Although our work often includes eliminating pests and animals, our staff actually love animals and the humane treatment of living creatures is very important to us.
Our Service Manager, Chris Davis, is currently secretary for the Sussex Ornithological Society, having previously been Conservation Officer, and Cleankill is a corporate member of the Bat Conservation Trust. Caring about animals and their humane treatment is important to us as individuals and as a company.
We use as few chemicals as possible and do our best to prevent infestations occurring in the first place. Most importantly, our staff will never over-treat or carry out a treatment unless it is absolutely necessary – unlike some of our competitors.
Sustainability Policy
Cleankill is committed to promoting sustainability. Concern for the environment and promoting a broader sustainability agenda are integral to Cleankill’s professional activities and management of the organisation.
We aim to follow and promote good sustainability practice, to reduce the environmental impacts of all our activities and to help our clients and suppliers to do the same.
We have five priorities:
1) The specification and use of materials and minimisation of waste
Our use of toxic materials has reduced by over 50% over the last five years. The use of new detection systems and techniques now enables the treatment to be taken to the pests rather than ‘blanket treatment’ which hopes the pest will come to the treatment. These methods include the use of pheromone attractants for moths, remote sensor cameras for rodents and ultra violet tracking dusts, and the use of electronic rodent detectors and traps.
2) Use of resources such as energy, air and water
Although we are in a fully serviced office, we have installed a small hot water supply in the office so that we do not have to use the main system – this supplies hot water only when needed and does not have to heat a full tank. Lighting is now on five separate circuits so that unused areas of the office are not lit. All individual radiators now have separate thermostats fitted.
We are now using abseiling teams far more frequently than powered hoists as this is a greener method of access.
3) Protection of the natural environment
The reduction in rodenticides and insecticides greatly reduces any risk of water course pesticide contamination. As a pest control company our guiding principle is to treat all infestations in the following order:
- Exclude
- Restrict
- Destroy
Our first aim will be to exclude pests from any property by means of exclusion through proofing of holes, gaps or other entry points.
Secondly we will aim to restrict the pest movement within the building.
Only after the previous aims have been carried out will we then destroy and use of pesticide is a last resort.
We now avoid the use of rodenticides in external areas and use non-toxic monitoring in all cases where there is no evidence of infestation.
We are the only pest control company to be active members of the Bat Conservation Trust and we avoid the indiscriminate use of chemicals in loft spaces where bats or other non-target species may be active.
We work closely with local bee keepers to ensure that treatments against pest species such as wasps do not have a detrimental effect on the bee populations.
4) Engagement with suppliers and staff
Our service team is split into two geographical teams, each with a team leader. The management of the teams is now much easier to control and involves far less travelling for both management and staff. Thanks to closer management and better planning we have created two ‘foot patches’ in Central London which means we no longer have to use vehicles. We have now got a Central London store which means that technicians do not have to travel to South London for materials. The teams are incentivised to encourage efficient use of materials and to find suitable cost savings where possible that do not affect the overall quality of service.
Members of our sales teams still use the Santander (formerly Boris) bikes when travelling through Central London as this is a faster way of travelling than public transport or vehicle use. We constantly revise the vehicle fleet to ensure the most up-to-date, fuel-efficient vehicles are used – this will ensure a reduction in our carbon footprint.
Our suppliers are reviewed annually to ensure that their sustainability policies match the aims and objectives of our own and that, where necessary, we can find improvements to our policies from them.
Cleankill is one of the founding members of the ‘Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) and was one of the first companies to achieve the Confederation of European Pest Management Association’s (CEPA) accreditation last year.
Cleankill works closely with the relevant authorities to supply organic pest control to Soil Association standards.
We actively take all steps to reduce the use of paper – all field technical staff use ‘magic pen’ technology which sends reports immediately to our office database and then transmits those reports digitally to our clients. Our new database allows these reports to now be stored without the need for paper copies. In addition we have now introduced tablet computers for our sales staff, again allowing immediate transfer of reports and contract documentation.
5) Community involvement
All field staff are on a continued professional development scheme (Basis Prompt) which includes an ongoing element of sustainability training.
The managers and directors attend schools, colleges and community groups to give educational talks on pest control and the safe, controlled use of pesticides and the control of pests through effective cleanliness and hygiene practices.
PRINCIPLES
Our sustainability policy is based on the following principles:
- To comply with, and exceed where practicable, all applicable legislation, regulations and codes of practice
- To ensure all staff are fully aware of our sustainability policy and are committed to implementing and improving it
- To integrate sustainability considerations into all of our business decisions
- To minimise the impact on sustainability of all office and transportation activities
- To make customers and suppliers aware of our sustainability policy, and to encourage them to adopt sound sustainable management practices
- To review and regularly report sustainability activities, and to continually strive to improve sustainability performance.
PRACTICALS
In order to put these principles into practice we will:
- Encourage the use of public transport for sales staff and monitor fuel usage of all vehicles
- Use best practice for planning routes for service staff
- Encourage the use of recyclable materials in all office functions
- Minimise the use of paper and other office consumables
- Actively reduce the need for the use of harmful pest control materials by promoting early detection and monitoring systems
- Encourage the recycling and re use of materials where practicably possible
- Reduce energy consumption by the purchase and use of energy efficient equipment and good housekeeping
- Audit all suppliers annually to ensure that they meet the aims and objectives of Cleankill
- Take active roles in conservation projects
- Actively move the vehicle fleet to low CO2 emission vehicles
- Purchase Fairtrade beverages for office use
- Encourage all staff to undertake voluntary work within the local community.