Together with DNB and skilfull cleaners from Sodexo, Compax Solutions performed a successfull pilot test of Compax One™. At the DNB Head Quarter in Oslo, we reduced the waste volume and plastic bag use by 80%.
DNB is best known as Norway’s largest bank, with more than 140 locations which need to be clean and tidy at all time. DNB’s main office is found in Bjørvika in Oslo, housing more than 4,000 employees in three large buildings.
The basement connects all three buildings with a canteen area of 4,000 square metres. This is the gathering point where employees and visitors share food and discussions from early in the morning to late in the afternoon.
When such a big number of people are gathered in one place, the washrooms become very busy.
Every day, hundreds of people visit the washrooms in the canteen area making cleaning a time consuming and demanding job for the cleaning staff responsible for keeping DNB’s
85 000 square meters presentable at any time.
"I have believed in Compax One™ since I first heard about the solution, so it was very exciting to test this at our facilities."
- Arnt-Erik Hansen, responsible for cleaning at DNB
Arnt-Erik Hansen is responsible for cleaning at DNB, and together with his team he administrates the cleaning contracts for all of DNB’s locations. One of Arnt-Erik’s tasks is to find new and innovative solutions to improve property management.
– I have believed in Compax One™ since the first time I heard about the solution, so it was very exciting to test this at our facilities, Arnt-Erik says.
As part of the test it was natural to involve Sodexo which is responsible for the cleaning operations at DNB’s headquarter. With the help from cleaning manager Irene Nazareno and team leader Cengiz Kurt from Sodexo, the test of Compax One™ was performed at DNB’s headquarter in Oslo.
In DNB’s washrooms there are mounted dispensers for paper towels. Use of paper towels to dry hands is an important factor to maintain proper hygiene and customer satisfaction.
However, the disadvantage is that the waste bins fill up quickly and therefore the bags need to be changed regularly. After being changed, these full plastic bags need to be transported to the building’s waste facilities, which makes the operation time- and cost intensive.
The cleaning staff at DNB clean the washrooms at least two times a day. With a total of five waste bins on their two most busy washrooms they have to change plastic bags at least 10 times a day, and even more often during large events.
With this as a daily routine, both DNB and Sodexo wanted to challenge Compax to reduce the number of plastic bags DNB uses in these washrooms.
Compax One™ is a compacting unit for paper towels reducing waste volumes by up to 90%. This means you can fit about 10 times more waste in each plastic bag before changing it, which drastically reduces the disposal frequency and use of plastic bags.
By using Compax One™ regularly for compacting waste, DNB will not only reduce the use of plastic bags, but they also avoid overflowing waste bins. By reducing the time spent on waste handling, both DNB and Sodexo experienced that their cleaning staff had more time to focus on the quality of the cleaning.
By avoiding unnecessary disposal of waste bins, costs related to waste handling and plastic bags are reduced. The washrooms become more pleasant and hygienic for the users as well as having a positive climate impact by reducing both the use of plastic bags and the transportation of waste from the property.
After changing the five regular waste bins with four Compax One™, DNB and Compax ran a test from November to mid-December. Normally, more than 340 plastic bags would be changed during this test period.
With Compax One™, this number was reduced to 69 plastic bags, which equals a reduction of 80%. During one year this will be an improvement of 2 000 fewer plastic bags spent, in these two washrooms alone.
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"I have never seen that we have been able to reduce a factor within cleaning this drastically, and we have tested a lot of solutions."
- Arnt-Erik Hansen
Both DNB, Sodexo and Compax are very satisfied with achieving a reduction of plastic bags changed by 80%. However, it is not just the opportunity to reduce costs that matters to DNB.
– Cost savings are an important factor, but there are many other areas that should be just as important today. There are multiple other benefits, such as the green profile, Arnt-Erik emphasizes.
– We have received a lot of positive feedback from the employees at DNB. In addition, we believe that such a product makes it easier for those who are doing the cleaning, says Arnt-Erik, adding:
– And it also looks clean and tidy.
