astralhygiene

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Paper Towels Vs Hand Dryers - Pros and Cons

 By Anna Armstrong | Hygiene, Sustainability, Cleaning Tips

As a hygiene supplier and a distributor of both paper hand towels and hand dryers, we are often asked which ones we prefer, so I thought it would be a good idea to write a blog about the benefits and the draw backs of both the humble paper hand towel and the new ever more popular hand dryer.

Paper Towels are definitely the most hygienic way to dry your hands.  You are using an absorbent piece of paper to dry your hands, and it is actually the preferred method for the general pubic (C. Huang et al. 2012). This study assessed twelve groups, and the groups reported little effectiveness in the use of hand dryers, and all preferred hand towels.  In fact the study also went on to report that hand towels are not only preferred, but cause less contamination and are in fact superior to hand dryers in terms of infection control – so should always be used in hospitals and clinics.   As paper towels are so quick and easy to use, it is a sensible conclusion that most people will use them meaning that less pathogens and contamination are spread.

Paper Towels are definitely a nose a head now…. Right? But if we talk about the Pros of Hand Dryers, they also have their advantages.  Hand dryers do keep everything looking tidier, there are no handtowels on the floor, no overflowing bins, they are also said to be better for the environment so that’s all really good.  Some of the most advanced hand dryers can be really efficient in hand drying, drying off all water in a matter of seconds.

Confused…… lets continue then to the disadvantages where all will become clear……

Paper towels do have a list of cons in terms of cost of continually stocking up, choosing the right towel to ensure low cost in use and making sure that the toilets are regularly checked to make sure that it is clean and there are no paper towels lying around.  There is also the environmental concerns about hand towels, because they are made out of paper right?  Sure, but if you choose the right kind of supplier, who can provide a sustainable Eco Label Paper Product you can ease your conscience with the facilities you are providing. 

“Established in 1992 and recognised across Europe and worldwide, the EU Ecolabel is a label of environmental excellence that is awarded to products and services meeting high environmental standards throughout their life-cycle: from raw material extraction, to production, distribution and disposal. The EU Ecolabel promotes the circular economy by encouraging producers to generate less waste and CO2 during the manufacturing process. The EU Ecolabel criteria also encourages companies to develop products that are durable, easy to repair and recycle.

The EU Ecolabel criteria provide exigent guidelines for companies looking to lower their environmental impact and guarantee the efficiency of their environmental actions through third party controls. Furthermore, many companies turn to the EU Ecolabel criteria for guidance on eco-friendly best practices when developing their product lines.”

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At Astral Hygiene, we are working towards having only Eco-Label products where we can, to make sure we are providing sustainable paper solutions to ever customer.  Now this is happening currently here at Astral, and will take time to complete but we do have an Eco-Label Hand Towel currently to go along with our Eco Label Centre Feed, and our Three Domestic Toilet Rolls we have here.  We also have a range of chemicals, soaps, professional paper systems etc, so come and talk to us about it.

The Cons for hand dryers are much more extensive and the most important is the hygiene of these machines.  So a hand dryer has a filter, which filters the air which is sucked through the machine, and it also has a filter which filters the air when the warm air is blown through on to your hands.  So lets talk about the air in the bathrooms.  So when an individual goes to the toilet they will flush the toilet.  In public toilets sometimes there is no lid, or the lid is not put down – so when you flush all of the molecules fly in to the air and some of them will get sucked in to the filters of the hand dryers.  What are these molecules?  They are faecal bacteria, pathogens, and bad bacteria – which when it enters the hand dryer gets heated up (which is great for bacteria to breed!) and are then spewed out on to your hands – nice!  As the hand dryer remains on the wall, the bacteria multiply, the bacteria get pushed out in to the air and then sucked in to the dryer again – so hand dryers are a hive of activity for bacteria to grow, multiply and contaminate.  If that wasn’t bad enough, you do need to call an electrician in the event of a breakdown, meaning you will need to supply hand towels while you wait for them to come and fix it, and a lot of children don’t like the noise of hand dryers. 

Conclusion

The research I have referenced during this blog has said that most people do prefer hand towels, but hand dryers are becoming more and more prevalent, potentially because of the low cost in use. With the higher awareness of hand hygiene, and how clean hands help to reduce the spread of disease, hand towels are becoming more and more important in infection control and reduction of contamination from one area to another.  Personally, having worked in the hygiene sector for a long time, I will not go near a hand dryer, and in bathrooms with only a hand dryer present I feel that they are missing a trick. 

So you can take this information and do what you will with it, ultimately the choice is yours, and we all have our own preference.

Take a look at our Paper Towel Range, and our Hand Dryer Range on our website.  If you’d like any assistance you can always give myself or my team a call on the main number 01835 824 342. 

References

The Hygienic Efficacy of Different Hand-Drying Methods: A Review of the Evidence.  Mayo Clin Proc. 2012 Aug; 87(8): 791–798. C. Huang, W. Ma, & S. Stack. (Article here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538484/)

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

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Your germiest items.....

By Anna Armstrong | Hygiene, Cleaning Tips

In an age of increased awareness about bacterial contamination, and micro-organisms living on our everyday things, some generations are more aware than others of the dangers that are on our own possessions.

In an age of increased awareness about bacterial contamination, and micro-organisms living on our everyday things, some generations are more aware than others of the dangers that are on our own possessions. I remember vividly as a child when I’d eaten something messy my mother would get a cloth from the kitchen sink, wet it a bit and then wipe my face. I’ll never forget how that cloth smelled, I know with hindsight and in the sector I’m working in that that cloth was full of bacteria. My mother had no idea, so I guess it’s a generation thing.

So let’s kick off with some of the more obvious ones, kitchen counters. We know that the whole household has access to kitchen counters, the children butter toast straight on the counter, people slice fruit straight on the counter, even teenagers clean their shoes on the counter!  So before we begin preparing food or laying food out, we must sanitise these counter tops to make sure that whatever bacteria the cat has dragged around the counters, or what ever germs were on the kids shoes have been dealt with.  You can of course use this sanitiser, which is 30 second contact which won’t delay you in getting started, just simply spray around all your worktops and take a piece of kitchen roll and wipe it away. Then you can start your food prep safe in the knowledge that your kitchen has been sanitised.

So if we can move on to one of my absolute pet hates it would be dirty handbags. There is nothing more unsavoury than when someone comes into my kitchen and plops their dirty handbag down on my sanitised countertops. Know this might sound very uptight, however I am going to be preparing food for my family on the counter top and I have gone to great trouble to sanitise said countertop. I have no idea where that handbag has been!

If we can think about the places we take our handbags we take them into high traffic areas, and by high traffic I mean places that people are walking around with their shoes which have been traipsing around outside in really dirty places picking up all manner of bacteria, and sharing that with the piece of ground you are selecting to put your handbag down on, therefore picking up that bacteria.  By putting your handbag on my counter top you are now sharing that bacteria with my countertop. If you are fortunate enough to get out to the pub or to a nightclub and you take your handbag with you you are picking up bacteria there as well, which you are wantonly sharing with everyone’s counter top you put your bag down on. 

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Cleaning bags is also a contentious issue in terms of the expensiveness of your bag…..how much have you paid for your bag?  If it’s a really expensive one, or if it’s made of good quality leather you really wouldn’t want me attacking it with my sanitiser spray which will of course dry the leather out! In fact it would be really bad etiquette if somebody came into my house put their bag down on my counter top and I attacked it with my sanitiser (which you and I both know that is what I want to do!) or with a tub of antibacterial wipes. The best way to care for your bag and to make sure that you’re not offending anybody with your bacteria sharing behaviour is to clean it yourself, with antibacterial wipes and then nourish the leather. 

