The cleaning savings plan

Five tips for sustainable cleaning

Tip 1

When cleaning, a whopping 80% of water can be saved by using a steam cleaner, because the device produces 1,700 litres of steam from a single litre of water. Depending on the type of dirt, this is sufficient for cleaning a floor surface of around 75 square metres. Wiping with a mop and bucket requires five litres of water for the same surface. With the help of steam, you can clean not only floors, but also fittings, crevices or shower trays – and without any chemicals.

Tip 2

When cleaning fittings and shower trays in the bathroom, do not leave the water running while scrubbing. It is better to take a mop bucket and fill it with a little liquid. If you remove the moisture from shower walls and bath tiles immediately after each shower, you will not have to scrub as often nor as intensively. This prevents lime deposits and the formation of mould. In order to remove the liquid, you can use either a simple squeegee or a window vac.

Tip 3

Washing the dishes makes up 6% of the average water consumption. Cleaning a dishwasher load of dishes under running water requires up to 150 litres of water. For those without a dishwasher, the dishes should be washed in the sink with a plug or washed in a bowl. Only fill the sink with two to three centimetres of hot water to start with, as the water level will rise automatically rise when doing the dishes. Then sort the dishes according to the degree of soiling, cleaning glasses, cups and plates first, and pots, pans and heavily soiled utensils last. This will mean that the water does not need to be changed or can be changed less often. For those who have a dishwasher, the plates do not need to be rinsed beforehand – you can just scrape off the dirt.

Tip 4

Washing clothes accounts for 12% of the average water consumption.¹ Here, too, some things can be done for the environment, as loading the washing machine in the right way can reduce water wastage. The more clothes that are washed at once, the less often the machine has to run. However, you should not overload the machine, as this can negatively impact the result. A quick look at the operating instructions is enough to find out which volume of laundry is possible for which programme.

¹Source: Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry.