Sustainability and the Environment

---

At PCCL we take our sustainability and environmental responsibilities as serious as our Health and Safety. 

Our Mission statement:

We are committed to integrating environmental responsibility, social responsibility and financial sustainability into all our operations to minimise impact, reduce our carbon footprint and drive positive change that will last for future generations. To achieve this, we are dedicated to the following principles:

Social Responsibility

Promote diversity, inclusion, and equality within our workforce, supply chain, and community engagements.

Ensure fair labour practices, safe working conditions, and respect for human rights throughout our operations and supply chain.

Financial Sustainability

Maintain a financially viable business model that balances profitability with long-term sustainability goals.

Invest in sustainable technologies and machinery, processes, and infrastructure that offer both environmental and economic benefits.

Innovation and Collaboration

Foster a culture of innovation that encourages continuous improvement in sustainability practices.

Collaborate with industry peers, partners, and stakeholders to share knowledge, best practices, and resources for collective impact.

Inspiring a Sustainable Future

Lead by example and inspire others through our commitment to sustainability, integrity, and ethical business practices. Educate and empower employees, customers, and stakeholders to embrace sustainability in their own practices and decision-making processes.

By adhering to these sustainable principles, PCCL can fulfil its mission of integrating environmental responsibility, social responsibility, and financial sustainability into its operations while driving positive change and inspiring a future where both people and the planet thrive.

Cleaning Agents 

Company policy is to use eco-friendly and biodegradable cleaning products, and we are also very conscious of the packaging that cleaning agents come in. We use Squeegee-off that fits our target, and refills are now available in eco-friendly squeezable packaging to allow us to refill the original plastic container.

Water Usage

Over recent years we have monitored our water usage and switched to more environmentally friendly cleaning practises that minimise the amount of water used. We use our pure water system (reverse osmosis) as this can reduce our water usage by as much as 75%. Our pressure washers have low flow nozzles, so less water is used. Re-usable microfibre cloths absorb more water than traditional cloths and this ultimately results in a 50% reduction in water usage during cleaning.

This conservation effort helps preserve our local water resources and with these chemical free methods reduces our environmental impact.

Noise and air pollution 

We closely assess and monitor the equipment we use (outside of window cleaning services) to ensure it complies with our sustainability and environmental goals. These include pressure washers and our Skyvac (for gutter clearance). 

Both pieces of equipment were chosen because they produce minimal noise and minimal pollution. 

The pressure washer has a muffler, which acts like a silencer to keep noise to a minimum and is placed on a rubber mat to reduce vibration (and noise), our Skyvac produces no noise. 

They are regularly maintained to reduce any rattling parts, which reduce sound level. 

Reducing vehicle emissions is a high priority for us. We monitor our vehicles to ensure the emissions are minimal. Our responsibilities include giving them regular services, daily van checks to ensure tyre pressures are accurate and keeping use to a minimum, for example we have traded in our vans so that each van has a cab that will take 3 members of staff. This means we can take one vehicle instead of two, which is of particular importance when we have to travel distances like Arun District Council and Crawley College, it reduces emissions and fuel consumption. One of our targets in our Environmental Policy will be to trade these in for electric vehicles. 

Wastewater and waste management

We pride ourselves on the fact that our cleaning services produce little or no waste.

We produce very little wastewater due to the pure water system – reducing the amount of water used by as much as 75% against traditional methods (as well as being much kinder to the environment) 

Where debris is removed from windows, this will be taken away in the window cleaning buckets of used water (therefore re-using the water to dilute any substance). This will be disposed of away from site and temporarily stored on our premises in a 30 litre chemical drum, with a bung top, provided by and collected regularly by a company called Business Waste. For other cleaning, like cladding cleaning, high temperature and low pressure washers use minimal water and therefore produce very little waste water.

Reduce, recycle reuse

To reduce waste at source, a waste audit is carried out annually to see where we can improve. It helps raise awareness and aids in setting targets for the coming year. We assessed day-to-day waste products and found it was mainly packaging. To eliminate this, employees were encouraged to bring lunch to work instead of stopping at the shops and buying food and drink. We swapped out ordering new bottles of squeegee-off for the squeezable, environmentally friendly refill packages. We stopped using paper planners/diaries and switched to online ones accessible through mobile phones. Following this we considered what items could be reused and staff switched to packed lunch boxes and reusable drinks containers. Packaging for items ordered, are kept and reused by The Book Shop – a local business.

Finally, if we cannot reuse it, then it is recycled. Paper, cardboard and water are all recyclable.

Overall the audits show us that as a business we produce very little waste, but we still monitor and continuously improve. 

At present we are looking at various calculators to look at measuring our past and present carbon footprint. Using data, we have for mileage and fuel, completed tasks for water usage and cleaning agents from the last 3 years, we hope to be able to demonstrate more effectively the difference our changes have made. One of our targets for this year is also to try and source a company that can provide equipment that is made from recycled parts – this is an on-going project.