Recycling Day - What you can do at home

On Friday the 20^th of September it will be Recycling Day. This initiative is part of Clean-up and Recycle week which runs for the whole of this week. There are community clean-ups arranged around the country for individuals to participate in making public spaces cleaner. If you would like to know about events that have been organised by Clean-up SA please visit http://www.cleanup-sa.co.za/cleanupdiary.htm

Not all of us are going to be able to be part of events like this one but we can all still do our bit. We can start recycling at home, at work and helping arrange recycling schemes at local schools.

For your own recycling at home, you should start to separate the things you throw away. There will be wet waste mostly from food stuffs and dry recyclable materials. Some of your wet waste like fruit and vegetable waste can be used in your compost heap.

Find out about recycling schemes in your area. Some suburbs have separate rubbish trucks that collect different materials – one for paper and one for glass, plastic, tin, polystyrene, etc. You may need to find a shop or school in your area that has recycling bins for you to drop your goods into.

Create separate bins or boxes to store your recyclable goods until you can dispose of them. If you can, try to colour-code your bins if you have small children. Or you can put labels on the bins if your family is older. Teach everyone in your household about what items go in which bin and what state items should be in if they are to be put in these bins. Bottles, tins and jars should be cleaned out before placing them in the recycling bin – there should not be chunks of food attached. Once your family is in the habit of sorting it’s really easy. A huge advantage of doing this is that you dramatically reduce the amount of waste that would go into your big black wheelie bin. During the last rubbish collector’s strike we only filled our big wheelie bin after 4 weeks. We’re a large family and most of throw away goods are recycled so we were barely affected by the strike.

Here’s a picture of my indoor recycling bins. I find this system works really well for my household.

I’ll be looking at other places to start recycling so check back tomorrow.

Clean-up and Recycle Week

This week is Clean-up and Recycle week and now is the time to get involved in community clean-ups of public spaces. If you're not able to, just starting your own recycling scheme at home or work is a great way to contribute.

It doesn't take a lot of extra time to throw different types of waste into different bins and once you start you'll find it's really easy. Kids love to follow through with recycling at home.

Get involved and find a way to be kind to the environment. This is a great week to start!

It's Spring!

4 Tips for Cleaning Carpets

Sometimes it can be really hard to keep carpets clean. At home, the dogs, the kids and who knows what else trudge in a huge amount of mess. In the office, everyone walks in with mess from outside or the factory, workshop or warehouse. A simple little vacuum is not going to be able to keep things neat and tidy.

 Blendwell Chemicals manufactures a range of cleaning products designed specifically for cleaning carpets when you need some extra cleaning.

• First things first, try to stop dirt at the door. Have a door mat for people to wipe their feet on before entering. I have not yet been able to train my dogs to do this but small children can be taught. Make a game out of it and sing a silly song while you do it to get them in the habit.
• Always do a spot test on a piece of carpet that can be covered and is unobtrusive. You want to make sure that this is the right cleaning product for your carpet and a spot test is the best way to do this.
• Choose the right cleaning product for you. If you have a carpet cleaning machine, you will need a low foaming cleaning product. If you are cleaning by hand, you will need a high foaming product.
• Maintain your carpets between big cleaning sessions but vacuuming regularly and cleaning up spills immediately.

You’ll be able to keep your carpets looking new and fresh by following these tips. For more information on carpet cleaning products, please visit www.blendwell.co.za/Carpet_Cleaning. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures all their wholsale cleaning products at their factory in Midrand.

Other Areas to Clean in School Toilets

You will need to make allowances for the cleaning of all items within school toilets as a way to ensure the best hygiene standards are met. Some of these things will only require once a day cleaning and others will need even less.

Mirrors will require daily cleaning. Any stainless steel fitting surrounding the mirrors should be kept bright and shiny.

Walls and partitions should be spot cleaned as required. They should be checked daily.

Ceilings, windows, airvents, lights and fittings do not need routine cleaning but that doesn’t mean these items should be forgotten. When they do require periodical cleaning hot water and detergent is the best cleaner.

External pipework from toilets and basins should be cleaned weekly with hot water and detergent.

Feminine hygiene bins should be cleaned on the outside daily. Bins must be lifted off the floor during mopping of floor. Sanitary product disposal bins should be emptied and cleaned regularly preferably by a registered company.

Please also be aware that drinking water should not be available in the toilet facility areas.

For more information on cleaning products please visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals is a manufacturer and wholesaler of cleaning products in Johannesburg, South Africa.

How to Clean High Risk Areas in School Toilets

Previously I wrote about cleaning the low risk areas of school toilets. Now, it’s time to deal with high risk areas. It will be necessary to have your colour-coded cleaning accessories at hand and fresh hot water with correctly dosed cleaning product properly diluted. These are areas that have regular contact and are most likely to be exposed to germs and bacteria. It will be necessary to clean these areas a minimum of twice a day, perhaps more.

Sinks and basins can be cleaned using a cream cleaner.

The toilets should be cleaned with your hot water and detergent mix. Both top and bottom of the toilet seat should be cleaned as well as the flush handles. Door knobs and any locking mechanism will need to be cleaned. Surrounds underside of urinals should be cleaned as well as any disabled persons grab rails.

Taps and soap dispensers should be washed and dried as well as hand driers. Special attention should be paid to the undersides and sides of hand driers and soap dispensers.

This should cover the highest risk areas of your school toilet facilities. If there is every any blood of faecal spillages these must be cleaned up immediately and the area disinfected thoroughly.

Regular and planned cleaning in toilet areas will make the school toilets hygienic and keep students healthy. For more information on cleaning, visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals manufactures cleaning products for all industries in Midrand, South Africa. We are your best local cleaning chemical manufacturer and wholesaler.

How to clean low risk areas in school toilets

After assessing your school toilets and deciding on which areas are high risk and which are low risk, you would have been able to get ready for some cleaning. With your colour-coded cleaning accessories in hand, you should be able to refer to your cleaning schedule and get started.

General areas will need a minimum of a daily clean. It’s a good idea to use a general purpose cleaner and hot water with the right colour-coded cleaning equipment. All surfaces should be manually cleaned as well as dried before the space can be used again. If there is the possibility of an outbreak of infection then all surfaces should be disinfected. These areas must be properly cleaned before disinfection takes place.

Floors should be mopped at least once a day. If there have been any blood spillages, disinfection will be necessary.

Bins must be emptied at least twice a day. This may be different in other environments. If paper towels are used and only small bins are provided they may need to be emptied after each break. The outside of the bins should also be cleaned daily. If there is obvious soiling then this too may need to be more frequent. All bins should also have liner bags.

For more information on cleaning products for toilet facilities, visit www.blendwell.co.za. Blendwell Chemicals is a manufacturer and wholesaler of cleaning products. We sell our vast product range to resellers and contract cleaners from our factory in Johannesburg, South Africa.