Last Saturday was Sustainability Day. We always try to have a positive impact on the world. We do this one step at a time. Through green innovations and the improvements of our single-use cleaning solutions, everything with an eye on our environment.
Our goal is to make sure that the next generations have a healthy working, and living environment. Our eco-friendly single-use cleaning products contribute to this goal. The usage of eco-friendly materials, minimizing water use, reducing the need for transport, and more. In this article you can read all about the green advantages our single-use products have, in comparison to reusable textiles.
Save water
Our single-use mops save up to 92% of water, compared to reusable mops. How? Let’s take a look:
Reusable mops need to be washed after each use. It takes around 60 liters of water to run a washing machine with an 8-kilo capacity. A regular reusable mop weighs around 150 grams. That means that there will fit around 53 mops in one single washing machine. Just washing the mops will take around 1.1 liters of water. We’ll also need water with cleaning detergent to actually clean the floor. On average it will take 300 ml of water per mop to clean.
So washing and cleaning combined, it can take up to 1.4 liters of water each time you need to clean a floor. That’s a lot of clean drinking water, wasted on cleaning.
Our WET2GO Ready Mops and WET2GO Multi Mops are single-use floor cleaning solutions. This will save time but most importantly, it will save a lot of clean water. Our single-use mops only need 100 ml of liquid. This is a ~92% reduction.
Why do we think saving water is important?
According to research, half of the world’s population will have to live with water scarcity, by 2050. This is due to climate change, heat can cause some water sources to dry out completely. Water waste is also one of the causes of water scarcity. Water pollution reduces the availability of clean drinking water significantly.
Made Blue Foundation
Not everyone has access to clean drinking water, so we want to help. For every package of the WET2GO Ready Mop sold, we will donate 167 liters of water to the Made Blue Foundation. Every donation will help support sustainable water projects in developing countries.
Laundered mops can still contain bacteria
Reusable cleaning textiles will need to be washed for it to be used again. If you want to clean it properly, you will need to wash the mops and/or cloths at at least 60 degrees Celsius. Even when washed at a high temperature, you can’t get rid of all the bacteria in the textiles.
A study performed in multiple Arizona hospitals showed that at least 25% of the laundered mops still contained microbes like bacteria. 27% of those mops contained pathogens. Not all of the dirt and germs are removed in the washing machine. You will risk spreading bacteria. This can cause cross-contamination. A huge health risk, especially in the healthcare sector.
According to our own tests, our WET2GO Multimop gets rid of 99% of all microorganisms without the use of harsh chemicals. With just a little bit of water (around 100 ml) you can get amazing results. Get a clean start by using a new mop every time. Capture 99% of all microorganisms. Get rid of them by disposing the mop after each use. This will significantly reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
Watch the video to learn more about our WET2GO Multimop:
(Text is continueing below the video)
Microplastics
During the washing process of textiles like mops, tiny plastic particles end up in the water. These particles are called microplastics. A huge part of the plastic in the ocean comes from washing fabrics. Microplastics and other plastic waste create the so-called plastic soup. This is a danger to sea life and the plastic particles even end up in our food. We eat thousands of little plastic pieces every year. The plastic pollution also contributes to the lack of clean drinking water.
Reduce logistical movements
Many companies use professional laundry services to wash textile mops. This can be quite a hassle. Every used reusable mop has to be collected. Then transported to a laundry facility. When the textiles are clean, they will have to be transported back and stored to be used again. This process takes planning, time, and is rather expensive. All of these logistical movements contribute to the release of CO2, damaging our planet.
You can lower around 25% of the logistical movements with our single-use cleaning solutions because there is no need for washing. This number can even increase to 40-50% in less populated countries, because of the large distances. Less transport, means reducing the impact on our environment.
Our contribution towards a better world
We have a goal in mind. At Flash, we want to improve everyone’s living and working environment. We want to work to a better future. By keeping an eye on our five focus points, we can try to achieve this.
Materials
Our Product Innovation Team (PIT) is always looking for ways to minimize the amount of materials that are being used in our products. When it is possible to reduce the amount of materials, without compromising of the effectiveness of our products, we will aim for this. This reduces the impact on the environment but it also leads to a reduction in the cost of production.
In our product Vegatex we’ve used renewable and 100% bio-based materials. Vegatex is the first 100% plastic-free dust mop. Get amazing clean results while taking a step towards a greener and more sustainable future!
Products
You’ve read previously that our eco-friendly single-use products have multiple green benefits, in comparison to reusable mops or cloths. Here is a little summary:
- 92% reduction of water use
- No microplastics ending up in our oceans
- No need for laundry detergent
- No transport to the laundromat
Logistics
Our office, production and warehouse are all located underneath the same roof. It is very beneficial having everything in one building, we can minimize the need for internal transport.
Like we’ve stated above, our single-use products do not require washing. This decreases the logistical movements to laundromats.
To cut out on logistics even more; we try to source our raw materials as close to home as possible.
Our workplace
We take multiple steps to lower our environmental impact through our workplace. From energy-saving lighting, to lowering water usage. All these steps can have great results. We make sure that our waste is being recycled and reused. Finally, we continuously improve our machines to lower the use of energy.
Sustainable employability
When we think about sustainability, we also think about our employees. We strive to be a positive and healthy company to work for. We stimulate positivity with our ”Feel-good Moments”. Our employees can share positive experiences. These can be about private matters, or about work related things. These moments are spread company wide to spread the all of these positive moments with eachother. Even better, we save an amount of money with each ”Feel-good Moment” that is sent in. We dubble that amount at the end of each year and donate it to a charity chosen by our employees.
The bicycle is a popular vehicle of choice amongst our employees. We like to stimulate healthy choices and lowering our impact on the environment even more.
Finally, we have several employees working for us with a distance on the labour market. We support them with a job coach to be abe to give them the same chances as everyone else. We believe that everyone should have equal chances and opportunities.
Follow us on social media for more information about our single-use cleaning solutions!
