tony Randall installed in one of our machines telling people to ‘Keep New York Tidy’.’

Environment leader Robert Aldridge said that there are no plans to introduce voices to Edinburgh machines yet, but suggested a few candidates.

He said: ‘I think the voice of James Bond would be particularly effective. These new machines and barrow beats will allow us to target litter hot-spots.’

‘Improvements will include a designated overnight street cleaning team in the city centre, the extra vacuum cleaning units and additional staff employed on ‘barrow beats’ in litter hot-spots.’

The city council allocates approximately £10 million per year for litter collection, litter bin emptying, street washing and other cleaning.

Councillor Aldridge added: ‘The most recent independent CIMS scores show that the city is still getting cleaner and cleaner but there will always be problem areas that we need to focus on.’

‘In the city centre there is a problem with cigarette litter.’

Worcester City Centre Gets a Cleaning Blitz

April 9, 2009 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News, News, environment , 1 comment so far

The leader of Worcester City Council has declared a litter blitz on a busy route into the city centre a success.

Simon Geraghty joined in the four-hour clean sweep organised by the city’s cleaning team, University of Worcester and the police.

About a dozen litter pickers swung into action backed by the city council’s cleaning machines.

A roadsweeper, pavement sweeper and a new cleaning truck fitted with an adjustable mechanical arm to tackle hard-to-reach areas were among the equipment being deployed.

University staff helped pick up litter along the route, Mr Geraghty said: ‘It’s been a real success for us. I think in areas of the city like this one where there is a parking issue it can really benefit from these litter blitzes.’

‘Because the police were able to shift the parked cars we were able to get in with the sweepers and the gully cleaners.’

He said the city council would now look at repeating the clean-up in another area of the city within the year.

He also added that the University and Police had been really good: ‘I think working with them this time has helped a great deal.’

Cleaning Scheme Set up in Edinburgh

April 1, 2009 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News, News, environment , add a comment

A team of six wardens have started operating in Edinburgh to improve the levels of cleanliness on the city’s streets.

There are plans to tackle some of the areas worst hit by graffiti and provide an instant response cleaning team for businesses as problems develop.

The cleaning teams have been set up by Essential Edinburgh, the company brought in to manage the city’s first business improvement district.

Many of the areas being targeted initially are within privately-owned land so are not the responsibility of the city council.

That can mean that litter builds up and is then blown on to the main public streets.

Operations manager at Essential Edinburgh, said: ‘It is a bit of a bugbear for the council that they can’t go in and clean these areas up because the rubbish that gathers just gets blown back on to public areas that they might have just cleaned.’

As well as removing litter, the cleaning teams are to use specialist cleaning equipment to remove graffiti and chewing gum.

Once the ‘deep cleaning’ programme of lane cleaning and graffiti removal is completed, they intend to provide an instant response team that will respond to businesses’ calls on issues such as graffiti or flyposting.

Councillor Robert Aldridge, environment leader, said: ‘We are determined to improve street cleanliness in Edinburgh and this support will help us to keep the city centre clean and attractive.’

New Street Cleaners Introduced in a Bid to Improve Conditions

March 24, 2009 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, News, environment , add a comment

Salford’s fleet of street cleaners have introduced two new vehicles to aid the cleaning process.

Salix Homes, for central Salford, has brought in a new road sweeper and a fly tipping van to help clean the area.

The two vehicles will be added to the team of 42 street cleaners provided by the council’s environmental services.

They will act as a rapid response team for central Salford and will be sent out as and when needed to deal with any concerns from residents about fly-tipping or litter in their neighbourhoods.

The street cleaners are part of Salix Homes’ Better Neighbourhoods programme, who is working to transform neighbourhoods by making them cleaner, greener and safer.

The head of better neighbourhoods for Salix Homes, said: ‘As well as providing housing services, we play a wider role in developing neighbourhoods and these cleaners are an example of the different types of work we’re doing with partners to continuously improve services for local people.’

Cllr Keith Mann added: ‘These new vehicles are additional to the council’s street cleaning service and will be used when required to respond to any issues from people living areas managed by Salix Homes.’

Cleaning Chemicals Within Hospitals Could be Causing Asthma

January 21, 2009 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News, Hospital Cleaning, News, environment , add a comment

Researchers in America have found cleaning chemicals in wards run by nurses, which could irritate the lungs. Including cleansers and antiseptics used on patients’ skin, chemicals used in the sterilisation and all purpose cleaners like bleach.

There are already 5.4m people in the UK receiving treatment for asthma and cleaning products and irritants in the workplace are known to be one of the causes.

The findings of this research are based on a sample of 3,650 healthcare workers.

Cleaning instruments were associated with a 67% increased chance of being diagnosed with asthma and nurses who were exposed to general cleaning products were 72% more likely to have asthma.

Associate Professor Ahmed Arif, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said: ‘Substituting cleaning agents with environmentally friendly ‘green chemicals’ and using appropriate personal care protection could help minimise occupational exposures in this professional group.’