It is also good etiquette to put your back on the floor, or if it’s a really expensive one pop on the back of the dining room chair.  If someone comes in to my house and puts their bag on my table or counter tops I immediately move it to the back of a dining room chair. It is equally bad etiquette to put an expensive bag on what may be perceived as a dirty kitchen floor!

Everyone of course has heard horror stories about the grubbiness, the bacteria load, and all of the niceties that we are carrying around in our hands on a daily basis – the bacteria on our mobile phones. The amount of people who don’t wash their hands after they go to the toilet is astounding in this day and age.

Now that might make me sound pompous, however working in the sector and having exposure to the data I have access to it would really make your head spin if you knew the amount of people that don’t wash their hands after they go to the toilet. This means the amount of faecal bacteria that has been transferred to mobile phones is astronomical.  Those people who touched the mobile phones and then stick their fingers in their mouth, may be transferring faecal bacteria from the phone to their mouth – and that’s how Norovirus is spread. 

Various other bacteria stick to mobile phones and can survive on hard surfaces for a long time, such as the cold virus which can survive on hard surfaces indoors for up to 7 days. The flu virus again indoors can survive on hard surfaces for 24 hours, and a lot of other strains of viruses can survive on metal or plastic for a sustained period of time and even longer on soft furnishings on kids teddies – I’ll come back to kids teddies!!  

So if we apply this logic to the non-handwashing population, what kind of bacteria do we think is living on their iPads or tablets, or keyboards at work?  Have you ever thought about that hot desk, the communal keyboard which is cleaned maybe once a week/once a month by that external company that comes in to clean them? How many of the non-hand washing masses have been sat at that keyboard, how many times have you sat at the keyboard typing an email and put your finger in your mouth; thinking about your phraseology? How much faecal bacteria have you ingested? Disgusting thought right?

So what is the best way to clean this bacteria breeding ground?  Well in the main these devices are electronic, so you can't go squirting sanitiser at them! The best way would be to sanitise them and give them a good wipe down with one of these wipes.

So we were talking earlier about the survival rate of viruses and bacteria on hard surfaces, and I did mention that soft furnishings or children’s teddies are a great area for them to survive. You can of course wash your soft soft furnishings or children’s teddies in a boil wash, 80°C or above which will kill the bacteria, but it’s likely to ruin the teddy, or certainly make your cushion cover misshapen – so we will use an alternative suggestion. Disinfecting laundry powder is what I use on my daughters favourite teddies. She has two, and she likes to rub them against her nose while she sucks her thumb. So, these teddies are in close proximity to her mouth, are infected with whatever virus she is carrying at whatever time, and she likes to rub them in her mum and dads face, which neither of us like! After a few days they get a bit whiffy so I like to put them in the washing machine with the dose of disinfecting laundry powder, and we give them a bath! The disinfecting laundry powder which we sell at Astral kills various bacteria including MRSA and Ecoli, so I know my daughters teddies are not teaming with bacteria. I put my cushion covers blankets and all of those things I provide to my daughter when she’s unwell through a 30° wash with the disinfecting laundry powder – it’s great stuff!

For those soft furnishings that I can not fit in my washing machine (chairs, sofa etc) I use a spray sanitiser or are use an odour neutraliser with an embedded sanitiser. The odour neutraliser is BSEN1276, meaning it kills 99.999% of bacteria in 30 seconds; so I effectively mist my sofa cushion etc. Without getting it too wet then the bacteria is dead, and any smell that is omitting from that bacteria will also disappear.

I’ve talked about a number of products in this blog and I hyperlinked them all so you can have a peruse on the website and see a detailed description. If you’d like any further support or you like to hear us talk about something specific in our next Blog Don’t hesitate to contact us.

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

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Ultimate Spring Clean Hacks!

 By Anna Armstrong | Hygiene, Cleaning Tips

The quickest and most effective way to get your spring clean underway... along with the BEST products to get it super clean and sanitised!

Officially Spring is here on 20 March, so that would give rise to the opportunity to give your premises or your home a good old spring clean. Spring cleaning is an age old tradition and it’s gives you a good opportunity to give your home a good deep clean and clean all the areas of the home that aren’t cleaned as part of your regular cleaning routine.

Throughout the course of today’s blog I thought it might be useful to talk through and to recommend some products that will enable you to cover off this list as quickly and efficiently as possible and also do the best job with professional level products. I will also be doing a live vlog on facebook on Friday the 5th March at 11am to showcase some of the products I’m talking about and to answer any questions.  You can click here to have a look at last weeks live!

Just to be clear; I’m not saying that you should do these activities once a year but what I would say is that they should really be included within your spring cleaning to make sure that your house is both clean and tidy, but also is an opportunity to up the ante and to sanitise areas that wouldn’t ordinarily be sanitised. 

So lets start in the Kitchen……. First things first we need to load the dishwasher.   I Spring Clean by effectively making a HUGE mess, taking everything out, and then cleaning, sanisting and putting everything back in a tidier; less cluttered way it came out!

Firstly, completely empty your fridge. Take out all of the drawers, shelves and door pockets out of the fridge and pop it in the dishwasher.  Take the filters out of your cooker hood, and pop them in the dishwasher too.  Put your crumb trays from the toaster in the dishwasher, and the turntable from the inside of your microwave.  Take any removable items out of your coffee machine, filters, pots, drip trays etc and put them in your dishwasher.  I usually wash my tea, coffee, sugar vessels after every empty, but if you’re not doing this pour what is left in your coffee jar in to a cup and pop all three in the dishwasher too.  Put your dishwasher on a nice hot cycle and pop a Glaze Dishwash Tablet in and let the cycle run.

I then move on to my washing machine, and I begin by taking out the powder/softener drawer over to the sink and giving it a good scrub.  Scrub off any residue and then sanitise with Kitchen Cleaner Sanitiser.  Kitchen Cleaner Sanitiser is a BS EN 1276 product, which kills 99.999% of bacteria within 30 seconds.  Go back to your machine, and wipe down all of the seals with Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser.  Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser is one of my all time favourite cleaning fluids because it’s mighty enough to cut through surface grease but not overly strong so that you need to wear gloves, or do any damage to any fragile things like the rubber inside your washing machine.  Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser will just take off the surface grease and any scum – this is a definite product! Spray down the inside of your machine with  Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser and then wipe  it down.  Wash out your cloth, give it another wipe, and then liberally spray in the Kitchen Cleaner Sanitiser, to sanitise the inside of your drum. 

Go and get your towels, your cloths, your tea towels and systematically put them all on a 90 degree cycle in your washing machine.  A lot of manufacturers of powder don’t think this is necessary, but the chemistry of thermal disinfectant just can’t be argued with, and I do LOVE a boil wash!

Then we’ll go back to the fridge and sanitise that and make it a little tidier! I heard on the radio the other day that in domestic environments 10% of the food in our fridge is out of date! So make sure you’re ruthless with what your keeping and what you’re getting rid of! Technically any jars that have been open for more than 6 weeks absolutely need to get in the bin!  Make up a solution of Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser in a wash basin. I usually just take this to the fridge with a clean cloth to avoid trailing back and forward to the sink.  Start wiping down the fridge and removing any organic matter.  All of your shelves and your drawers etc should be being cleaned in the dishwasher, so wiping the inside of your fridge down shouldn’t take long.  Don’t leave any chemical residue from the Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser in your fridge; make sure you wipe it all out.  Then liberally spray in Kitchen Cleaner Sanitiser and leave it for 30 seconds while you put away your wash basin and put your cloth in the laundry or in the bin. 

