Sustainability as a business model

Handwashing is one of the most important preventive measures to avoid infection with infectious diseases such as COVID19. At the same time, water is one of the most valuable resources and one of the most important foundations of life. So how can infection prevention and environmental protection be combined?

Before cooking and eating, after going to the toilet, sneezing, coughing or blowing one’s nose, when using public transport and of course every time we come home - even as children we learn how important thorough handwashing is for our health. With the Corona pandemic, awareness of this has risen once again - after all, hand hygiene is one of the most important measures to protect oneself against infection with the virus.

However, those who wash their hands more often also use more water. This is shown, among other things, by the billing data of the German energy service provider Techem. According to these data, consumption of cold water in March and April 2020 was 10% higher than in the previous year, while consumption of hot water rose by as much as 11%. Other suppliers have made similar experiences - at Lake Starnberg the regional water supplier even registered an increase of 30 % in the first weeks of the lockdown. Whether this is due solely to the washing of hands cannot be determined and is also rather unlikely. In reality, however, we use more water for personal hygiene than, for example, for washing clothes or for eating or drinking.

Water consumption - we have it in our hands!

Every time we wash our hands, we consume an average of 2 litres of drinking water. In other words, the water we use for 90 hand washes is enough to fill an entire bathtub. Saving water when washing your hands is very easy - even in your private life: turning off the water after wetting your hands and turning it on again only after soaping them is good for the environment - and saves money in the process.

Another advantage could - according to one theory at least - be that if you turn off the water when soaping, you wash your hands more thoroughly because you are less hurried and more concentrated.  

In public washrooms, the CWS SmartWash can ensure both improved hygiene and water savings: the tap dispenses water and soap premixed to the user, thus ensuring that soap is used every time hands are washed with the appliance. Preset dispensing intervals ensure that users wash their hands thoroughly and take the time to soap, rub and rinse. With the CWS SmartWash, only around 200 millilitres of water are used per hand wash cycle.

Any washroom operator who decides in favour of SmartWash is making a long-term commitment: as a special feature, CWS and its partner Smixin donate 10,000 litres of water to Made Blue for every CWS SmartWash rented, which replaces a regular sensor tap. The foundation invests this in water projects in countries with severe water shortages. In this case, 10,000 litres is enough to provide 10 children with access to clean wa ter at school for a whole year.

On August 22, the resources of our world for this year ended!

In terms of figures, the resources of our world ended for this year on 22 August 2020. This is because mankind has used up all the natural resources that planet Earth can regenerate within one year. From then on, the world will live at the expense of future generations. This is marked by Earth Overshoot Day, which is calculated annually by the Global Footprint Network.

Because the economy came to a virtual standstill during the corona pandemic, Earth Overshoot Day is taking place much later this year than in previous years. This shows that we can save resources if we have to. We are convinced that this is the right way for a company with growth targets even outside a crisis. At CWS, we are committed to a more sustainable use of our resources every day. To this end, we work according to the principles of recycling management: we use sustainable materials and recycled polyester for our workwear, for example. We develop our products in such a way that they have a long service life. And we keep them alive for a long time, for example by repairing mats and dispensers. As part of the wear2wear™ initiative, we have jointly developed a jacket that can be almost completely recycled. In this way our products help save valuable resources. Because every contribution counts - for a healthier and safer tomorrow.

Around 80 per cent of all infectious diseases are transmitted via our hands – and that isn’t just since COVID-19. Proper handwashing can almost halve the infection rate. We launched the CWS SmartWash mixing system on the market back in the summer of last year. It functions completely without contact and measures out the water and soap required in advance. As such, its use not only helps prevent the spreading of infectious diseases, but also makes it possible to reduce water consumption by up to 90 per cent.

Just one of the developments with which CWS’ Hygiene division is realigning its core business to a sustainable future. Sustainability and complete solutions go hand in hand here. The focus is no longer on selling individual products, but rather on the complete furnishing of public washrooms: from soap dispensers to cotton towel rolls right up to toilet seat disinfection, we design tailored all-round solutions – for nurseries, for example.

We have also declared war on microplastics this year. Critically inspecting and improving all of our cosmetics products allows us to avoid 31 tons of microplastics every year. “We often discover that obvious solutions in particular deliver very positive effects. You just need the courage to look for such solutions specifically and then implement them consistently,” said Frank Reisgies, General Manager Hygiene Core Business. Further information on all aspects of CWS’ sustainable solutions and the answer to the question of what role simple corn cob meal plays in all of this can be found in the in-depth interview with Frank Reisgies in our Sustainability Report. 

Sustainable materials such as Fairtrade cotton have been a standard feature of our own collections for a long time now already. In 2019, we introduced almost 300,000 items of clothing made from Fairtrade cotton onto the market. But we want more! Our Workwear division is now taking the next logical step with workwear and protective clothing that is 100% recyclable. CWS has been a main member of the industry association wear2wear™ since 2019. The partner companies design and produce completely recyclable clothing together.

With the triad of sustainable production, durability and recycling, the Workwear division is now all set for the future. In the case of the rEvolution Hybrid outdoor jacket, the three components have already come together in perfect harmony. As one of the first of its kind in the whole world, it passes through the entire textile recycling circle. Made from old clothes and recycled PET, it can be completely recycled again after use.

If the rEvolution Hybrid is used in our range, this will work as follows: We supply the jacket to the customer in the scope of the rental scheme. It is worn, washed and repaired until it reaches the end of its useful service life – then it starts its journey all over again.

Those eager to discover more about this never-ending journey can find all the answers in our Sustainability Report. We have also included information on how we save resources when selecting materials and what tests our collections must pass with flying colours to ensure that our workwear and protective clothing doesn’t only protect the people wearing it.

• 85% of our staff with permanent contracts
• 36,000 hrs of training
• 48% female employees
• 18% women in management positions 
• 93.8% of suppliers from risk countries audited 

• 57,664 repaired and recycled dispensers in our Upcycling Center
• 300,000 items of clothing with Fairtrade cotton
• 2.3 million items of clothing repaired in Germany
• 31,000 kg microplastics saved 

• 2,294 service drivers
• 14,648 customers surveyed 
• 180,000 tons of laundry washed