Almost 700,000 litres of water were saved over a year by using disposable rather than laundered mops as well as financial economies of more than £55,000 at a major NHS hospital.
The exercise was carried out by industry-leading Jigsaw Cleaning Systems in 17 wards at the hospital to compare the financial implications over various timescales including a shift, a day, a week, a month and a year.
The bottom-line results staggered the hospital, with the savings of using modern disposable mops rising from £154 per day to £4,633 per month to £55,000 per year.
The efficiencies in water also surprised the hospital, with three litres of water needed as opposed to the 60 used on an average current shift over the 17 wards, 102 used compared to 2,040 on a day shift, 3,060 over a month compared to 61,200 and 36,720 litres instead of the current 734,400 litres used over a year.
The 697,680 litres saved over the course of a year also reduces the time saved in re-filling buckets, plus the water saving costs, estimated to be more than £830 alone according to Anglian Water’s online water calculator.
James Blackhurst, managing director of Jigsaw Cleaning Systems which conducted the trials, said: “Because we were using a lot less water, we also needed less chemicals so the savings are made all the way down the line.
“The hospital was amazed and some of the figures surprised us also. The benefits of new systems and methodologies using disposable mops speak for themselves.”
The Department of Health has recently released figures which show that NHS spending on cleaning last year was up £40.7m to £937.9m.
Demand for water in the UK is predicted to rise by as much as 30 per cent by the year 2030 according to the Government and, coupled with the current public sector spending cutbacks, means there are pressures on efficiencies all round.
This has been highlighted by the world cleaning organisation ISSA in a new initiative on behalf of its members to highlight the benefits financially and environmentally of efficient cleaning and to educate facilities managers how to take advantage of the measurable gains it can bring.
