How to clean your bin

It’s been wonderful having these hot summer days. One downside of the hot weather is how quickly things we have thrown out begin to smell. Bad odours from bins especially our large outdoor black bins can be a real problem in this weather.

One way of dealing with this unpleasant problem is to use Blendwell Chemicals Black Bin Cleaner. This cleaning chemical is not classified as a disinfectant but rather a deodorizer. It should work brilliantly on your bin at home, office and any place where bins need cleaning.  Use rubber gloves and safety eyewear and avoid accidental spilling.

Mix 200ml of this industrial cleaning chemical with 9.8 litres of water to make up a 10 litre solution. Pour some into your black bin and it will probably be easiest to use a broom to then clean the bottom and sides of the bin. When all the grime has been washed away, empty the bin and rinse thoroughly with clean water.

Blendwell Chemicals manufactures Black Bin Cleaner and many other cleaning chemicals. To see what we manufacture please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Our factory is in Halfway House, South Africa. We are your local cleaning chemical supplier!

What is safety equipment? Part 2

In part one we looked at gloves and eyewear. Here we will look at other types of safety equipment that are often required when dealing with cleaning chemicals.

Often forgotten is safety footwear. Proper boots or shoes should always be worn when dealing with cleaning chemicals. Firstly, they will protect the skin on your feet from accidental spills. Secondly, they should have steel toe caps and these would protect your toes should you accidentally drop anything heavy on your feet.

Overalls are a very important part of safety gear. Wearing a suitable overall is imperative. Typically a blue overall has the same protection as wearing a pair of jeans. If dealing with harsh chemicals it may be better to rather look at an acid-proof overall which is usually bottle green in colour and if dealing with flammable materials you could rather buy a flame retardant overall (these are usually fern green in colour).

Safety respiratory masks may be required in conditions where products can be harmful to lungs. This may be because the dust off a powder product could hurt the lungs or the fumes off a liquid product could create a problem.  Where safety respiratory masks are required a dust mask will not suffice. These are simply ineffective and you would be better off with a proper breathing unit.  A safety respiratory mask could be a single or double depending on requirements. Cartridges will need to be replaced from time to time and the appropriate cartridges will need to be used. Cartridges are made for different proposes so be sure you have the right type.

When dealing with cleaning chemicals these would be the most common types of safety gear. However, there may be other requirements for specific chemicals. Product information should very clearly state if other types of safety gear is required. Please follow the advice given. If there is no safety advice given with a product, always get in touch with the manufacturer to make sure about what you may require.

Please visit the Blendwell Chemicals website at www.blendwell.co.za for information on cleaning chemicals that we have in our range. Blendwell Chemicals is a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals that has a factory in Midrand South Africa.

What is safety equipment? Part1

You’ll see in most of my blogs that I recommend that wearing of rubber gloves or even goggles. The recommendations can vary from wash hands after use to wear full safety gear including breathing apparatus and acid proof clothing. Thankfully, the cleaning chemical industry seldom requires the use of full protective gear. Although, from time to time there will be a need for breathing apparatus.

At Blendwell Chemicals, we would rather have you use too much safety equipment than not enough. We would always rather be safe than sorry. Please do not take this as an opportunity to not use safety equipment because you think we might be overly cautious. Please understand that people can respond differently when exposed to exactly the same thing. Many people have absolutely no problem washing a couple of sinkfuls of dishes without using household gloves and have no problems afterwards. The same experience for another and they may well have an outbreak of eczema so bad that it requires months of treatment with a cortisone cream. Please do not make the presumption that you may not be affected badly as you won’t know until you react.

When the recommendations are for gloves these would not be household gloves that one would wash the dishes with – they are usually yellow. These gloves wear down very quickly and tear extremely easily. The gloves required are thick rubber gloves. These gloves are usually a reddish colour and should either have an elasticated wrist or should come up to the elbow. The ones that are elasticated at the wrist are suitable for when the hands will not be submerged in the cleaning product and the user is wearing a suitable overall.

Safety eyewear would normally be a pair of safety goggles. Ideally, this would be a pair of goggles that would fully enclose the eye and make contact with the skin all the way around the eye. Wearing normal glasses is not enough. Normal glasses might prevent some minor splashing to reach the eyeball but that’s about it. A major splash and any dust and the eye would not be protected. It is possible that the eyes can start itching and burning in the presence of some chemicals, even when there is no direct contact, if goggles are worn you can protect your eyes.

