FAQs About Waterless Urinals
In commercial men’s restrooms, waterless urinals are a rarity — though they’re becoming more popular. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why many in the industry seek advice in how to better clean waterless urinals — often times they want to know how to clean them.
As CEO and founder of waterless urinal manufacturer, Waterless Co., Klaus Reichardt fields just about every question there is regarding the waterless urinal. Years ago, he was often asked things like “How do they work?“ and “How much water can they save?” Today, the questions he receives are more complex. Those questions — and Reichardt’s answers to them — are listed below, courtesy of Waterless Co.
Question 1: Do we need them?
This all depends on the number of males using the building and if this is new construction or restroom renovation. If new construction, there are few reasons not to install no-water urinals. If a retrofit, and ten or fewer males use the facility, the return on the investment may not prove worthwhile at this time. But with rising water and sewer rates, reconsideration may be necessary at a future date.
Question 2: What is the return on investment?
This can vary, based on the number of males in the facility, water and sewer rates, and the age of the urinals. Waterless urinals range in price from $250 to $500 per unit. In most cases, the return on the investment is about two years or less.
Question 3: Do they cost more to install than traditional urinals?
No, installation charges are usually less because no flush valves or water lines are involved.
Question 4: If we installed waterless urinals and then remove them, will we lose our LEED certification?
Yes, if many of the LEED credits earned by the facility were due to reduced water consumption.
Question 5: Don’t the costs of the cartridges exceed the water cost savings?
The answer is yes, and no. Some cartridges are costly and must be replaced every couple of months. Others are relatively inexpensive and interestingly, last longer. Investigate the different systems available before selecting any no-water urinals
Street scene showcases sustainable separation solutions
Cromwell Polythene will be showcasing sustainable ways to collect separate materials for recycling at its street scene-themed stand (O14) at RWM 2019, which takes place 11-12 September at the Birmingham NEC.
On the stand’s kerbside, new additions to Cromwell’s broad portfolio of products will be revealed at the show, which are designed to aid simple, separate capture and collections of materials. These launches come at a time when the government has outlined plans for a consistent set of recyclable materials to be collected from all households and businesses, including weekly food waste collections, and simplifying the process.
Visitors to the stand will be introduced to Cromwell’s extensive range of products, including compostable sacks and liners for food and garden waste made from Ecopond biodegradable resin – for which Cromwell Polythene is the UK’s sole distributor among local authorities and the recycling and waste management sector.
Also on its kerbside display are textile recycling bags and clear and colour tinted sacks made from recycled polyethylene, suitable for the collection of recyclables. The popular LowCO2t range is being expanded, now incorporating green, red, blue, and yellow sacks, which are a great visual reminder to help in the separation of different materials for recycling. This range helps to reduce both the volume of plastic and the energy used in manufacturing, and also helps to minimise greenhouse gas emissions in transportation through the supply chain.
Cromwell’s MD, James Lee, said: “There is a growing demand for responsible products, which not only meet our waste and recycling challenges, but also help combat climate change. The government’s Resources and Waste Strategy aims to increase the quantity and quality of household and business recycling and make recycling easier for householders, helping them to collect separate waste streams.
“Our street scene is designed to show that solutions are available that bring us a step closer to achieving the circular economy vision, returning resources to the production cycle and keeping those materials in use for as long as possible.”
Cromwell recently added a new resources section to its website, where visitors can view or download a range of key industry documentation or visit relevant websites for information about the benefits of plastic materials.
Educating hospital cleaners lowers infections, says study
A new study has found that educating hospital cleaning staff can lead to fewer Clostridium difficile infections.
The aim of the study, carried out by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, was to “sustainably improve cleaning of high-touch surfaces (HTSs) in acute-care hospitals using a multimodal approach to education, reduction of barriers to cleaning and culture change for environmental services workers”.
Research was conducted in two academic acute-care hospitals, two community hospitals, and an academic pediatric and women’s hospital, and it involved frontline environmental services workers.
A five-module educational programme was developed, using principles of adult learning theory. Audience response system (ARS), videos, demonstrations, role playing, and graphics were used to illustrate concepts of and the rationale for infection prevention strategies.
Topics included hand hygiene, isolation precautions, personal protective equipment (PPE), cleaning protocols, and strategies to overcome barriers. Evaluation involved ARS questions, written evaluations and objective assessments of occupied patient room cleaning. There were changes in levels of hospital-onset C.diff infection and methicillin-resistant S.aureus (MRSA).
