Maximising washroom sustainability

FOR BUSINESSES today, it can feel like challenges are duplicating like bacteria. A recent study has found 93% of CEOs saying they are currently guiding their business through ten or more simultaneous challenges, with no signs of alleviation on the horizon. Inflation, price volatility and talent security, understandably, top the list of business priorities and concerns that the survey compiled. Ranked just beneath in third, however, is public health.

Hygiene pressures

Recent years have seen the importance of hygiene accentuated. But with so many challenges emerging since, it can be easy for best practices to be overlooked. Working from rich experience, a consultant-led approach to hygiene can ensure all possible pitfalls are avoided. Establishing an accessible and comprehensive hygiene strategy will not only support with challenges of workplace cleanliness but also ease the pressure of price volatility by allowing businesses to plan and budget for purchases. 

By providing employees with a clean workplace, businesses can show they care for their staff, boosting physical and mental health. With businesses losing an estimated 36.8 million working days a year due to work-related ill health, the value of a healthy workforce when businesses are overstretched is undeniable.

The ease of experts 

Accessing support from a hygiene consultant can help businesses to implement an effective infection prevention and control strategy. It allows you to mitigate the pressures of upkeeping high standards by leaving it to the experts who live and breathe hygiene solutions. 

Most importantly for already overworked professionals, it is about time saving, without compromising quality. Consultants can assess a business and gain an understanding of its operations, needs and challenges to draw up tailor-made solutions which are sensitive to time, financial and feasibility constraints. For those not adverse to the world of hygiene, understanding what options are best for a specific business can feel overwhelming, so leaving it to those already familiarised with the sector makes perfect sense. Expert support can even save you money as consultants look to cut unnecessary costs in favour of a streamlined, targeted and cost-effective strategy. 

Green guardians  

Not only can a hygiene consultant support with time-saving and staffing pressures, they can guide businesses into more sustainable hygiene solutions, helping lighten the load on another key aspect listed in the top concerns of CEOs and businesses: The race for net zero.  

Recently published research assessing the performance of 350 of the world’s most influential companies found that 98% of their net zero targets are in danger of not being met due to their links to deforestation. A comprehensive hygiene strategy, supported by expert advice can help businesses to reach their sustainability targets. Therefore, reducing the virgin paper products and emphasising the circular economy within the washroom can make a noticeable difference.

The average Brit is estimated to use 127 toilet rolls per year, amounting to over three million feet of toilet paper, meaning for businesses, there can be a large environmental cost to stocking a washroom. There is therefore huge value in looking beyond virgin fibre products for the papers, from toilet tissues to hand towels, that are stocked in washrooms. A hygiene consultant will be able to pinpoint the best option for your business, budget, and sustainability commitments, helping cut down on deforestation and increasing the circular economy of the washroom. 

In 2023, businesses are busy, overstretched and shrouded in uncertainty. Whilst the washroom can be easy to overlook, its importance to staff and sustainability cannot be undervalued. Hygiene consultants exist to alleviate pressures whilst implementing greener, and in many cases, cheaper, solutions to allow businesses to focus on their own operations safe in mind that their hygiene strategy is in expert hands.  

Alasdair Sharp is UKI head of sales AFH at Satino by WEPA.

For more information visit www.satino-by-wepa.co.uk