If you don’t have a frost free freezer you’ll need to defrost it – this should be done once per year.   It is an arduous task, but one that is necessary and gives the opportunity to get rid of all those random peas and throw out things that have been in there for far too long!   I unfortunately have one, so in preparation for this, I try to empty my other freezer a bit to make room for the frozen food from the kitchen freezer. I defrost my freezer when I’m in for the day as I have a trick which just helps with the mess! Empty your freezer in to another one, or into cool bags with as many of those blue blocks that everyone seems to have in their freezers for picnics that never seem to happen or picnics where the blue blocks are absent! Switch off your freezer. Get as flat a tray as you can (the ones that you get in hotels – the wood effect ones are perfect as they have a magic lip!) and slot it under your freezer to catch the water! I usually begin by removing all the shelves and the drawers and putting them in the dishwasher queue.  I then take a wall paper scraper and scrape off all of the frost which is effectively getting rid of all of the water which will make your tray overflow! Keep going until it is all gone! I usually stuff some old towels in the bottom to catch all of the water meaning you’re not checking on it every five minutes whilst you are getting on with the rest of your spring clean!

Now that all the horrid jobs are done, the rest of the kitchen is absolute plain sailing! Empty your kitchen cupboards and give them a good wipe down.! For this process often when you’re in a commercial kitchen or even a domestic kitchen you can get a sticky/tacky residue on the outside and potentially on the inside and on things in your cupboards that don’t really move. Using Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser give the insides the walls and the tops and the underside of the shelves a good wipe down.   Then if you do want to sanitize the inside of your cupboards I would personally use a Kitchen Cleaner Sanitiser which is a BSEN1276 product and just makes me feel that everything is really clean and bacteria free.  Sort through what you’re keeping, what’s going to the food bank and what’s for the bin, wipe it down with sanitiser and put it back! I like labels to the front, because it just makes me feel like everything is as it should be!

Take the bag out of your rubbish bin, put in the outside bin. Take your bin outside and give it a good scrub with some washing up liquid (I like this one – Eco Friendly Washing Up Liquid) and some water make sure that it’s pristine clean and then give it a spray down with Kitchen Cleaner Sanitiser to sanitise it and make sure it is clean and sanitised. Your kitchen bin is a high touch point so make sure that its sanitized to make sure that your children and any customers or any staff are safe. 

Your dishwasher should be finished by now, so put all your shelves back in your VERY clean fridge, and put all your food stuffs back in really neatly.  Put your freezer shelves in and pop your dishwasher on again.  Check your freezer at this point and check the towels, change if necessary.  Empty your toaster, turn it upside down, and shake out all the crumbs – reassemble the toaster, coffee machine etc.

Your cooker hood is a hive of activity for both bacteria and grease; both are attracted to this area as it is a very hot moist area. We’ve already taken care of the filters which were washed at a very hot temperature in the dishwasher.  Now we’ll tackle the cooker hood.  Wipe it down with either Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser if it’s got just got a light residue of grease on it.  If it’s quite bad and has got a generous coating of grease I would use Lift Cleaner Degreaser.  Lift Cleaner Degreaser is a fantastic strong product but when using Lift Cleaner Degreaser you are using a very high level professional product that is very strong; you do need to wear rubber gloves when you’re working with Lift Cleaner Degreaser because it is Caustic. Liberally spray the Lift Cleaner Degreaser on your cloth; if there is any writing that is on your cooker hood avoid it at all costs with Lift Cleaner Degreaser because the lift will take the writing off which is obviously not what you want to do. Use the Lift Cleaner Degreaser to wash down your cooker hood and your hob.  If you’ve never used Lift Cleaner Degreaser or a product of its capability before you’ll LOVE it!

After you finished cleaning your kitchen hood and your hob with Lift Cleaner Degreaser then you should move on to your oven. I start cleaning the oven by taking out the shelves and I use a little product is called Magic Oven which is great little product because you basically put on the gloves on; put your shelves in the bag and then pour the caustic solution into the bag.  I lay it flat and then turn it over a few times over the next 24 hours.  Once they have been being cleaned for 24 hours, I take them out the bag, rinse them under the tap and then just pop them through a dishwasher cycle.  This should leave them looking brand new!

Moving on to the oven itself we stock two products here at Astral; both are highly effective professional level on oven cleaners which are equally as good.  The first is Evans Oven Cleaner and the other option is Selden Oven Cleaner – both do require PPE; gloves, masks, to protect you.  This is highly caustic and will melt your skin so it is important to use the correct PPE.   Spray your selected product on the bottom and the sides of your oven, then leave it for for 10 minutes. Get a basin of water, and just start wiping.  Depending how dirty it is = how long you’ll be wiping for! The more often you clean your oven, the less time it will take.  I usually stay on top of it by occasionally wiping it out with Lift Cleaner Degreaser, which will take off the worst of the grease if you do it once a week.

After you’ve washed down the insides of your cupboards you need to do the doors so I use Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser for the doors.  Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser just takes off residue and any grease; and particulary on the lower levels with just one pass off the cloth and sticky marks or residue just comes off.  This product makes this job really easy!  

All your pictures,  light fittings light switches etc; need to be wiped down and do make sure that you use Flick Lambswool Duster duster‘s for those areas that you cannot reach! If you do come across any sticky residue, or any grease on somewhere that has been neglected use a nice safe product which is going to cause no damage such as Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser.

In the living room start from top down by dusting the ceilings and the light fixtures with your Flick Lambs Wool Duster and you can also do around the door frames and around your pictures.  Also use your Flick Lambs Wool Duster for down the back of radiators, to get rid of any fluff etc. Wipe down any horizontal blinds with Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser. 

Make sure your polishing all the furniture depending on the kind of wood that you have. If you have real wood, you do need Liquid Heritage Beeswax Polish 750ml to give it a nice drink and really look after your wood. If you have different kind of furniture that needs a spray polish like our Heritage Beeswax Aerosol Polish that would look after that very nicely as well indeed. 

Clean all the mirrors and all the glass of your pictures with a product called Clear Window and Glass.   Clear Window and Glass is an alcohol-based window cleaner; it’s great because you just spray on and wipe off and it doesn’t leave any smears behind so it takes a lot of work out of cleaning mirrors and pictures. Use Clear Window and Glass throughout your whole house, on all pictures and mirrors, I do all of mine at once, because this product makes it so much easier than traditional window and glass cleaners.

Take everything off your sofa and get into all the nooks and crannies with the hoover take off your cushion covers and put them in the washing machine. Do make sure that you’re moving your sofas, your chairs and all the other furniture to clean beneath them. Either use a brush or a Hoover and give it a good clean make sure that there’s nothing underneath each piece of furniture.  If you have wooden floors make sure that they are all washed depending on the kind of wood you have.   Clean and Shine is a really good product for giving you a nice lustre on your floor whether it be wood or laminate, it’s a great all-round product. For Kitchen floors I love to use Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser because my kitchen is a really high traffic area, and everyone likes to congregate there so there is a lot of marks and scuffs on the floor which Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser lifts really easily! 

Make sure that you’re mopping the floors really well and that you are going around and wiping all of the skirting boards and all around all of the door frames.

In the bedrooms the first thing I would do is strip the beds, and if you can air your duvets and pillows outside (ideally) or over doors. Give your mattresses a good hoover, and turn them if appropriate.  Swap your winter duvets with your summer ones and pack them away neatly. Hoover all of your floors, and get your external nozzle to do the skirting boards, and wipe them down with Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser. Wash your floors with an appropriate floor cleaner, I use Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser and this is a perfect time to shampoo your carpets. 