On average, 357 environmental service workers participated in each module. Most (93 per cent) rated the presentations as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ and agreed that they were useful (95 per cent), reported that they were more comfortable wearing PPE (91 per cent) and performing hand hygiene (96 per cent) and better understood the importance of disinfecting HTSs (96 per cent) after training.
The frequency of cleaning individual high-touch surfaces in occupied rooms increased from 26 per cent to 62 per cent after the programme had been implemented.
FM workers display higher levels of hygiene
New research suggests that FM workers are more likely than others to blame colleagues for spreading illness, and also tend to take cleaning into their own hands to maintain hygiene levels.
The report, commissioned by London-based cleaning firm Cleanology, looked into behaviour around illness and work, and attitudes towards workplace hygiene. Interestingly, it found that 80% of FM workers believe sick colleagues are responsible for passing on germs, compared to just 66% of employees in other sectors. FM staff also appear to be more hygiene-conscious than their counterparts in other industries, with just over half being likely to carry sanitising spray at work – 16% more than across wider industry. The survey also found that almost two-thirds of workers feel under more pressure to go to work when they are ill, even though it impedes their productivity.
Dominic Ponniah, CEO at Cleanology, said the research showed an interesting perspective on cleanliness and ways in which pressure to attend, even when under the weather, has an impact on effective working. He said: “Our findings raise important questions about standard work practices and whether businesses would benefit from encouraging people to work from home. More than half of those surveyed had caught a cold from a colleague, while 62% agreed that they are not able to work to the best of their abilities when they are sick. Respondents felt guilty for coming to work coughing and sneezing, and 57% of FMs felt that they were likely to make mistakes. While only a quarter of people blamed a dirty workplace for catching an illness, two out of five carry cleaning wipes. For us, as cleaners, this is a telling insight into the standard of cleaning in many workplaces. For employers and FMs, it must also raise questions about the link between cleanliness in the workplace and productivity.”
The survey was conducted by Sapio Research, which questioned 1056 respondents. Of these, 51 were facilities managers. Gender differences were highlighted, with one third of men taking sick days, compared with just under a quarter of women. Men are also more likely to work from home when they are sick. 25% of male workers reported having to take matters into their own hands by cleaning the workplace toilet, compared with just 17% of women.
Half of Millennials hiring cleaners as they are ‘too busy’ to clean one-bed flats
Nearly half of millennials are hiring cleaners because they are “too busy” to clean their own flats, figures show.
Hiring a professional maid help to keep a one bedroom flat spic and span would once have been an unthinkable prospect for many, but times have changed and it is fast becoming the norm.
According to insurer Esure, demand for regular home cleaners has grown by over 25pc in the past 5 years, with most of the demand coming from young professionals living in one or two bedroom properties.
In addition research by cleaning site Helpling.com found four in ten 25-34 year olds either has a cleaner or is looking for one, up from a third two years ago.
The firm is part of a new wave of digital housekeeping firms which are expanding to cater for a rising demand for regular cleaners among young professionals living in small flats.
Millennials are able to order cleaners from their smartphones for roughly the cost of a pint of beer a week.
Sam James, director at Helpling (formerly known as Hassle), defended young people who hire cleaners
. He said: “It is very difficult to criticise someone who earns their money and wants to spend their time enjoying themselves.
“We are seeing more young adults in the market looking for a cleaner, mainly because they value their time and would rather spend money that lose time they could be spending with friends or family.
“The sharing economy has also played a big part in the people realizing they have access to cleaners which they may have found harder to fin before, its very convenient.”
Kevin Hipkins, president at cleaning firm Mollymaid, said there was now a greater demand for services among young households, partly because of changing attitudes towards women’s domestic role.
He said: “In the 1970s women would feel reluctant to hire a cleaner as it was seen as a luxury they shouldn’t be paying for. They had a superwoman type mentality that they should do it all themselves, but these days a lot of women’s view of a superwoman isn’t someone who is cleaning the house every week. They have better things to do.”
Liam Dickerson, marketing manager at Housekeep, another cleaning firm, said: “Many young workers are putting more hours into their jobs these days and they feel they’re better off getting someone else to do their cleaning. They’re also living in smaller dwellings with more people living in them, which means they’re likely to spend more time tidying up mess as there may be less space to store things.”