The Vikan ultramicrofibre system gives the best cleaning performance

"The Vikan ultramicrofibre system gives the best cleaning performance and offers the fastest drying time, as well as being the easiest to use."
Colin Smith, Middlesbrough Council's resource officer.

About Middlesbrough Council

Middlesbrough Council is a unitary authority with a population of around 139,000. The local authority is well regarded for its primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions and was one of the first to open a City Academy.

Challenge

Middlesbrough Council's resource officer had identified that introducing microfibre materials could not only improve cleaning productivity in the authority's schools, but could also help the council to reduce its carbon footprint by cutting chemical and water consumption, and reducing the disposal costs of excess packaging.

Solution

The council set up a trial that compared traditional cleaning methods against a number of competitive microfibre cleaning systems in one of the City Academies and the prestigious Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art.

The council was impressed with the cleaning results achieved in the trial, which also demonstrated that water use could be cut and time saved by eliminating the use of heavy mop buckets. The microfibre option also removed the need for chemicals and reduced cross contamination through a zoned use of mops and cloths, while the ready-to-use tools and single work process saved time.

The trial further established that the ultramicrofibre system from Vikan was not only the most effective and easiest to implement, but also offered value for money with a 500-time wash-and-reuse guarantee that would cut disposal costs and deliver annual savings on chemicals.

The Vikan microfibre system subsequently deployed at the trial venues comprised the compact trolley, designed to carry prep-prepared mops and cloths while make manoeuvrability effortless and quicker for the operator; ultramicrofibre mop heads that clean as they sweep on floor types ranging from non-slip Altro surfaces to polished wood; and the Easy Shine Kit for interior windows, tiled areas and stainless steel.

Vikan's microfibre concept was also specified for three new schools, which opened in September 2010.