I use the George 3 in 1 carpet shampooer which is a really compact and effective carpet shampooer and hoover in one – it’s a great machine!

Moving on to bathrooms, I again go top down; starting with the ceiling extractor fan and light fixtures. With regard to the extractor fan it might be quite sticky so if necessary I get a screwdriver to unscrew it give it a wash and leave it to dry. Remove the line scale from the showerhead; you can do this with a product called Clean Fast Foaming Bathroom Cleaner, make up a solution and pop your showerhead or showerheads into that solution and leave them for an hour. That will not only get rid of the lime scale that’s inside your showerhead but will also kill Legionella which is something that anybody who owns commercial premises will know that you need to stay on top of.

 

Take your Clean Fast Foaming Bathroom Cleaner in your 750ml spray and spray down your shower your bath your sink and your toilet. Clean Fast Foaming Bathroom Cleaner that does most jobs in the bathroom; it is a product that we love here at Astral hygiene.  Not only does it get rid of lime scale, it kills Legionella, AND cuts through body fat,  (I’ll come back to that brackets off,) it’s also BS EN 1276. It will kill 99.999% of bacteria in your bathroom within 30 seconds.

Coming back to the body fat issue; body fat is the pink stuff that sits in between your tiles in your shower, it’s pink and it’s greasy. If you drag your finger along the shower tray directly underneath where the water falls that will feel greasy; that’s body fat. Clean Fast Foaming Bathroom Cleaner  cleans everything with ease, so clean your sink, your shower, tiles and your toilet seat and the back of your toilet – it may be a good opportunity to wipe the underside of your toilet bowl and the underside of your sink.

In the rest of the house particularly the hallway and landing the doormat should be shook outside; all light fixtures light switches handles  should be sanitised with Kitchen Cleaner Sanitiser, all skirting boards should be wiped down with Apeel Orange Multipurpose Cleaner & Degreaser.  All floors should be vacuumed/shampooed and any hardwood floors should be mopped; all shoes and jackets should be put away everything should be left tidy.

Go around the premises and disinfect every single door handle every single light switch with Kitchen Cleaner Sanitiser.

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

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Wholesale Cleaning Products & Supplies

From waste bins and bags to mops and brushes, we have an extensive range of cleaning equipment.

Astral Hygiene has been supplying commercial cleaning equipment to trade for many years. We have a wide selection of products for a number of different uses, including bathroom & kitchen supplies, waste bins & refuse sacks, cleaning trolleys and much more. Check out our selection and order online today.

Bathroom Supplies

Bins & Liners

Cage Liners

Cleaning Trolleys

Dustpans & Brushes

Entrance Protection

Kitchen Supplies

Mops & Buckets

Safety Signs

Window Cleaning Supplies

Astral Hygiene supply a large range of janitorial cleaning equipment, tools and accessories to achieve a quality clean in practically any environment, including the leisure industry, schools, hotels, offices, hospitals, nursing homes and factories. Astral's range of products are of the highest quality and at extremely competitive and affordable prices.

Our wide range of hardware products include general cleaning equipment and janitorial products, from bins, mops, refuse sacks, buckets and pails, to cloths, spray bottles and window cleaning brushes.In addition to this we also provide specialised products such as safety signs, thermometers, cleaning trolleys and floor pads.

Whatever type of cleaning product you are looking for and whatever your budget is, Astral Hygiene are happy to supply the correct item for your cleaning needs.

Check out our selection and order online today.

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Wholesale Paper Products Supplier

Astral Hygiene have been supplying wholesale paper products to trade in the UK for many years. Our range includes blue centrefeed rolls, soap dispensers, tissue paper, paper towels, toilet paper and many more. Check out our selection below and order online today.

Centrefeed Products

Dispensers

Facial Tissues

Hand Towels

Hygiene Roll

Industrial Wiper Paper Products

Kennel / Cage Liners

Kitchen Towel

Napkins

Toilet Rolls & Bulk Pack Tissue

FAQs - Paper Products

From napkins to centrefeed products, Astral Hygiene supply a broad range of paper products to trade.

What kind of paper products do you provide?

We are associated with many types and can obtain several different brands. The paper sector at the moment is quite tumultuous with BREXIT raging on and with the price of paper pulp for our recycled products going up and down.

We are a recognised Tork distributor and can supply every Tork Toilet Roll and Hand Towel Dispenser, we stock a wide range of Tork Products and as a main distributor can offer competitive prices. Our warehouses also have various Centre Feeds, but as a rule of thumb we generally stock some Tork Centre Feed, but also a more economical brand which is always 2 ply anda minimum of 145m. We also stock 3 types of domestic toilet toll (for households!), coreless toilet rolls, smart one (Tork), and three ranges of jumbo toilet roll.

We also have a wide access to toilet rolls, so if we don’t stock it, we can certainly get it!

What sustainable paper products do you provide?

Sustainability and the environment are so important to us all, so we do stock sustainable products across the most of our range. Most of our products are certified Eco Label, which is a voluntary scheme, which means that producers, importers and retailers can choose to apply for the label for their products. ... It continues with manufacturing and packaging, distribution, use and finally the “end of life” stage, when the product is disposed of or recycled.

This is a voluntary scheme which guarantees the carbon foot of the product is low, that each product has not travelled too far to reach the end user, it means that the production is efficient, the packaging is minimal, and that the way it is broken down is thought about and has been considered.

Our domestic toilet roll is sustainable, it carries and Ecolabel, our centre feed is sustainable, it carries an Eco Label, every Tork product we stock is sustainable they carry EcoLabels.

So how does cutting down trees = a sustainable product – that makes no sense?

With all of our sustainable products they must come from sustainable forests, so forests that are managed and ones that have tree replenishment. All of our sustainable products are pure virgin pulp (not recycled), which encourages the replanting of trees, and some of our suppliers even go as far as to replace one tree with three – now that is sustainability at its best.

What is the difference between recycled, pure and recyclable?

This is a really important question and one that is really misunderstood. Recycled is good right, well yes and no.

Using recycled paper means making a paper pulp that is effectively full of glue to glue it together, where as virgin pulp requires little or no glue. So where does this paper go once it has been used, well toilet paper in this country goes down the loo – so you are throwing glue down the loo, the toxins, and some of that matter will end up in our oceans which is not what we want. This will adversely effect marine life and will litter our shores – so not good. What I’m saying is that recycled paper is great, but no necessarily for toilet paper.

Lets move on to Pure then, pure paper is made from trees that have never been anything before, so the pulp is not full of glue. The pure paper that we buy and sell at Astral Hygiene is EcoLabel so is from sustainable forests, so it is an environmentally friendly option.

Recyclable really just means anything that can be reused – in essence, so any form of paper is recyclable, but not necessarily compostable or biodegradable.

What is the difference between compostable and biodegradable?

Compostable means that a product is capable of disintegrating into natural elements in a compost environment, leaving no toxicity in the soil. This typically must occur in about 90 days. Some companies advertise their products as merely biodegradable. This is not necessarily a good thing since nearly everything will biodegrade in 10,000 years!

What are alternatives to Paper Toilet Tissue?

At Astral we are always looking to better our supply chain, and are always looking for a more sustainable product. We want to look after our planet too, and provide a safe and plentiful home for our children. We are currently looking into Bamboo Toilet roll, but we don’t just believe all of the hype and the sales pitch we are initially given. We need to do due diligence on any new line that we bring in and we need to make sure the supply is solid, the product is hygienic, and that is doesn’t have too high a carbon foot print to ensure it is a worth while product for us to bring in. The jury remains out…..

Anything else you’d like to know, drop us a note at sales@astralhygiene.co.uk.

