Archives for July 2023

Plastic Free July

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Plastic Free July is the perfect time to look for news ways to eliminate plastics from every day use. Across the month we’ve collaborated with clients on events and initiatives to promote the reduction and elimination of plastics.

As a sustainable cleaning company, we continually look for ways to make our service more environmentally friendly. This includes using chemical free cleaning solutions, reducing the amount of energy we use and cutting out plastics.

There are four pillars that make up our sustainable business strategy to Create Better Places. There are: Protecting Our World, Putting People First, Planning for Success and Partnering for Change. We know that by prioritising these initiatives, we can work towards a brighter future.

What have we done for Plastic Free July?

Across July, we’ve held client engagement days promoting Plastic Free July. We completed eight sessions across the buildings of our client JLL. These let us engage with occupiers and showcase the ways that we are collaborating with JLL to remove plastic out of all waste streams in our onsite operations. This includes using environmentally friendly products like Solupak and Tersano.

This gave us the chance to share some of our ESG activities within their buildings and hand out flyers on the changes that occupiers can make to reduce plastic in the office, and at home.

This was a brilliant opportunity to hand out some of our Bottle Made Blue bottles. These environmentally friendly water bottles help put an end to packaged water and make refilling easy. Made from indestructible Tritan, they are clear, sturdy and unbreakable as well as being recyclable, reusable and dishwasher safe.

For each bottle given out, Made Blue provides 500 litres of clean drinking water to a community in need, equating to six months of clean drinking water for one child from a developing country. This is such a brilliant alternative to the usual throwaway plastic bottle, with more than 4kg of plastic waste avoided and a huge social value benefit.

How do we reduce plastics in our service?

Our service uses innovative products, which remove single use plastics, are chemical free, have recyclable packaging and require fewer deliveries. These include biodegradable gloves, recycled micro fibre cloths, and recycled feminine hygiene bins. Our Service Support Centre has also been transformed into a sustainable working space that conserves energy, carefully recycles and uses electric vehicles.

Our market-leading sustainable cleaning service has been designed with the aim to support ours and our clients’ sustainable goals. We want to remain the UK’s leading sustainable cleaning company and aim to influence others in our industry to follow suit. We hope that through running an environmentally friendly service, we can work with clients to protect our world.

Gardening for St Mungo’s

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We recently joined St Mungo’s at a women’s only accommodation service to transform the garden ready for a summer BBQ, and the residents to enjoy.

Thanks to our partnership with St Mungo’s, we recently sent some volunteers to a London service for a day of gardening.

With the aim of creating an enjoyable garden ready for the summer months, we spent the day clearing up the overgrown plants and any debris to transform this into a green space that the clients can relax in. We began by selecting our tool of choice so that we could spread out and start clearing the area. We used spades, shears, secateurs, trowels and rakes to cut back the trees, pull up weeds and tidy the earth.

In the morning, we cleared away the majority of the overgrown plants and trees on the lawn and patio. We quicky discovered that the garden has plenty of potential, with lots of light pouring onto the lawn.

Gardening for St Mungo's
Gardening for St Mungo's
Gardening for St Mungo's

Once complete, we could see which spots got the most sunlight and where herbs, plants and flowers might flourish.

This activity required quite a bit of physical work for our volunteers but so rewarding as the space soon displayed its potential. We added a few final touches to make the garden more attractive, finding pots to plant our seeds in and placing them around the garden in different spots. These included herbs like Rosemary and Thyme and flowers like Jasmine to add some colour and a floral scent.

We also discovered a log burner and wooden table underneath some of the debris which we cleaned up for the BBQ, as well as some glass vases, hanging baskets and decorative pieces that we could place around.

The Result

This was such a rewarding day and we were so pleased to have been invited to join this volunteering opportunity. Gardening for St Mungo’s provides a huge benefit to their services and allows big tasks to be tackled by the volunteers’ group effort.

