Category: Articles

Discover why your office smells, and how you can fix it

It’s a bit of a joke that our sense of smell exists. People usually think about this sense only when something stinks, which is why it is most people’s least favourite. Humans didn’t develop olfactory senses to compete with animals – their noses aren’t even close to as good as a dog’s (although dogs receive all the credit for their strong sense of smell, they’re completely outdone by bears, sharks, and elephants).

For all of its relative weaknesses, our sense of smell is far from useless. Our sense of smell is one of the most powerful senses we have.

We have relied on smell throughout history to help us survive – by quietly telling us when it’s safe to eat, when danger is present, and by helping us recognize familiar surroundings.

We associate smells with emotions and memories – such as how the scent of disinfectant can transport you back to the first day of school, or the memory of a hospital corridor. Similarly, the smell of freshly cut grass can evoke an old memory that has long remained buried in the back of one’s mind.

Discover why your office smells, and how you can fix it

Your home and office both have a distinct smell. As we become accustomed to those smells, usually we become blind to them. On the other hand, we notice smells when they are unpleasant.

It’s usually pretty easy to figure out what smells at home:

  • Overflowing refuse bins
  • Animals (and people!)
  • The toilets

Often, the same is true in the office as well. In many cases, however, tracing the origins of office smells can be difficult. With this article, let’s check out the sources of the smell in your office and see if we can make a difference.

 

  1. Food

Is there fish in the microwave? How about abandoned lunches left in the fridge for months? What about a forgotten sandwich in a desk drawer? Those are all familiar experiences in the workplace – and can sometimes cause a little controversy!

The majority of employees admit that they usually eat at their desk (31%) as well. This is the recipe for a keyboard, desk, office chair, and phone-crushing nightmare. Warming up lunch is also a whole smell-producing ordeal (usually only cured by opening the windows).

It is possible for sticky foods eaten at desks to penetrate woodwork or fabric, leaving long-lasting odors. We recommend eating in a canteen or break room rather than eating at your desk during lunch. If you’re prone to spills and if you’re prone to smelling, vinegar is a great way to clean up.

 

With regard to forgotten sandwiches and left-over groceries, it is crucial to encourage good cleaning practices and get everyone on board with tossing out old food. After all, it could make people ill or trigger allergies, so when it comes to food, office cleaning must be taken seriously.

  1. Water sinks

Kitchen sinks get absolutely everything thrown at them at the office. There are probably a lot of things left in the sink, so it’s not surprising that they can smell bad. Food, teabags, packaging, we’ve seen it all!

The office sinks that are clogged and slow to run are almost always the source of office odors as well. Cleaning out dishes, food, and debris out of your office sink as soon as possible is your best bet to prevent an office sink smell. You can, however, try this if you’ve passed the point of no return and your office kitchen sink is dripping:

  • Fill a kettle with boiling water and pour it down the drain.
  • Add about 50g of bicarbonate of soda and let it work for a few minutes.
  • Take 250ml of vinegar and 250ml of hot water and mix them together. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
  • Flush the sink thoroughly with water.
  • Your sink should be freshened up and speeded up by this!
  1. Rugs or Carpets

Once you’ve sifted through everything and found nothing, try aiming your nose downwards – below your feet!

Office carpets are often the most difficult to pinpoint when it comes to office smells. Nevertheless, years of mucky feet, walking in mud, and forgotten spills add up to a pretty bad smell In wet weather and with increased foot traffic, a musty, mouldy smell may arise.

There is probably no way your office vacuum cleaner will be able to get rid of that – but you can try treating the carpet with bicarbonate of soda Testing baking soda on a small patch of carpet first is a good idea since it is a mild alkaline.

Baked soda absorbs oil and dirt, which helps remove even stubborn stains and odors more effectively. Pour baking soda on the carpet and let it sit for as long as possible.

After that, simply vacuum everything up.

Action Points

Baking soda can sometimes fail to reach the mark, and carpets may still produce unwanted office odors. Use our office carpet cleaning service for restoring carpets and getting rid of lingering odors. We use powerful, professional grade equipment to clean your office carpets.

 

Keeping your office clean with a keen nose for details is our specialty at Kleenrite Cleaning Services. Contact us at 0803 620 8815 today and discover how we can make office cleaning as hassle-free and as minimal as possible for you.

Cleaning Tips: 5 Types of Waste and How to Remove them

Around the world, people dispose of 2.12 billion tons of waste every year. One of the primary reasons for this staggering amount of waste is that humans trash approximately 99% of what they buy within six months of purchase.

