It’s not quite the Oscars… but it’s time for nominations for the Sussex Eco Awards again. We are still very proud of being the current holders of the award for Green Business, and would love to be in with a chance again this year. So, ahem, hint hint… here’s the link if you can think of any lovely green, ethical, local business that deserves a nomination!!! http://www.sussexecoawards.org.uk/

Junk mail is annoying isn’t it. I get SO much. And I get so irritated. So I’ve finally done something to stop it. I’ve just registered at the Mail Preference Service! It was really simple. I’ll let you know if it works! Try it yourself by clicking here

Check me out! Quoted on Yell.com article about green cleaning. Click here to read all about it

Now, I’ve been trying really hard to get followers on Twitter, and Fans on Facebook. But it’s quite difficult when you’re the shy retiring type! I’ve spent a week trying to post on forums, comment on relevant tweets and posts, I’ve even been advising a worried person about sanitary bins! And I’ve done a LinkedIn thing, which is another whole networking kerfuffle that I’d never heard of. It’s a full time job just trying to make virtual friends. The theory is good, the more people see your name the more business may come our way. So the first week of my campaign has paid massive dividends..  I’ve added 2 followers on Twitter, and 1 fan on Facebook! What a load of rubbish! (If you wouldn’t mind adding to the hoards of social networking frenzied fans and followers, please click the icons below! THANK YOU!)

 Well I’ve just tried to work out our Green Mop carbon footprint. Our footprint is 7 tonnes on one calculator and 10 on another. I suppose they have to keep them generic, but I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t ask about the good things people do. Like do you recycle, if so what..  do you use disposable things or re-use.. etc.

I once asked the Carbon Trust to tell me what the carbon saving would be for swapping from toxic chemicals to non-toxic, and they couldn’t work it out. They said carbon footprint is definitely reduced by making that change, but couldn’t quantify it!

So maybe if we could quantify what a difference the good behaviour made, then people might me more encouraged to make changes.

Paul, our lovely carpet man, has got himself a new spot cleaning machine. This means he can now offer eco friendly carpet cleaning for those smaller stains that are ruining a perfectly good carpet (or upholstery!). If you’re drunk clumsy, and you’ve knocked a nice glass of red over your cream sofa, then Paul maybe able to help! The quicker he can get to the problem, the better so he’s offering evening appointments too. All for £30, including the VAT. (A spot is not bigger than a metre square by the way!).

10:10 is an ambitious project to unite every sector of British society behind one simple idea: that by working together we can achieve a 10% cut in the UK’s carbon emissions in 2010. Green Mop have just joined (it’s easy; click here to join in).  Of course, any local businesses trying to reduce their impact could get in touch with Green Mop! Stopping the use of unnecessary chemicals in regular cleaning will help reach those footprint targets!

 We try really hard not to come across as a preachy, tree-hugging company. We are obviously very keen on everyone trying to do a few simple things to reduce their impact on the environment. But what we mainly talk to people about is the air quality inside their homes and offices. So many unnessecary toxins are floating about causing untold damage to our health.  Switching your cleaning products to non-toxic ones is such an easy switch to make! Ditching the air freshers will help too.. open a window instead (or absorb odours with bicarb!).

Johnny was doing his PAT test training today. He’ll soon be testing all our Henry’s to make sure they are safe. It’s one of the many things we’ve learned about on our NVQ training. If he get’s the hang of it, it could be another useful service for us to offer to our commercial customers..

What did one snowman say to the other snowman?

Can you smell carrot?!

Well… I know that’s not very funny, but then neither is this blimmin weather.

What with the pre-Christmas freeze, then the Christmas holidays, and now this arctic weather… we’ve not been able to get much cleaning done!

The roads are treacherous, and the pavements are even worse. The buses aren’t running, or they might stop the service at any time leaving you stranded. All in all, it’s meant that we haven’t been able to safely send out many of our Green Moppers.

I know that many of our residential customers will have been looking forward to a post-Christmas clean, so it’s really rotten timing. We can only apologise to all customers who have missed out on their cleans.

Here’s hoping for a speedy thaw… keep warm now!