We hope that the clients can make the most of this garden now and that it provides a space for for relaxing, socialising and enjoying the flowers and nature it has to offer.

“You did a brilliant job of clearing the garden and transforming the space for clients to enjoy this summer. Volunteering days … allow bigger pieces of work to be done, which would take one staff member a really long time! I know the service were extremely grateful for you taking the time to volunteer with us!” – Lucy Cowham, Corporate Partnerships Executive for St Mungo’s

As part of our Better Places strategy we proactively look for ways to give back to our local communities. Having worked with St Mungo’s since 2018 on a variety of projects, we’ve seen the impact these projects can have. Our partnership with St Mungo’s opens up many more opportunities for us to deliver meaning social value to our communities and we’re so excited to make a real difference together.

Thank you to St Mungo’s and all our volunteers for making this day such a success!

Work Experience at Regular Cleaning

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We recently had two brilliant Work Experience colleagues join us at the Regular Cleaning offices. Oscar and Charlotte provided some amazing help to our teams and got a feel for what it’s like to work at our Service Support Centre.

Oscar
I’m Oscar Rae, a sixth form student from Langley Park School for Boys and I recently completed work experience at Regular Cleaning.

It was an amazing experience in an American Office-like environment. We had a fun Pride Quiz to celebrate Pride Month, like in the popular sitcom show. However, the environment was also very focused with lots of work getting done.

Three words I would use to describe my time at Regular Cleaning are entertaining, meaningful, and valuable. On Monday and Tuesday, I was given the task to design three posters. One was for Stress Awareness Month and the other two were for their Coffee Morning for Cancer Support. This was enjoyable and let me be creative, but also made me work my brain on the structure and content.

I also made five front covers for the Regular Cleaning managing courses. The later end of the week, I helped make the video for the Manager’s Pathway and monthly newsletter for June. These were fun projects to work on, however even more challenging and time consuming as the video took two days to complete. This was up my alley as it links to my hobby of making videos on social media.

The newsletter was probably the hardest. It required me to read and condense information about what happened during the month in a specific structure. To overcome this, I asked questions to the team to help how I would structure it and how they want me to shorten the information.

Overall Thoughts

When I arrived I was unsure what career I wanted to pursue, but a week with the team confirmed that I want to go into media.

The atmosphere was very relaxed but also very focused. Whilst everyone would have laughs with each other, they completed all their work diligently. This really helped me stay motivated without getting bored and helped calm my nerves in the first days in the office.

The team I stayed with over the week were all very kind and guided me through the week, giving me lots of useful tips and help on tasks I found tricky.

Overall, it was good work experience, and it has made me look forward to working life

Charlotte
My name is Charlotte Buller, I am currently studying my A-levels at The Leigh Academy in Dartford.

The subjects I chose to focus on include French, Global Politics and Social and Cultural Anthropology. I chose these topics in order to maintain a more varied range of education. This variety keeps my options open for the future as I am yet to decide which career path I would like to follow.

I am however sure of my plan to go to University. The overall university experience has always appealed to me, allowing me to further my studies alongside the social experience. More recently, I have also become interested in the option of a degree apprenticeship. This would mean I could work in an office environment and further my studies at the same time.

Completing work experience at Regular Cleaning gave me a taste of what day to day life in an office is like. Upon arrival I was greeted by the team who were all extremely welcoming, and given a tour of the building. This included a well-being space which I found to be an additional amenity. To gain an insight into the expected tasks of a Development and Well-being Administrator, I was able to log into the account of a colleague that I was working alongside. 

I also created an advert for the company, testing out techniques that would appeal to potential clientele which I found really enjoyable. I was shown beforehand different templates which is what inspired my finished result.

Overall Thoughts

Throughout the week I moved around the different departments so that I could experience the multiple fields of office work. This was extremely helpful as it will impact my decision regarding jobs in the future.  By using platforms such as Uhub, I completed several admin tasks and with help, quickly got the hang of things.