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Clothing, Work Wear & Personal Protective Equipment

Browse your work wear, clothing, PPE and accessories from our wide selection of products

Keep your people safe and comply with safety regulations with our Personal Protective Equipment. Our range includes items such as safety helmets, gloves, nitrile gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear, safety harnesses and respiratory protective equipment plus many more.

Accessories

Antibacterial Workwear

Aprons

Bib & Brace Overalls

Coats & Jackets

Coveralls

Footwear

Gloves & Hand Protection

Head & Face Protection

Hi-Vis Workwear

Shirts & Tops

Shorts

Thermal Workwear

Trousers

Vests

Women's Workwear

Workwear

FAQs - Personal Protective Equipment

It's critical to keep your employees safe at work and adhere to relevant regulations. Here are a few commonly asked questions relating to PPE.

What regulations apply to PPE?

Regulation 2016/425 of the 9th of March 2016 on personal protective equipment, is the design manufacture and marketing a personal protective equipment. It defines legal obligations to ensure that PPE on the EU international market provides the highest level of protection against risks.

What are the four types of PPE?

Respiratory protection – for example disposable cartridge airline half a full face.

Eye protection – for example spectacles/goggles, shields and visors.

Hearing protection – for example, earmuffs and plugs.

Hand protection – for example, gloves and barrier creams.

What function does PPE serve?

PPE is equipment that will protect the user against health and safety risks at work. It could include items such as safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high visibility clothing, safety footwear and safety harnesses. It also includes respiratory protective equipment.

Is there a legal requirement to wear PPE?

Act 1974, section 7. This means they must follow safe systems of work on site rules required to protect the health and safety, including the compulsive use of personal protective equipment when deemed necessary through risk assessments, as required by the personal protective equipment at work regulations 1992.

A fundamental rule of thumb regarding PPE is that it should only be used as a last resort. All workplace risks should be identified and where sensible eliminated at source through technical or organisational means by providing protection on a collective basis (scaffolding instead of a harness).

If these measures are not sufficient, only then should PPE be used to protect against the hazards that are unavoidable.

PPE has it’s limitations because:

PPE only protects the wearer

It is less effective if not fitted properly

The psychological effect of PPE may be such that the individual wearing the PPE feels more protected than he or she actually is.

Before buying PPE you should;

Make an assessment of the hazards in the workplace to identify the correct type of PPE to be provided; and to ensure that PPE is appropriate to the risk.

Care must be taken in selecting PPE as certain types give reasonably high levels of protection while others give relatively low levels of protection. The level of risk must be assessed so that the performance required of the PPE can be determined.

PPE must be fitted correctly – employers should take into account the one type of PPE may not fit all

In sourcing PPE, the employer must therefore, select appropriate PPE which is user-friendly and which fits the individual employee correctly

Ensure any PPE you buy is the CE marked and complies with the requirements of the European Union regulations 2018, which require PPE to have the appropriate CE mark. The CE marking signifies that the PPE satisfies certain essential health and safety requirements

Who is responsible for paying for PPE?

The safety health and welfare at work act 2005, dictates that employers must supply PPE to employees were risk cannot be eliminated or adequately controlled. Employers cannot pass on to employees any financial costs associated with duties relating to safety, health and welfare at work. Unemployment may not ask for money to be paid to them by an employee for the provision of PPE whether returnable or otherwise.

Why is PPE so important?

Making the workplace safe includes providing instructions, procedures, training and supervision to encourage people to work safely and responsibly.

Even where engineering controls and safe systems of work have been applied, some hazards might remain. These include injuries to:

the lungs, e.g. from breathing in contaminated air

the head and feet, e.g. from falling materials

the eyes, e.g. from flying particles or splashes of corrosive liquids

the skin, e.g. from contact with corrosive materials

the body, e.g. from extremes of heat or cold

PPE is needed in these cases to reduce the risk.

Who’s job is it to maintain my PPE?

It is the employers responsibility to maintain your PPE. PPE must be properly looked after and stored when not in use, e.g. in a dry, clean cupboard. If it is reusable it must be cleaned and kept in good condition.

Think about:

using the right replacement parts which match the original, e.g. respirator filters

keeping replacement PPE available

who is responsible for maintenance and how it is to be done

having a supply of appropriate disposable suits which are useful for dirty jobs where laundry costs are high, e.g. for visitors who need protective clothing

It is however the employees responsibility to make proper use of PPE and report its loss or destruction or any fault in it.

Do I need to wear my PPE for a quick job?

Absolutely yes! Never not wear your PPE for a job that only takes a few minutes.

You can find out more at the HSE website.

Improve Workplace Safety With Proper PPE with These 6 Tips

While many decisions are made to ensure the health and safety of personnel, safety representatives must also develop programs that focus on productivity and efficiency, which can often be a difficult balance to achieve. Creating a safe workplace environment involves the development of necessary procedures, communication and execution of training and inspection programs. Use these 6 tips as the first line of defense to decrease worker incidents and injuries:

1.Understand the Role of Your Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Each type of PPE is engineered to protect workers against occupational hazards. Safety glasses protect a worker’s eyes from contact by objects and debris. Wraparound goggles provide side protection and some designs will reduce liquid and vapor penetration. Laboratory coats and secondary disposable PPE wear may offer protection against chemical spills, splashes and arc flash hazards. However, the correct fabric and materials must be selected, as not all apparel meets proper repellent and flame test standards.

Gloves should be selected carefully for the types of hazards present of the job. Cut-resistant gloves are needed around sharp machinery, while chemical-resistant gloves are needed for lab and some manufacturing work.

2. Know the Situations When PPE Should Be Used.

Following HSE guidelines is the recommended action for deciding what PPE should be used and when it is required. In any area where workers face airborne debris, safety glasses must be used. Hard hats are required for construction sites and any environments where workers face the hazard of falling objects. Protective apparel, gloves, boots and masks are required in many different operations including those that involve chemicals and flame / burn hazards.

3. Design a PPE Program.

Employers are required to provide workers with the tools and safety equipment needed to perform their jobs. Training requirements include knowing when the PPE is needed and what type is required.

Employees must understand how to use or wear safety equipment. If it is not used correctly, it does not provide necessary protection.

This training program should also include how to inspect equipment and when new PPE should be requested. Checklists should be made available to supervisors and one or more individuals assigned to maintain training records and assurance programs.

4. Understand the Necessary Steps in Selecting Appropriate PPE for Your Work Environment.

You want your PPE to actually provide protection and it will not do this if it is substandard. When you select equipment, you must pay attention to the manufacturer’s ratings and test results. Testing that is conducted in situations that simulate how the garment or other PPE is to be worn in actual workplace scenarios produce the most accurate performance ratings. Make sure that each piece of PPE meets current guidelines.

Check out the manufacturer of the product and what compliance ratings the equipment is designed to meet. Just because an item is fire resistant does not mean that it is appropriate in the workplace. Additionally, read the labels for contents. Fabrics designed to protect against a chemical spill are not always the same as those designed to protect against flame.

Many disposable garments claim to meet current standards but offer little protection to repel hazardous and non-hazardous chemicals as well as melt when exposed to flame. The items you choose for PPE must meet the hazards of your workplace.

5. Obtain Program Support and Promote Internally.

All employees in a facility must be involved in safety training for any areas where they work. Safety training is mandatory and managers and supervisors should be onboard when it comes to PPE requirements.

Holding training sessions and meetings can get the safety program started. All employees must be held accountable for the use of PPE once they have signed training documents.

