Make your mark in carpet care

For years the WoolSafe Organisation has been set on becoming the leading authority in its field, but now with a particular emphasis on the world around us, the company is looking forward to a greener future. After all, flooring is a huge part of our homes and places of work, so our choices of floor covering and subsequent maintenance will have a significant knock-on effect on the environment. Extending the life of a floor covering will generally have a positive effect, so it comes as no surprise that organisations such as WoolSafe are set to find solutions for it.

When it comes to textile floor coverings, longevity is influenced by three factors: type of fibre and construction used, level of usage, and last but not least, maintenance. Research past and present shows time and time again that correct, regular maintenance extends the useful life, good looks and other beneficial properties of any textile floor covering. Yet this is still an area that is all too often neglected.

It is obvious that the more efficient the cleaning method employed, the better for the environment; a view also echoed by the EU’s move to introduce efficiency ratings for vacuum cleaners. In 2014 vacuum cleaners with motors exceeding 1600 watts were banned in response to allegations that such appliances were using excess energy, which could be vastly improved upon. The fact that guidelines are set to become even stricter by 2017 shows the direction in which the industry is headed.

New seals of approval

A good way to minimise cleaning time and effort is to use effective cleaning products. For over 20 years carpet cleaners and consumers have had the ability to choose safe and effective chemicals to clean wool carpets simply by looking for the WoolSafe mark on the bottle. Now The WoolSafe Organisation has launched an additional certification programme, CleanSeal, for carpet cleaning chemicals formulated for synthetic fibres. This provides carpet cleaners and facilities managers with convenient ways of identifying the most effective maintenance products for all types of carpet.

Consumers and professional carpet cleaners who like to take caring for the environment a step further, can choose from the ever-growing collection of 'green' chemicals. This choice has now been increased by the introduction of the EnviroSeal mark. In this latest development environmental certification has been made easier by the two new eco-standards for carpet cleaning formulations – EGTS:5102 and EGTS:1503.

These were developed in the UK for the European market by environmental testing body Enco Global Testing Services (EGTS) in partnership with The WoolSafe Organisation. WoolSafe teamed up with EGTS to test the effectiveness and environmental impact of a product respectively. We believe that this is a new era in high performance and ecologically-focused carpet cleaning products. WoolSafe has just announced the first two approved products to pass the EGTS:1502 standard: nKapper and Crystal Cleaner, both from Carpet Cleaner Industries CCI GmbH, and the list of products is set to grow exponentially. 

These new WoolSafe initiatives are set to make all the difference, as the company looks to a more environmentally conscious 2015, but as always, the message is that simple measures can go a long way when it comes to efficient flooring care. For example, large area cleaning is easier and also requires less energy if spots and stains are regularly cleaned up as soon as they occur. 

If needed, help is at hand with the free stain cleaning app and easy to follow stain removal videos from WoolSafe. For more information, visit www.woolsafe.org, search the App Store or Google Play for the app, or search YouTube for WoolSafe TV.