The research found that nurses who were exposed to adhesives and solvents in the care of patients, were 50% more likely to report symptoms of asthma but not a formal diagnosis.

Prof Arif said: ‘Some of the products containing these chemicals were available as sprays, which increase the potential for aerosolisation. To our knowledge, exposure to these types of compounds has not been previously linked to asthma among nursing professionals and, hence, warrants further evaluation.’

Natural Ingredients For Cleaning This Christmas!

December 11, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning Advice, Cleaning Tips, News, environment , add a comment

With all this credit crunch business, we could all do with saving a few pennies this Christmas. That’s why I have put together a list of natural alternatives to do your festive clean with.

Lemon Juice - Lemons have a low pH level, so are able to kill most of the bacteria in your house.  If you have bottled lemon juice lying around you can use this instead of fresh lemons. Lemon juice is ideal for clean the kitchen, bathroom and polishing copper or brass. You will also be left with that lovely fresh lemony smell around the home.

Baking Soda - This substance is alkaline in nature or has a neutral pH level and its cleaning potential is endless.  It is a deodorizer, air freshener, and water softener. Cleaning with baking soda works well on water based stains and cleaning that requires scrubbing. 

Vinegar - White vinegar is slightly acidic and therefore can cut through grease, remove mildew, and clean stains. In the bathroom, vinegar can clean soap scum and hard water strains.  Don’t worry about the unpleasant smell, it goes away when it dries. But don’t use vinegar on marble surfaces.

Borax - This ingredient is most commonly used as an alternative to bleach. 

Castile Soap - As well as using in place of shampoo or body soap, castile soap can clean clothing, be used to wash pets or as a general cleaner.   

Corn Starch - Corn starch can clean windows, polish furniture, remove grease, shampoo rugs, and works well when used during ironing.

Not only are these products cheaper because you probably have them lying round the house, but they are environmentally friendly too.

New Cleaning Product Reduces Spread of C-Difficile

December 4, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News, Hospital Cleaning, environment , add a comment

A new cleaning product that has been developed, could “significantly reduce” the rates of the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile, say researchers.

A study found that the product, Byotrol, led to a reduced presence of the infection C diff, in the wards where it was tried out.

In the areas cleaned with Byotrol, C diff was present in 20.4% of the sites tested, compared to 27.8% of the sites cleaned with traditional products.

According to the research, the number of patients who developed diarrhoea due to the potentially fatal bug was 50% lower in the wards cleaned with the new product.

The study was run in four hospital wards within the Manchester Royal Infirmary. Two of the wards were cleaned using Byotrol and the other two with bleach.

Dr Richard Deed said: ‘These results show that it is possible to drive significant reductions in one of the most persistent and challenging micro-organisms found within the healthcare system.’

Byotrol, which is cost comparable to most other day-to-day cleaners being used in wards, was made available to hospitals on the NHS supply chain in November.

Burnham-On-Sea Carnival Comes at a Clean Price

November 5, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News, News, environment , add a comment

Sedgemoor District Council revealed this week that the cost of cleaning up Burnham-On-Sea’s town centre streets, after next Monday’s carnival will be £2,500.

A huge clean-up operation is to be carried out overnight, so that the town centre is restored to pristine condition by 7am the following morning.

A team of 20 staff will sweep and collect what has been left by the thousands of spectators. The cost for this is estimated at about £5,000 in Bridgwater, £4,800 in North Petherton and £2,500 in Burnham-On-Sea.

Council spokesperson Claire Faun said: ‘This covers staff time, vehicles, bags and the cost of disposing of all those glasses, cans and food wrappers. It usually takes about five hours in Burnham-on-Sea and a little longer if it is very windy as the rubbish blows about.’

Johnson’s Cleaners Launches ‘Greener’ Cleaning Programme

October 30, 2008 Posted by Katie in : Cleaning News, News, environment , add a comment

Britain’s biggest dry cleaning company has chosen two Cheshire branches for the first step of their new £20m `GreenEarth’ programme.

The branches have been rebranded and refurbished at a cost of £80,000 and will this weekend re-open with the latest environmentally-friendly cleaning technology.

GreenEarth is a US- patented cleaning system which uses liquid silicone cleaning solvents derived from sand, giving it minimal environmental impact. And if all this wasn’t enough, it will be available at the same price as standard cleaning as well.

GreenEarth has no harmful waste products and is said to be kinder to clothes and skin than traditional methods of dry-cleaning.

Gary Knox, environmental brand manager said:  ‘It is the company’s intention to roll out the GreenEarth initiative across our entire estate over the next two years.’

‘The investment in each of the shops is in the region of £40,000, which includes a new fascia, new machinery and marketing.’

The re-launches follow its coat hanger recycling campaign launched earlier in the year – which called on customers to take the chain’s distinctive yellow hangers back to their nearest branch.

Johnson’s is also committed to a 5% reduction in energy consumption each year until 2010.