Blendwell Chemicals is a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals that is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Please visit our website at www.blendwell.co.za for information on all our cleaning products. Please look out for the second part of this article.

What is a MSDS?

MSDS is an acronym for material safety data sheet. A MSDS is a very useful document that contains all sorts of information about a chemical. This chemical can be a raw material or ingredient or it could be a finished product.

The information one would find on a MSDS can vary slightly from country to country but generally a MSDS will provide information on the chemical and specify safety requirements when using that chemical.

A MSDS will have information on how to handle the chemical and what someone working with the chemical needs to be aware of. How toxic or poisonous the chemical might be and what safety gear would be required would be found on the MSDS. You can also expect to find information on any health effects and what first aid procedures should be followed if someone came into contact with the chemical.

Details of the chemicals boiling point, melting point and flash point would be on the MSDS. As well as how to store the chemical, what to do if it spills and how it would react if the place it is stored is on fire.

It is very important for anyone who is handling chemicals to know how to treat each one as they all have different requirements depending on their specific make-up. Blendwell Chemicals has MSDS’s for each product they manufacture. For more information on the cleaning chemicals made by Blendwell Chemicals please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals has a factory near the Gautrain station in Midrand South Africa.

Blendwell Chemicals – your local chemical supplier!

How to clean your cooler box

With the holidays just around the corner, it may just be time to haul out your cooler box and give it a good clean. There’s always a good chance that when you do get it out to use it, when you open it you’ll find it has a rather musty smell inside.

It is always a good idea to clean out the cooler box straight after use. If you have used it only for some drinks and nothing spilt then a simple rinsing out will do. If you used it for storing some meat you would be better off disinfecting it first or if it wasn’t cleaned properly after last use. Easiest way to do this would be to start with making sure the cooler box is empty and no food particles remain. Then take 5ml of Blendwell Chemicals Bleach and add one litre of water. You can either wipe this on with a rag (remember a cloth is likely to get bleached too) or you could put the solution into a spray bottle and spray it into the box. Make sure you have wiped the inside of the box thoroughly and then rinse with clean water.

Now that you know how to disinfect the cooler box you should also know how to clean the inside too. Use a dishwashing liquid like Blendwell Chemicals Greendet. Simply squirt some dishwashing liquid into a sink and fill up with warm water. Using a sponge or cloth wipe the inside of the cooler box with the solution and clean thoroughly. Rinse with clean water.

Whenever you clean out your cooler box be sure to dry thoroughly after cleaning or disinfecting. It would be a good idea to leave it in a sunny spot for a few hours to make sure it dries out.

For more information on these and other cleaning chemicals please visit www.blendwell.co.za Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a huge range of cleaning chemicals and have a factory near the Gautrain station in Midrand. We are your local cleaning chemical supplier!

What is REACH?

REACH is an acronym for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances. In 2007, this law was introduced in Europe as part of the European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use. REACH aims to identify chemical substances earlier to improve human health and the environment. As well as, improve competitiveness within the chemical industry.

REACH has intended that chemicals are stored and transported in a safe way and that information on safer chemical substitutes be more easily available. The Delphis Eco range of cleaning products complies with REACH and is now available in South Africa.

Blendwell Chemicals manufactures the Delphis Eco range under license to the UK. Blendwell Chemicals is in Johannesburg and you can visit our website at www.blendwell.co.za

How is Ecolabel Awarded?

Ecolabel is a European wide accreditation that is awarded to products or services where these products or services are superior to others in their field as well as being environmentally friendly. For a company to be awarded Ecolabel is a tremendous achievement. The criteria for being awarded Ecolabel are extremely stringent and encompass all aspects of the business and the production process.

Because Ecolabel is spread through Europe, independent and impartial bodies administer Ecolabel on a national level. It is the duty of these bodies to assess applications. In the case of Delphis Eco products being awarded Ecolabel, they were assessed by Defra. Defra is the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and they award Ecolabel in the UK. They are answerable to EU Ecolabel and have to follow very particular guidelines before awarding Ecolabel.

Delphis Eco is passionate about creating great products that are environmentally friendly. Delphis Eco cleaning products are manufactured in South Africa by Blendwell Chemicals under license to the UK. For more information on these cleaning products and many more please visit www.blendwell.co.za Blendwell Chemicals is in Midrand South Africa. Your local cleaning chemical supplier!