6. Perform Regular Maintenance Inspections.

Like most equipment, PPE will wear out over time. Many items have expiration dates and must be removed from service after this date. A hard hat should be in use for no longer than five years and the date it is first placed ins service should be recorded inside the hat. Some PPE items are required to be replaced after an incident or if it becomes soiled to ensure protection for the wearer is not compromised.

While PPE protects you in the event of an accident, it does not prevent the accident itself. By establishing safety guidelines and training workers in the correct use of PPE, your facility will be safer and any accidents will be less likely to end in injury.

Astral Hygiene Ltd Charlesfield Industrial Estate St Boswells Scottish Borders Scotland TD6 0HH

Tel: 01835 824 342

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Cross Contamination ... how to avoid it!

 15th October 2021 | By Anna Armstrong

What is cross contamination?

Making a kitchen look clean by removal of crumbs and smears is easy, but this does not  mean that your kitchen is not contaminated by life threatening bacteria like E-coli and MRSA.  So how clean is your kitchen, is it tidy but contaminated with bacteria?  

Cross contamination is the easiest and most common way in which people get food poisoning. Cross contamination is effectively bacteria being put on to surfaces, and being picked up and contaminating food.  If a piece of equipment isn't handled correctly, cross contamination can easily occur, and can infect food and can make customers very unwell.  If you are not educated enough and aren't making enough of an effort to avoid cross contamination E.Coli can spread, grow and multiply and this is one of the most deadly bacteria you can find in your kitchen. The spread of E.Coli can not only affect your reputation but can also pose a threat to the health of individuals. 

It is imperative that any one running a food based business, has at least a basic understanding of food bourne bacteria, how they spread and how to avoid cross contamination. 

Food poisoning is avoidable, with good hygiene practices... so lets get started. 

Cross contamination is a term used to describe the process of bacteria or other microorganisms being transferred from one object or substance to another.  This could be a transfer from a kitchen knife to a cutting board, for example.

Harmful bacteria is the most common substance that can be passed on when food safety isn’t a priority. Harmful bacteria can be found on certain types of food and can be passed on to another. However, cross contamination is not only limited to bacteria. Traces of cleaning products, toxins, and even viruses can be passed between foods and they can all cause a great deal of harm.

Taking the right precautions is the best way to prevent the spread of any of these substances in the kitchen.

As well as ensuring that the way in which you store meat, poultry, and fish and utilize utensils is in line with the procedures recommended by the Food Standards agency, cleaning is an area which needs to be focused on too.

One of the most important and sometimes overlooked aspects of kitchen cleaning are surfaces.

When preparing raw meat or fresh vegetables using a chopping board, you may not think that bacteria or germs can be spread to a surface. But this really isn’t the case.

To avoid any harmful situations arising, it is essential that surfaces are cleaned often and thoroughly. Using a high-quality food safe hard surface cleaner will ensure that any bacteria that has been left lingering will be cleaned off, leaving the surface ready for the next meal to be prepared.

Alongside this, it’s important that the correct type of wiper is used in the kitchen. This is because using the wrong kind of wiper can contribute towards the spread of germs. For keeping your kitchen incredibly clean in the safest possible way there are specific catering cloths available.

When it comes to dishwashing, if you use a dishwasher we recommend using a trusted brand of dishwashing detergent or tablets, such as these, or using a trusted brand of washing up liquid if the equipment is washed by hand.

Using these products in tablet or liquid form will help ensure that any harmful food remnants or bacteria is removed before the dishes are used again. Nobody likes dirty dishes…even if you can’t see the dirt (or bacteria) with the naked eye!

Following these guidelines, and ensuring that everyone who uses your kitchen is aware of the dangers of not being thorough with their kitchen cleaning will help to boost your food safety level.

If you have any questions about the processes or products that you could employ to improve your kitchen safety from good to great, feel free to contact our advisers who are more than happy to discuss this with you.

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

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DEW Disinfect #dew #hygieneproducts #cleaning #astralhygiene

A much safer, more effective alternative to bleach, Disinfect SuperHygiene is the wise choice for environmentally minded, informed families. It is 99.995% effective against viruses and bacteria, 80 times more effective than bleach.

A KINDER DISINFECTANT: A much safer, more effective alternative to bleach, Disinfect SuperHygiene is the wise choice for environmentally minded, informed families. It is 99.995% effective against viruses and bacteria, 80 times more effective than bleach. SIMPLE TO USE: Suitable for all bathroom and kitchen surfaces, spray and leave for one minute, then wipe or leave to dry. (Best to spot test on soft fabrics and woodwork). To keep germs at bay, pour directly down sink/shower/bath waste pipes and spray around the toilet bowl. Our clear, Fragrance-Free liquid, no-rinse formula is ideal around food prep areas. 100% NATURAL: The active ingredient in Disinfect SuperHygiene is found naturally in our bodies, it’s what keeps us safe from infection. Our mineral based disinfect, utilising electrolysed water, destroys all pathogens, including Norovirus and COVID-19, salmonella and E.coli, it does not promote resistant strains and is 100% biodegradable. And, when used as directed the droplets are not dangerous if inhaled or swallowed. REFILLABLE: Disinfect SuperHygiene can be refilled using ‘Dew Disinfect SuperHygiene Refill’. Available in a 2.5-litre recycleable container. If you choose to refill this trigger it costs the equivalent of £1.40 and Saves 384kg CO2 per refill. MADE IN UK: Lovingly manufactured in Scotland, using minerals and science to create safe, non-toxic cleaning solutions that are kinder to you, your family, your pets, and the environment, that don’t produce any nasty bi-products or waste. Water and salt, to some materials can be natural corrosives, so please don’t over-wet and always wipe off metals and porous surfaces. ACCREDITATIONS - BS EN 1276 - Food Safe and proven to be bactericidal on hard surfaces by an independent laboratory BS EN 14476 - Proven to kill viruses in a quantitative suspension test for evaluation of virucidal activity

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Disposable Sanitary Bins....

 19th November 2021 | By Anna Armstrong | Cleaning Tips, Environmental Health, Hygiene, Sustainability, Coronovirus

Did you know that most organisations don’t need to use sanitary bin contractors to collect sanitary waste or nappies? If you want to save at least £500 per year, keep reading!

Astral Hygiene have had a partnership with Binny Bins, since 2015, and we have been using and selling these bins since then.  We have tested these bins, and have sold thousands, so I thought it was about time that I did a blog on these fantastic money saving bins.

Binny disposable sanitary bins remove the need for traditional sanitary bin supplier contracts and are already in use across many organisations including NHS Sites, cafes, restaurants, bars etc.

There is a considerable amount of mis-information concerning sanitary waste to ensure organisations utilise traditional sanitary bin suppliers. However, both the HSE and the Department of Health (DOH) clearly define sanitary bin waste as “offensive waste” and this is not hazardous, clinical or medical waste. Furthermore, the Environment Agency re-iterates this and states that low levels of sanitary bin waste (offensive waste) can be “legally discarded in the black bin waste stream” – please click here www.gov.uk.

This means many organisations, including shops, schools, companies and public sector organisations, do not need to use traditional sanitary bin suppliers to provide, clean and empty their sanitary bins and the organisation’s cleaning staff can easily and legally manage this area using Binny disposable sanitary bins.

Due to its unique design, Binny sanitary bins and their contents are simply disposed of without the sanitary bin contents ever being seen or handled by visitors or cleaning staff.

Binny disposable sanitary bins comply to relevant legislation/guidance. Binny sanitary bins provide antibacterial protection (certified to ISO20743:2013) throughout the life of Binny.