The help that I received from the team was continuous throughout the week. I was supported  through each task and did not feel afraid to ask any questions – both work related and not.

My overall experience at Regular Cleaning Office has led me to look forward to working life in the future. I hope to find an office with similar morals and structure when I have completed my final years of education.

Our sustainability and social value showcase event

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Regular Cleaning Sustainability and Social Value Showcase

July 4, America Square, London EC3N 2LB

Sustainability is at the heart of what we do as a business. Providing commercial cleaning services for our clients makes up the tangible service lines we offer – Day to day cleaning for offices and mixed use public realm, Specialist deep cleans, Window cleaning and Support Services including washroom services, pest control and waste management.

How we supply these services is just as important to us as the service specification itself.

We wanted to celebrate this ethos with like-minded clients and industry influencers at an inaugural event, showcasing some of the important layers which support the delivery of our commercial cleaning services. These layers are reflected across our sustainable business strategy – known as ‘Better Places’ – and held up by four strategic pillars which cover environmental, social, and community activities and projects. Read more about how we address and report on our strategy here.

Our event on 4 July invited clients, service partners and corporate partners to hear of our latest updates on social value and progress on our sustainability journey. We also took this opportunity to discuss how these initiatives can benefit and support our client’s sustainability ambitions, be they achieving Net Zero or boosting social impact within their communities.

Andrew Griffiths / Planet Mark presenting
Lucy Cowham / St Mungo’s presenting

It was our privilege to have two guest speakers for our audience to support and expand on our key projects. Andrew Griffiths, Director of Policy & Partnerships at Planet Mark spoke about the global carbon emission situation and shared data on the make-up of our own emissions at Regular Cleaning. He also explained the relative importance of Net Zero on all our sustainability ambitions and how the progress by one affects all others in the supply chain. Lucy Cowham from St Mungo’s lifted the lid on homelessness in the UK shedding light on its causes and how the charity is there to support those affected with their ultimate purpose being the ending of the problem in the UK.

Event headlines included:

Following our presentation, we invited guests to a drinks social event where the conversation continued over prosecco and canapes. There was an opportunity for all to chat in depth with our partners Planet Mark, St Mungo’s, Alzheimer’s Society and service partners Mayflower and Wessex.

This will be the first in a regular series of updates involving our clients and partners where we can share progress and achievements as we continue to deliver for both our planet and our people.

Our Exciting New Partnership with St Mungo’s

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We’re so excited to announce our corporate partnership with St Mungo’s.

We’re delighted to enter into this new partnership with a leading UK homelessness charity and are looking forward to working together to support their ambition to end rough sleeping.

Since 2018 we have been working with St Mungo’s as a Corporate Supporter. We’ve collaborated on a range of projects over this time and it’s brilliant that this has led to a partnership. These have included gardening, cleaning days, recruitment, and people development opportunities. We’ve also worked with their Community Hub and Employment team,  to help find employment for people who have experienced being homeless.

New Partnership
Pop up event speaking to occupiers about homelessness and how to make a difference.
We strive to create better places in all that we do, and are committed to being a socially responsible company.

This partnership opens up many more ways that we can work with St Mungo’s to help people experiencing homelessness. We aim to really make a difference, as well as creating more volunteering and event opportunities. We’re so excited by the opportunities this could bring for St Mungo’s, for us and our clients and partners. Our aim is to provide help and support to those who are rough sleeping or currently using St Mungo’s accommodation or recovery services.

This new official corporate partnership will help us to make lasting relationships. With St Mungo’s, with the community, and with those in need of help. We’ll be exploring how we can work with St Mungo’s and our clients on social value opportunities. We also aim to help educate and raise awareness on homelessness using St Mungo’s specialist ‘HomelessWise’ training within our UhUb training app.

This formal commitment will see us create better places by helping to end homelessness. Our plan for this includes fundraising events, and volunteering in events in our local communities and St Mungo’s services.

Gardening volunteering for St Mungo’s.