Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 10th October 2024 Issue no. 1133

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Efficient sustainability with Love it Clean

It seems like every day we are reminded of the impact that climate change is having on the environment around us. The weather over the past few years has been turbulent to say the least, with record temperatures recorded across the world.

Unfortunately, the effects of this do not indicate that we will be enjoying nice summers by the beach but instead concerns that the threat of life due to extreme weather will only increase. A few examples we’ve seen this year are temperatures in central Europe this summer rising, as well as the cases of extreme weather including wildfires and flooding just to name a couple.

The impacts also transcend that of human life and can bring economic systems to collapse as the repeated weather events ruin industry, infrastructure, and property. 

This is a devastating reality that we must face and start to see opportunities where we can limit the amount we contribute to climate change. A sustainable approach to life is therefore not only important but essential to preserving the world we live in.

At all levels, from individuals all the way to corporations, we must take responsibility for pollution we create and build a value system that enforces green values and principles. This leads us to consider our effects on two core elements of carbon emissions, those being our Carbon Footprint and our Carbon Handprint. When we look at our Footprint, we are looking at a reduction in the number of resources we consume that contribute negatively to the environment. This includes use of energy and materials, production of waste, scrap, and emissions. 

To be more efficient we must therefore focus on our Handprint, which are methods by which we are able to reduce the consumption mentioned before. Using recyclable or recycled products helps to increase this Handprint with the goal that our Handprint will outweigh that of our Footprint.

Although this seems like a tall order, many businesses are beginning to incorporate their own practices, to reduce their contribution to climate change. Much of this has been prompted by the global community, with many encouraging businesses to work towards a carbon-neutral and even a carbon-negative end. 

Vileda Professional’s holding company, the Freudenberg Group, has made the commitments across their businesses to massively reduce their environmental impact. Freudenberg has made two major commitments as part of their ongoing position as a sustainable organisation.

The first would be that there would be 25% less energy used in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions than in 2020 relative to sales and that the Freudenberg would achieve carbon neutrality by the year 2045.

As a result, Vileda Professional have focused significant resources and efforts into the responsible handling of materials, waste, energy, emissions and water in all countries and communities in which we do business. These internal efforts have translated into sustainable cleaning solutions with superior ecological profiles while maintaining the quality that our customers have enjoyed for decades. 

At the start of 2023, Vileda Professional launched the ‘Love it Clean’ line of products which further demonstrates our mission to provide customers with high quality, sustainable products. This includes products within our floor cleaning and wipes portfolio and gives our customers the option to switch from products they are familiar to those that are their recycled equivalents. However, this is only the first step in our sustainable product offering and over time this will expand to encompass our entire range so that customers do not only get value for their money but also significant value to their sustainable efforts. 

5th October 2023