Cleaning up on plastic waste and CO2 emissions
It is more imperative than ever that every business does its part to protect our planet. That is why we are determined to build real social value and sustainability into all our operations.
What did we do?
Changing the way we clean buildings is one of the steps we are making to transform the services we deliver. Over the last 18 months, our Secure Infrastructure business has embarked on a journey to transform the way it cleans.
Working together with supply chain partners Zenith Hygiene and 2Pure, our new Cleaning Excellence model focuses on environmentally friendly practices and cleaning products that use renewable resources while still providing high-quality sanitisation and COVID mitigation.
The new cleaning model reduces:
- single-use plastic waste and CO2 emissions - by moving away from small ready to use products to larger concentrates that are diluted on site and reusing and refilling plastic containers and cleaning cloths
- the use of harmful chemicals – protecting employees and building users while mitigating water pollution
- water usage - through the investment in new and innovative cleaning equipment
Closed-loop recycling of the larger concentrate containers will further reduce plastic waste and CO2 emissions.
Behaviour change
We have also focused on behavioural change and shifting people’s actions through training. Often people don’t see how the things they do every day can impact the environment - a small change can make a big difference.
The training focused on a variety of activities ranging from the human and environmental safety of chemicals and products to eco-efficiency, corporate social responsibility, health and safety, and better resource and dosing use.
Through the training, our teams can start to see what’s possible, have a degree of accountability and begin to see the potential of their own ability to impact positive change.
The new model has been successfully rolled out across our Bradford, Barnsley, Northampton and Belfast Schools operations and our FM contract with National Highways.
What impact did it have?
The impact of the Cleaning Excellence model has been to reduce plastic and CO2 waste by 97%, with zero impact on cleaning standards, sanitisation and COVID mitigation.
80% of employees surveyed at the end of the training stated they saw the move to a less harmful environmental cleaning model as a positive step.
The new Cleaning Excellence model is now being rolled out in a phased approach across our Edinburgh, Renfrewshire, Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Glasgow and Clackmannanshire school FM operations.
Read more about our green ambitions
Stephanie Quinnin, Director of Soft Services, Amey Secure Infrastructure
“The protection of our planet is a key challenge for us all. As an industry, we need to adapt and be innovative to find ways to be more sustainable and reduce waste both from carbon emissions and plastic waste. Changing the way, we clean buildings is one of the many steps we are making to transform the soft services we deliver. We aim to be a leader in providing sustainable solutions to our customers, where we work together with our people and supply chain partners to embed practical, safe and environmentally friendly ways of working across all our operations.