Putting a sustainable shine on The Square

As part of Q3’s commitment to working sustainably, the company has adopted an environmentally friendly cleaning technology across many of its large contracts, including The Square shopping centre in Camberley.

The Toucan Eco system is used for virtually all hard surface cleaning across the shopping centre, replacing several conventional, chemical products that were used historically.

The cleaning solution is created on site using a special Active Plus device which produces 20 litre batches of water-based cleaner, at a time. This is then distributed around the site in re-usable bottles or containers – an approach that drastically reduces both the use of single-use plastics, and the carbon cost normally associated with shipping ready-mixed chemicals to site.

Once mixed, the solution has a shelf life of about a week, cleaning and sanitising surfaces and killing up to 99.999% of all germs. The same solution used for wiping hard surfaces is also used through the scrubber-drier that operates along the floors of the shopping centre. One product does everything, so there is no opportunity for someone to accidentally using the wrong product for any particular application.

The cleaning operatives like Miriam love it too because it’s virtually harmless, so there’s no risk of chemicals being inhaled or spills causing skin conditions. It’s made the wearing of PPE superfluous.

Speaking about the benefits of Toucan Eco, Q3 Operations Director, Luis Lopes, said, “This innovation has delivered a revolution in the way we work, reducing costs, improving health and safety, while reducing carbon emissions and plastic waste. It’s a winner all round!”