Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 17th September 2026 Issue no. 1226
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International News
Products University biotech researchers patent wastewater filtering device that reduces potable water demand
Actabl's AI Insights cuts overtime share of hours by 13% across 100-plus hotels
SOAPBOX: The compliance problem no one is talking about: What happens when AI makes the decision?
“Artificial intelligence is moving steadily from helping businesses make decisions to making more of them. It can assess applications, prioritise cases, identify unusual behaviour, score risk and determine which customers, suppliers or transactions require further scrutiny.
For businesses under pressure to make faster decisions at scale, the appeal is obvious. But as AI takes on more responsibility, a difficult compliance question is emerging: who is accountable when the machine gets it wrong?
For manufacturers, managing personal protective equipment (PPE) is a necessary expense, but replacing gloves and other protective gear after every use can quickly drive-up costs and generate significant waste. Ergonomics risk assessment tools market to reach $3.4 billion by 2033
SkyVac founder Andy Whiting retires after creating an industry
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Welcome to the Cleanzine
Last week, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a new Regulation to modernise and simplify the EU's public procurement framework and make the process more similar to private procurement; offering greater flexibility, encouraging better market consultation, simplifying administrative procedures, allowing for crucial negotiations and making it easier for SMEs to compete across the Single Market. The aim is to help complete the Single Market for public procurement - which accounts for around 15% of the EU's GDP - and potentially, (mainly by cutting bureaucracy) deliver administrative annual savings of some €650 million. The revision responds to long-standing shortcomings identified by the European Court of Auditors, including declining competition, limited SME and cross-border participation, and the rise of single-bid procedures. The trade unions are seeing added benefits… Says Oliver Roethig, regional secretary of UNI Europa, a trade union federation which represents seven million service workers, such as cleaners: “The Act is a clear opening to ensure €2.5 trillion in public spending promotes workers’ livelihoods through collective bargaining. Together with the whole European trade union movement, we demand that companies whose workers are covered by collective agreements are always given preference when awarding contracts.” In 2024 in Brussels and 2026 in Paris and Dublin, cleaners and other essential workers mobilised for an end to the race-to-the-bottom for pay and working conditions in the current procurement rules. A Europe-wide survey found that a large majority of EU citizens (72%) support their demands of procurement rules that strengthen workers’ livelihoods through collective bargaining. Employers’ organisations, in particular across the labour-intensive cleaning,security and catering industries, also stress the need to move away from only focusing on price and the importance of collective bargaining. In an open letter, over 100 world-leading economists criticised the “dominant focus on the lowest price in tenders”, supporting workers’ demands for a reform that “strengthens collective bargaining”. I see some interesting times ahead and I’d love to learn how you feel that the proposed changes will impact both your business and the cleaning sector in its entirety. Please email [email protected] with your comments.
This Week's News
Joe Thomas of PuroClean named IFA Franchisee of the Year
Thomas will be honoured at the IFA26 Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C., (being held September 14th -16th) at a luncheon on 15th, for being an outstanding franchise owner with excellence in entrepreneurship, community outreach, workforce development and service to others. Metsa 2027 Sustainability Awards: deadline for entries just three days away
The Awards programme is open to all those involved in the cleaning & hygiene sector, be you either a provider or user of any size, a membership or accreditation organisation, or government department, (including local and county council). So if you, your organisation, team, service or product is making a positive difference to people and the planet, you are in with a chance of making the shortlist and perhaps even being announced the winner.  UK cleanroom specialist appoints new sales manager to support UK and European growth
The appointment comes as interest grows in advanced contamination-control technologies across pharmaceutical research and manufacturing, biotechnology, life sciences, healthcare, food production, advanced manufacturing and other operationally critical sectors. Robotic floor equipment plans double in 2026 as labour pressures persist, review finds
The 2026 Building Service Contractor Market Study, conducted jointly by Contracting Profits magazine and Building Service Contractors Association International, reports that around 32% of BSCs plan to adopt robotic floor equipment within the next 12 months - roughly double the share reported in 2025. Hydrachem’s solution to 54% rise in hospital-onset MRSA rate
Tunley Environmental’s free webinar will make sustainability reporting more manageable
As sustainability reporting requirements continue to develop, more organisations are confronted with the chore of collecting the right information, keeping track of supporting evidence, managing supplier data and avoiding the need to rebuild the same information for each reporting cycle.   Manufacturing leaders reveal biggest cleaning & hygiene challenges facing UK facilities
The research asked 250 senior decision-makers in manufacturing responsible for cleaning & hygiene across the UK about the growing pressure on manufacturing businesses to ensure their facilities are clean and compliant. 2Pure Products launches ‘game-changing’ OdorBac Air
“OdorBac Air’s odour‑neutralising technology works at a molecular level, eliminating malodours and delivering freshness without masking,” explains 2Pure products director James Law. “The odour removing solution is transformed into microdroplets and is projected into the atmosphere using specially developed air care dispensing systems that are designed for use in different areas of a building. Sybron and Lime Sustainable Supplies announce joint venture
Sybron customers in the hospitality sector will benefit from LSS' advanced data-driven sustainability modelling, whilst LSS' customers will enjoy Sybron's best in class operational support from its new HQ and warehousing at the Icon in Harlow and its northern depot in Stafford. Cleanology celebrates B Corp status and gaining EcoVadis silver medal
Verified by B Lab, the not-for-profit behind the B Corp movement, the achievement demonstrates that Cleanology meets high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability alongside a commitment to goals beyond shareholder value. It assesses the entirety of a business's operations and covers impact areas related to practices around governance, workers, community, the environment and customers. The Cleanzine Archive Search We keep an extensive archive of news stories and product information that have featured in past issues of The Cleanzine. If you would like to run a search of the The Cleanzine web site using the search tool below please just go ahead by entering in the name of the person, product or company or any other key words that you are looking for. How to contact us at The Cleanzine:
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