ESS, the Defence, Energy, and Government Services sector of Compass Group UK & Ireland, has completed the rollout of chemical-free cleaning across its Defence and Government Services estate.

This will provide safety benefits for colleagues and clients, and will decrease the environmental impact of the service.

The company has partnered with suppliers Tersano and Toucan Eco to deliver the project. The selected systems create powerful cleaning agents from tap water; Tersano using oxygen and Toucan Eco using table salt. Both produce fast-acting antibacterial multi-surface cleaners that kill more than 99.99% of bacteria and microorganisms, including enveloped viruses like COVID-19.

The cleaning solutions generated are non-toxic, non-hazardous, and non-allergenic to humans and animals. They cut exposure to chemicals for cleaners and building users, and reduce the need to store hazardous substances on site.

ESS cleans over 21m square metres a week for its clients. Introducing chemical-free cleaning has removed 1.5m litres of chemical cleaning products and 50 tonnes of packaging waste from the business annually, delivering substantial environmental benefits. As well as chemical and single use plastics reductions, there’s a decreased carbon footprint from deliveries. As the cleaning solutions revert to water after use, no harmful substances are disposed of into the water system.

Following successful trials in a variety of settings, the technology has been introduced at 90 ESS locations, and is a key element in a suite of systems designed to deliver the best results for clients. Chemical-free cleaning now forms a standard part of ESS’ cleaning offer and will be implemented in any new contracts where it is a good fit for the infrastructure.

Mark Webster, Managing Director – ESS Defence, Energy and Government Services, commented: “It’s fantastic that we’ve been able to partner with Tersano and Toucan Eco to deliver chemical-free cleaning across our estate. This is a great example of innovation that delivers multiple benefits – the systems are highly effective for our clients and customers, safer for our people to use and support us in reducing the environmental impact of our services in our drive towards Net Zero.”