Cleaning without chemicals is here to stay

For ZidaService, If’s long-term cleaning service provider at the Danish Stamholmen office, the environmental demands from its client have meant that they’ve now begun the process of applying for a Nordic Swan Ecolabel, but they have also been inspired to initiate an even more environmentally ambitious project: chem-free cleaning.

When the contract for the cleaning service provider at If’s office at Stamholmen was due for renewal, one of If’s requirements was that its contractor should have been awarded a Nordic Swan Ecolabel – as for all the bigger premises in the Nordic and Baltic countries. On the back of the new demands, If’s long-term cleaning partner ZidaService has now, with support from If, started the process of complying with the specific requirements and applying for the certification.

‘We’ve given ZidaService six months to take all the necessary steps to go through the certification process, while also helping them as best we can during the process. We’ve gone about doing this as a partnership, having meetings together with the representatives for the ‘Miljømærkning’ here in Denmark’, says Bo Petersen, local sustainability coordinator in Denmark and the person responsible for the cleaning partnerships at If.

Having embarked on the process of eco-labelling its business, If’s Danish cleaning partner hasn’t just stopped there. Inspired by the new requirements from If, they’ve now set even more environmentally ambitious targets for their operations than the ones required by the Swan certification.

As part of the new initiative, they’ve tried to reduce the already low consumption of chemicals acceptable within the Nordic Swan-requirements all the way down to zero.

‘We’ve been encouraged by If to transform our cleaning to a green alternative, which has been well received. But then we thought, why not take it even further? Why not explore the possibility of cleaning without any chemicals at all?’, says Hesham Ziyada, owner and founder of ZidaService.

With the 15,000 square metre-Stamholmen office, this has entailed quite a transformation for ZidaService, and a lot of getting used to for Hesham Ziyada’s staff at Stamholmen. But, just a few months into the new routines of almost completely chem-free cleaning, the results are remarkable, he says, adding he will apply the lessons learned from Stamholmen to other clients.

‘We have been in this business for almost 40 years, and this could be almost ground-breaking. It has really lived up to expectations, maintaining a high level of quality cleaning while at the same time keeping it totally natural. I think cleaning without chemicals is here to stay’, says Hesham Ziyada.