Appetite for odour destruction
December 1st 2008

The Ureco urinal sleeve system from Hygienex kills odours, saves water and stops blockages.Steve Middleton, sales director,and Simon Rice,MD, talk to Gerardine Coyne

The Ureco sleeve is our primary product," says Simon Rice."In conjunction with Ureco we fit a water management device.

Together, they allow you to cut urinal flushes down to two a day.

Not only that, you can cut flush volume. Instead of flushing nine litres 96 times a day, you can in principle cut the cistern volume down to three litres twice a day, so the savings are astronomical." "Technically, by flushing only twice a day, 95% water savings are possible," adds Steve Middleton (pictured).

"There are other sleeves on the market, but they still need between eight and 12 flushes a day," claims Rice.

"And [without controls] those other sleeves still use nine litres," finishes Middleton.The business partners are unashamedly enthusiastic about their product, and they don't want to keep it to themselves. So how are they spreading the word in the marketplace? Over to Rice.

"It's twofold;we're aiming to achieve distributors across the UK – prime distributors – who will market it and install it.We're also talking directly to hygiene companies – the direct service providers for the product. On top of that,we're in the early stages of establishing an installation unit for Hygienex." The installation unit is to help small hygiene companies lacking the tools to install the Ureco and those who don't really want to get involved in installation, instead turning a profit cleaning and replacing Ureco heads."We think the installation will be really really useful for them," says Rice."An installation team with their own vans will go from Lands End to John O'Groats – wherever the client requires the installations to be carried out." Hygienex aims to deal with installation requests within fourteen days.

The green stuff Ureco has a foot in both the money saving and environmental camps. Rice claims that Ureco will pay for itself in 16-18 weeks, and then deliver ongoing savings in terms of using less water and chemicals, ending blockages and reduced servicing of urinals.

However, as well as cutting costs, Rice argues that environmental responsibility is of equal importance."Everyone's trying to cut costs at the moment.We're doing a lot of work with universities and theme parks – and they're loving the project because they're saving water, so they are seen to be green, but at the same time it's helping their annual budget.

"It's not like many 'green'products where you have to wait two or three years to get your money back, it literally is 16-18 weeks.You've covered the cost of the installation and servicing and the rest is money in your pocket."Middleton argues that it is the size of the company that determines whether the priority is environment or cost."With the bigger companies it's 50/50. New regulations coming in mean the green angle is now crucial. Hand in hand with money saving is an obligation to tick all the green boxes and perhaps gain award status.With the smaller customers, it's based more on money – and you can't fault them on that." So what do Middleton and Rice think is the most important feature of a washroom? Rice has a nose for trouble;"If you go into any toilet – whether you're in a hotel for the weekend or going out for something to eat – if there's a smell, straightaway, alarm bells start ringing. Especially if you are dining, you think,'well if the toilets smell this bad, what are the kitchens going to be like?'" Middleton agrees that scent is the key to the public's happiness."People now expect high quality washrooms.This is why Ureco is such a good product, because urinals can be a horrific problem. Ureco stops the smell, it doesn't just mask it, the enzyme actually destroys harmful bacteria which forms in pipework.

Whether it be urine salts, sludge or limescale – all that's gone. It also improves the look of the washroom environment.

"Rather than looking down a dirty plughole, you're seeing a slick piece of equipment."Urinals so clean you could eat your dinner off them? Not quite. It's the live enzymes that are doing the feasting, feeding on the uric salts, eating away the bacteria.

"We get the bugs brewed over in America,"explains Middleton."There are four different strains of bugs in the enzyme that have all been bred to eat different parts, whether it be limescale, pubic hairs or FOGS (fats, oil, gases).We believe there's no other sleeve like it in terms of bacteria destruction."So the bugs have been bred to have quite big appetites then? Middleton laughs,"Yes, they are hungry little suckers." At present the company is focusing on the UK market, and interested distributors are invited to attend a free training programme, based at the manufacturer's in the south west.

"If after the training, they feel confident enough to install the product themselves, fine, or it might be that they go through the training and still want to use our installation team. Once they're interested in the product,we hold their hands all the way through to whatever point that they see fit to let go and continue on their own.

If at any stage they want us to carry on doing the installations we'll do that.They also get the full works – teas, coffees and sandwiches too."Destroying bacteria is naturally hungry work.

More articles from Hygienex Limited: