Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Social enterprise launches new eco-foaming hand wash
New Honey Blossom Eco Foaming Hand Wash from the Social Enterprise, Clarity, is launching into large organisations and the Government to support the employment of blind, disabled and otherwise disadvantaged people.
Developed in co-operation with the Cabinet Office and Interserve, the product and the fact that Clarity now holds The Planet Mark, emphasises their endeavour to improve environmental credentials.
The hand wash, made with 100% eco-certified ingredients, is vegan, biodegradable and allergen, gluten and GMO free.
In addition, it is free from SLS, sulphates and parabens making it efficient and environmentally friendly for Clarity's customers. Care has gone into the selection of each and every ingredient.
The foaming hand wash uses just 20% of the dosage compared to the liquid alternative so will last five times as long. Studies have found that foaming technology reduces the amount of water used by almost 10% whilst increasing the likelihood that individuals will wash their hands; promoting good hand hygiene.
The hand wash has been developed as a 'Buy Social Corporate Challenge' product, an initiative from Social Enterprise UK which Interserve partners and the Cabinet Office supports. It aims to get businesses to spend £1 billion with social enterprises, such as Clarity, by 2020. This hand wash makes it easy to switch your soap for social good.
Large corporations and Buy Social Corporate Challenge partners are planning to support the initiative by purchasing the hand wash, whilst several government departments are also set to switch to the new range.
The hand wash is the first in Clarity's new environmentally friendly range - ClarityEco. All the products in this range are being created with the environment at the forefront of the design process and will use natural, cruelty- and paraben/SLS-free ingredients.
"We are delighted to launch our new eco foaming hand wash with the support of our Buy Social Corporate Challenge partners," says Camilla Marcus-Dew, head of commercial at Clarity. "The result is an environmentally-friendly product which will be loved by all employees, customers and visitors. It has secured employment for our staff, creating social value in many communities across the UK.
"We look forward to rolling it out to other Government departments and corporations."
Richard Beattie, director of procurement at Interserve says of the launch: "At Interserve, we take our sustainability responsibilities very seriously - both from an environmental and social capital perspective. So, we are really pleased to be working with the Clarity team to bring the first Buy Social Corporate Challenge product to market.
"This new product strengthens Clarity's offering by combining social impact and eco-friendly credentials - it's a great product which I'm sure our clients will love."
Peter Holbrook CBE, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK says of the initiative: "This is a fantastic example of what's possible when the public, private and social enterprise sectors collaborate to bring a commercial solution to market that will change the lives of disabled people.
"The Cabinet Office were a founding strategic partner of the Buy Social Corporate Challenge, so it's great to see them 'walking the walk' through buying from social enterprises themselves. We'd like to now see other government departments, as well as more businesses, follow in their footsteps."
Clarity is the UK's oldest social enterprise (founded in 1854) and has produced soap for 80 years. Some 80% of its staff are visually impaired, disabled or otherwise disadvantaged. All the profit goes back into providing jobs and training. Over 10,000 hours of employment are created annually for its staff which has helped dozens transition into full time work elsewhere.
"The agreement with the Cabinet Office and other government departments has the potential to create hundreds of hours of employment per year for the Clarity employees.
ClarityEco Honey Blossom foaming hand wash comes in a 5 litre container for bulk fill into dispensers and will soon be available in 250ml bottles.
Interserve is one of the world's foremost support services and construction companies. Its vision is to redefine the future for people and places and it offers advice, design, construction, equipment, facilities management and frontline public services. Headquartered in the UK and FTSE listed, the company boasts gross revenues of £3.7 billion and a workforce of circa 80,000 people worldwide.
Social Enterprise UK (SEUK) is a leading global expert in social enterprise and the biggest network of social enterprises in the UK.
The Planet Mark is an internationally-recognised and trusted sustainability certification programme recognising commitment to continuous improvement in sustainability. It is awarded to businesses, properties, new developments and projects that are committed to reducing their carbon emissions.
15th June 2017