The Biomaster coating has been proven to kill harmful bacteria such such as Campylobacter, E.coli, Legionella, Listeria, Staphylococcus and MRSA, Pseudomonas, Salmonella and many other species by up to 99.99%. Binny™ disposable sanitary bins also provide considerable cost saving opportunities as well as operational and environmental benefits.

All Binny sanitary bins feature a healthcare message from the Cervical Cancer charity Jo’s Trust on the lid to encourage your staff to have a smear test to reduce their chances of cervical cancer.

The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 paragraphs 20 and 21 state that washroom facilities should be “suitable and sufficient”. These terms are clarified by the Health and Safety Executive in their “Approved Code of Practice” which states that for toilets used by women, “suitable means should be provided for the disposal of sanitary dressings”. Therefore, a method of disposal for sanitary bins is required. As well as legal obligations to use sanitary towel disposal bins, there are also environmental reasons. There are an estimated two billion sanitary items which are flushed down toilets each year. This causes environmental damage as well as blocked sewers. There is a large water industry led campaign to address this significant problem called Bag It and Bin It, Don’t Flush It.

So the simple answer is yes and these convenient little bins make it so easy!  

The rules regarding the disposal of Binny disposable sanitary bins depends on your volumes of offensive waste:

Low levels of offensive waste (under 7kgs) can legally be disposed of in the standard black bin waste. This covers 99% of UK organisations.

Higher levels of offensive waste per collection, then Binny sanitary bins should be disposed of through an offensive waste collection stream - this generally applies only to very large organisations, e.g. hospitals

Binny Benefits. . .

Dispose of all sanitary and personal waste

Fully compliant with all legislation including HSE, EA and DOH

Significantly reduces your sanitary bin carbon footprint

Significant costs savings

Removes the need for sanitary bin suppliers and contracts

Environmentally responsible

Improves your toilet facilities

Contains inbuilt antibacterial protection and conforms to ISO20743:2013

Unique malodour blocker and fragrance

Waterproof

Is regarded as a consumable so no capital outlay

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

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Free COSHH Training....when you shop with Astral Hygiene!

 26th April 2022 | By Anna Armstrong | Coronovirus, Sustainability, Hygiene, Cleaning Tips, Environmental Health

I wanted to blog this week about the training that we provide here at Astral Hygiene, to bring awareness to the fact that this is an added value service, that will benefit your organisation and your employees in turn.

This training is primarily for Health and Safety and COSHH, (Care of Substances Hazardous to Health) but is also aimed at making sure that everyone in attendance knows what each product does, what it is good at doing and what it is not really intended for.

The complimentary chemical training is also to address moving and handling, and evaluating the risk vs the hazard.

For each training session, we tailor the content around the chemicals your establishment is using,  which means that your training is tailored to your business, making every second your people are attending worth their time, and adding value to your business.

Every participant at one of our training sessions receives a bespoke work book, which lists every chemical you are buying from us, and we go through each of the hazard warning signs to demonstrate the risks and the hazards that each chemical poses to the environment and your personal health and safety.

This complimentary health and safety training achieves loads of benefits to your business:

Boosts employee engagement by sending the message that you care for their well being

Help comply with liability insurance

Manages risk and manages hazards

Achieves an informed and careful workforce

An educated workforce is a safe workforce

Helps your team understand what chemicals they are using, what they are designed to do, and to achieve a better cost in use

Helps your team to understand how to dilute a chemical safely

As long as you are buying your chemicals from Astral Hygiene Ltd, we will send an experienced and well informed trainer to your site (or we can deliver training via Zoom) to deliver your training free of charge, to answer any questions and to provide an informed overview of the chemicals and the hazards.

You will also receive free workbooks, and free chemical support.

Anna talks about what added value services we offer....

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

[astralhygiene]

What is living in your office water cooler?

 24th May 2022 | By Anna Armstrong | Cleaning Tips, Hygiene, Sustainability, Coronovirus, Environmental Health

In recent years, the water cooler was a place to spread your influence, to share ground breaking ideas and to exchange ideas .... as well as a good place to catch up on gossip. For a long time over the last two years the water cooler has lived a desolate and lonely life, being the single occupant in the office for months at a time. 

Can we now say that as people are being encouraged back in to the office that the water cooler will be placed back in the esteemed position of a place to share moments of serendipity and pure unadulterated inspiration? 

Well I think the water coolers' revered status is sadly on hold for the foreseeable future.  We are in the midst of trying to tentatively encourage people back in to the work place after the damage that was done following numerous lock downs and work from home initiatives. 

In fact, in a report by the Financial Times that was published just last month, todays' offices are only operating at a quarter capacity, which is the highest level of occupancy in two years. The graph below is astounding! 

Anna discusses this weeks blog.....

https://www.astralhygiene.co.uk/umbraco/nothing.jpg

So what,  I hear you ask does this have to do with Water Coolers? Even when the office footfall was what it was back in early 2020, water coolers when unmaintained would begin to grow mould and bacteria. After every water bottle it is recommended that each unit should be sanitised.... and you should make sure your supplier is actually doing this. 

The sanitisation process should be using a BS EN 1276 chemical which is food safe and is not going to contaminate the area with anything which shouldn't be ingested. 

Ofcourse, now that office occupancy is lower than ever before, the rate at which the water goes down will be slower, so the water cooler will be less popular than it once was. This means that the water will be sitting for longer periods of time, growing more bacteria and mould spores. 

A study published in the National Library of Medicine "Assessment of Water from Bottled Water Coolers" found that the heterotrophic plate count was over the acceptable hygienic levels for drinking water in 60% of tested water coolers - this was pre-pandemic, and pre work from home endemic. So it is a fair assumption that unless the way in which these water coolers are being maintained the heterotrophic plate count will be at an unacceptable level for a higher percentage of the population tested - so more bottles contaminated with bacteria and mould. 

Please do watch your water cooler to see what maintenance (if any is being conducted on it), and make sure that your office cleaner does maintain it, with an appropriate chemical and ensure your water cooler is kept away from heaters and out of direct sunlight - which will of course catalyse the growth of bacteria and mould. 

How to clean a water cooler

Unplug the water dispenser from the wall and remove the bottle. Unplug any other electronics nearby for safety

Use a food-safe disinfectant spray and cloth, and wipe the rim of the dispenser with the solution

Flush the system with a cleaning solution made from 1 tablespoon of bleach into a gallon of water, opening the taps to allow the solution to pour out

Rinse it out – fill the water cooler and pour it out four times into a bucket, ensuring that no taste of bleach is left behind

Then remove the drip tray and scrub it clean with hot soapy water

Clean the taps with a food-safe disinfectant spray

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

[astralhygiene]

The forgotten areas.....

 1st June 2022 | By Anna Armstrong | Cleaning Tips, Environmental Health, Hygiene, Sustainability, Coronovirus

In a small office environment, it is often the case that everyone has to muck in to get the office to a clean and hygienic standard before the weekend. This might mean, one of you cleaning the loos, and filling up the paper towels, one putting the hoover around, one giving the kitchen the once over, and one emptying the bins. 

However, as these duties aren't really what any of your team signed up to do, and are covered in the 'or any other duties we sit fit' piece of the employment contract, this 'cleaning rota system' will be performed in a fairly lacklustre manner and many places will be missed. So where are these places? 

Buttons and Lightswitches - with these areas being really high touch, and especially with the recent pandemics, these switches need to be cleaned and sanitised more regularly. When you have your team cleaning the office as an add on duty, this is an area that will definitely be missed, so make sure you allocate this job to someone specific. The bacteria that can be left and multiply on light switches and buttons can include E-Coli and Norovirus which can be spread by people not washing their hands after going to the toilet. The amount of people that do this is absolutely astounding! 

