ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

We are entering an era of extreme weather that will change the world’s cleaning needs. And with big changes come big questions. How many are you prepared to answer? Because our industry will not only have to adapt to change – we will need to cater to it. Malene Thiele, global VP, ESG & sustainability at Nilfisk writes for ECJ.

On one single day over last summer scorching heat was crushing Olympic athletes and spectators in France – and people throughout much of Southern Europe. Rescuers in India were searching for survivors of landslides triggered by torrential rains. Monster typhoon Gaemi was still wreaking havoc in China. Wildfires were burning out of control in the western USA. An historic heatwave boosted ground temperatures in East Antarctica to 20-30 degrees C above average – during what was winter there.

And that’s just a snapshot from a single random day. So, what does this have to do with the professional cleaning industry? Plenty.

Extreme weather will cause many industries to face lower productivity. It will change market demand for many products and services. And it will change availability and prices of various raw materials and components. But amidst the doom and gloom there is also some positive news. In fact, I believe that extreme weather has the potential to put our industry in a very impactful place.

First, though, we need some answers.How are you protecting precious resources? For example, let’s take a look at the water our industry relies on for cleaning.

Water is a major and growing concern in Europe. About 30 per cent of Europe’s population is affected by water stress during an average year. Water stress occurs when the demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period. It can also happen when poor water quality restricts its use.

According to the European Environment Agency, water stress is expected to worsen. That’s because climate change is increasing the frequency, magnitude and impact of droughts.

Nilfisk is just one of the companies manufacturing and selling cleaning equipment and services that use water to perform their cleaning tasks. In an era of water stress, we need to devise extremely water-efficient solutions. We need data to document water consumption. We need digital solutions that nudge user behaviour to optimise water consumption. We need to rethink how we use this precious resource.

Why? The availability of water is one reason. Price is another. Because what happens when a resource becomes scarce? Prices go up. With increasing water scarcity, we can expect price fluctuations. That translates directly into the total cost of ownership of cleaning equipment.

Water is just one example. In an era of extreme weather and rising global temperatures, we can expect prices to increase on other raw materials as well as energy.

Resource efficiency

Questions like these are just the start. Think of another resource which is currently highly debated: plastic.

Plastic is used in virtually every cleaning machine. Increasingly, customers will be demanding both recycled and recyclable plastic that is robust enough to get the job done over and over again. Yet there’s still a limited supply of recycled plastic. And not all recycled plastic is equal. Post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) and post-industrial recycled plastic (PIR) impact the environment differently, too. It pays to know which recycled plastic resource you’re using.

The same goes for energy, detergent, particularly problematic metals, wooden crates and other resources sourced and applied in the process of manufacturing, distributing and operating cleaning equipment. We already see this shift happening.

Higher expectations

We should anticipate that customers will pay more and more attention to the resource efficiency of the cleaning solutions they choose to invest in going forward. As an industry, we will need to be prepared to answer questions such as:

• How efficient is your cleaning solution when it comes to water use?
• How much detergent does your cleaning solution use?
• How energy efficient is your cleaning solution?
• Does your cleaning solution include the use of recycled plastic?
• How durable is your cleaning solution? Is equipment easy to maintain and repair for a long lifetime of service?
• Is your cleaning equipment designed for easy disassembly and recycling at the end of its long life?

The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) regulations are taking expectations to the next level. The above questions can be tricky enough to answer. But if your customer is encompassed by the directive and/or working strategically with sustainability, you’ll likely get lots more questions.

Resource consumption while your business operates cleaning equipment is just a starting point. A much greater sustainability quiz will further zoom in on the environmental impact of your cleaning solution throughout your company’s supply chain. You’ll also need to prepare to answer questions such as:

• Where do you source your materials and components from?
• What percentage of recycled plastics does your cleaning solution use, and what type of recycled plastic is it?
• What are the emissions targets of your suppliers, if any?
• And much more!

In effect, you will need to be able to explain to your customer(s) whether their purchase of your cleaning solution will increase or help limit global warming. Customers will increasingly confront our industry with these and many other questions as they mature in their responses to global warming.
CSRD is not only a gamechanger in corporate sustainability reporting (and for investors). It may very well also become a commercial and market share gamechanger, favouring those companies who have documented answers to sustainability questions.

So far, this editorial has focused on changing market expectations in the light of extreme weather and increasing global temperatures. But it doesn’t tell the whole story of their impact on our industry.

In the face of extreme wind, rainfall, floods and droughts, the world will also need cleaning solutions to limit the spread of infectious diseases, to protect assets, to limit downtime, to maintain productivity and to keep local communities running. People will turn to and rely on our industry more and more.

Cleaning must change

Consequently, our industry will not only have to adapt to change – we will need to cater to it. What’s more, we will need to live up to the challenges we are uniquely positioned to meet. In an era of extreme weather, our customers will need a swift and reliable cleaning solution. As an industry, we should be prepared to provide it.

I could end my editorial here, but the story still would not be complete. Instead, let me rewrite a quote attributed to Albert Einstein: we cannot solve the world’s extreme weather problems with the same solutions and mindset that helped create them.

In addition to answering a lot of new questions about the sustainability of our industry’s products and services, we need to change. We need to find new ways to supply the world with the cleaning solutions it needs – without contributing to global warming and while actively working to limit it.

This is the essence of the change we need to see. This is why clean is changing. This is why clean must change – for all our sakes.

www.nilfisk.com