The Office Dishwasher - This little beauty will clean all of the mugs, and cups, but there will always be the argument as to who empties it, but because it's no ones specific duty there will be not a soul who volunteers to clean it! Have a look at the filter at the bottom of the dishwasher. I personally like to spray in a Cleaner Sanitiser that is BS EN 1276 (kills all the bacteria E-Coli etc) within 30 Seconds, so that you are staying on top of the bacterial load and stopping it from smelling. Run a self clean cycle, and I do love to shove a bleach tablet every now and again to take the staining off cups and crockery. 

Blinds - These are a nightmare to clean. Brutal. Nobody will volunteer to clean these, particularly the horizontal kind. Here's a top tip. Get a pair of rubber gloves, and pop an old sock over them. Gloves are important in this instance, to protect your hands from the chemical I'm going to recommend. Blinds seem to attract a sticky residue, so you need something that will cut through that stick, something that is high in acid (hence the gloves). Make up a solution of Heavy Duty Degreaser or Lift is also a firm favourite of mine (either will work) and dip your sock covered glove in to it. Squeeze your hand over the bowl and then put your thumb under a horizontal blind and your forefinger on top and run it along the blind. The degreaser will break down the sticky residue and lift off any dirt. Take another sock one you have completed the full blind, and dip it in water and wipe off any degreaser residue. 

Vent grates and extractor fan intakes can get really dusty, as airflow leads dust particles straight to them. We don’t spend much time looking at these parts of an office, but they can contribute to the overall dustiness of an environment. They can be a bit tricky to reach sometimes, so make sure you’ve got all the cleaning equipment you need – like extendable dusters and step ladders.

Fire Extinguishers - Often ignored until its time for the yearly service, the office Fire Extinguisher is left to gather dust, and act as an unloved and unwanted ornament.  The dusty Fire Extingusher is not a good look for any office, so just make sure it is given the once over with a cloth every now and again. 

Plants is another area that often get left to gather dust. If possible, take them outside and give them a good dust down with a hose! Just spray some water on them, they love it and it keeps them clean! 

Walls and Baseboards - Dust and grime can cling to vertical surfaces as well as horizontal ones. Start at the top of the wall and work down using a duster that traps particles. Finish by cleaning away any stray marks or body soil that may be around light switches and doorknobs. Finish your wall cleaning by paying attention to baseboards. An amazing amount of dust can collect on those tiny ledges. In rooms like kitchens and baths where there is more humidity, you'll probably need to wipe the baseboards down with a damp cloth because the moisture has turned the dust into soil that clings to the surface.

In order to get these forgotten areas cleaned, simply add them to your cleaning rota, and make sure that everyone that comes into your office environment gets the right first impression.

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

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This great privilege allows Astral Hygiene to display the Royal Arms on our fleet of vehicles, our premises, stationary, and marketing which demonstrates the Royal Household prefers our services and products over others.

View the Royal Warrant Holders Association website here. 

Astral Hygiene Ltd have a long-standing arrangement with the Royal Households, and have been supplying cleaning and hygiene supplies and advice and consultancy for many years. A Royal Warrant of Appointment is granted as a mark of recognition to people or companies who have regularly supplied goods or services to HM The Queen, HRH The Late Duke of Edinburgh or HRH The Prince of Wales or their households. 

Astral Hygiene Ltd is family business, run by husband and wife team Yewan and Anna Armstrong and has been operating out of the Scottish Borders for almost 30 years. We supply cleaning and paper products locally and nationally.

The warrant is the first Astral Hygiene Ltd have been awarded, and is recognition that Astral Hygiene is exceptional in their field of expertise, have an outstanding approach to sustainability in the chemical and paper field and put the environmental impact at the very heart of everything they do. This was very important in gaining the Royal Warrant.

Managing Director, Yewan Armstrong “This is a huge accolade for Astral Hygiene, and we are delighted to be awarded this prestigious honour.   My wife and I would like to thank all of our team for their hard work and dedication helping to achieve this recognition from her Majesty the Queen. This award is a culmination of those endeavours, and great recognition for all involved.

The Royal Warrant is an indication that a small family business can provide bespoke solutions to customers of all sizes and requirements and that we have expertise that will continue to offer a unique approach to benefit all of our customers”.

The history of the Royal Warrant can be traced back to medieval times, when competition for Royal favour was intense and the Monarch had the pick of the country's best tradespeople. In the 18th century, Royal tradesmen began displaying the Royal Arms on their premises and stationery. Now the Royal Warrant holders include companies as diverse as Burberry Clothing, Cadbury Chocolates and Jaguar Landrover.... and now Astral Hygiene. 

Astral Hygiene Ltd are delighted to continue to work with the Royal Households and the wider community to bring excellence in the field of cleaning and hygiene.

This blog was written by Anna Armstrong, Director of Sales and Operations at Astral. Please get in touch if there are any particular topics you would like us to talk about on the blog!

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BS EN 1276 Certified Cleaning Products

Cleaning products that meet British and European standards regarding E-Coli

Comply with British standards with our wide range of BS EN 1276 products. BS EN 1276 disinfectants and sanitisers are used in food premises that meet the officially recognised standards according to the FSA's E.coli 0157: Control of Cross-contamination Guidance for Enforcement Officers. Astral Hygiene can provide a range of BS EN 1276 certified disinfectants and sanitisers in any quantity. Order online below.

What does BS EN 1276 mean?

The Food Standards Agency has published a guidance documents for all food handlers to prevent the risk of cross-contamination of E-Coli.

As Astral Hygiene are so well versed in food hygiene regulations we can now offer advice and support regarding the safe and most effective use of our products including Cleaner Sanitiser for use on Hard Surfaces, and Bactericidal Detergent for use in water to ensure safe food preparation.

What exactly is BS EN 1276?

BS EN 1276 is a European Standard which ensures that the bactericidal activity of chemical disinfectants are effective against controlling harmful micro-organisms.

All BS EN 1276 chemicals have been tested to ensure they are killing 99.999% of bacteria within 5 minutes. Many of our products here at Astral Hygiene have a contact time of only 30 Seconds, which is a more workable time than 5 minutes in a commercial kitchen. To ensure you are using a BS EN 1276 product correctly and to properly make sure that your product is BS EN certified and it must be used on a hard surfaces. All BS EN 1276 products must kill bacteria such as MRSA, salmonella, E. coli, flu virus (H1N1) and Pseudomonas Aerginosa.

What is the importance of Cleaning as you go?

There is a lot to be said for cleaning as you go because you can use our cleaner sanitiser to sanitise and clean as you go. If you spray then wipe (step 1) the sanitiser on sideboards, then spray and leave it for 30 seconds and then simply wipe it off that area will be sanitised. Do make sure which ever chemical you procure it does say on the back BS EN 1276 or BS EN 13697 and this will keep your environmental health officer very happy if used appropriately.

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We stock a full range of toilet paper to businesses in the UK. Our product range includes bulk pack toilet tissue, coreless toilet paper, jumbo toilet paper and more. Available in a range of sizes and brands. Check out our selection below and order online today.

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It's nearly that time of year again for the famous Borders Sevens. Contact Astral today to discuss your requirements for essential items such as barware and cleaning items. Good luck to all the teams and businesses involved this year.

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I’ve written about how sharing spaces with others means increased risk of cross contamination.   So it’s no great surprise that sharing amenities such as toilet seats, toilet rolls, sinks, and taps with strangers have been linked to health risks.  Here I break down the credible claims, and dispel the myths. 

Within this article, I talk around what kind of infections and viruses can be caught from pubic washrooms and importantly provide ways in which you can protect yourself.