Waste has been a huge environmental problem around the world since the industrial revolution. It’s not easy to deal with the amount of waste that’s generated continuously. If waste isn’t properly disposed of, the consequences can be serious.

Cleaning Tips: 5 Types of Waste and How to Remove them

With this article, we will discuss the different types of waste and how they can be properly disposed of. Keep reading to find out more.

How do we define waste?

Waste is anything we throw out because we don’t need it. Most waste is considered garbage or trash. What does that mean? Paper, cardboard boxes, and other solid waste constitute trash. By contrast, garbage refers to waste that comes from your kitchen and bathroom.

Individuals, households, schools, offices, hospitals, and industries generate waste. The range of sizes is also endless, from something as small as a rusty razor blade to something as large as the body of an old truck.

What types of waste are there?

  1. Liquid Waste

Dirty water, wash water, organic liquids, waste detergents, and sometimes rainwater constitute liquid waste. This type of waste is typically found in homes, businesses, and industries. You can either classify liquid waste as a point or non-point source waste depending on its origin.

Manufacturing liquid waste can be categorized as point source waste. On the other hand, liquid waste from natural sources is not classified as a point source.

  1. Solid waste

Solid waste may include a wide range of items found in households or commercial facilities. To better understand this type of waste, let’s break it down into five categories:

  • Plastic Waste includes bags, containers, jars, bottles that are made of plastic.
  • Paper/Card Waste, such as newspapers, packaging materials, and cardboard.
  • Metals and Tins – found throughout your home and business in different forms
  • Broken plates and ceramic cups, as well as broken glass bottles, make up broken ceramics and glass.

 

  1. Biodegradable waste

Nearly all households produce biodegradable waste. Examples of this waste are food waste, garden waste, and so on. Even though this waste is decomposed by microorganisms over time, it is still necessary to dispose of it properly once it has been generated.

  1. Recyclable Waste

Just as the name ‘recyclable’; a recyclable product is any waste that can be converted into a reusable product. There’s a good chance you can recycle a great deal of construction waste, including masonry, metal, paper, and furniture.

  1. Waste containing hazardous materials

Hazardous waste is any waste that is toxic, flammable, corrosive, or reactive. The waste can be harmful to both you and the environment. Toxic chemicals and electronic waste are common examples of hazardous waste.

How to dispose of waste

Around the world, different types of waste management are used by different communities. We explore five effective types of waste management in this section.

  1. An hygienic landfill

The majority of the waste we generate is non-recyclable. One of the best ways to safely dispose of such waste is to use landfills.

Excavation is performed in an area with non-porous soils and low groundwater levels. An excavation is followed by construction of a protective base that prevents toxic chemicals from entering the water zone below. A layer of soil is spread over the waste, and then it is compacted.

In some parts of the world, landfills are used as parks while the waste below decomposes. It usually takes 20 to 30 years for the waste to decompose. No construction is allowed in the landfill area during this time.

  1. Recyclables and reusables

The most effective way to manage waste is to recycle and reuse. Interestingly, less than 12 percent of all waste created being recycled and about 80% of these wastes end up in landfills and dump sites. We throw away a large percentage of items that can be recycled, which is a sad fact.

Materials such as scrap metal can be recycled to earn revenue and conserve natural resources. Paper bags and plastic bottles can be reused instead of being thrown away. We can save money and reduce waste by implementing these practices.

  1. Composting with worms

Vermicomposting is good for organic waste disposal. Vermicomposting is a type of waste disposal that uses worms to help decompose waste. Along with getting rid of waste, vermicomposting improves soil nutrition.

When worms decompose waste, they produce excrement that improves the soil around them.

  1. Incineration of waste

When dealing with hazardous and highly toxic wastes, incineration is a highly effective method of disposal. This includes medical waste. Incineration significantly reduces waste. The major advantage of incineration is its remarkable cost-effectiveness. In addition, the byproducts of incineration can be used in other ways.

By using the heat produced, you can create energy, while ash might be used in hydroponic systems.

  1. Aquatic Waste Disposal

When disposing of hazardous waste, it is important to keep the waste as far away from people as possible. For radioactive waste, for example, you should dispose of it in a large body of water such as an ocean or a sea.

After sinking deep into the water, the substances will be safe from human contact once they have submerged.

Action Point

Waste Disposal Must Be Done Properly. Managing the waste we generate every day can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. In order to dispose of waste correctly, we need to know the different types of waste that we are dealing with.

In your home or business, do you want to handle waste in an easy and effortless manner? Get in touch with us today for more information.

Home Cleaning: 5 Ways to Clean Glass Like a Professional Cleaner

Windows can be made of different materials, some wooden, steel, zinc and glass. The advancement in buildings aesthetics in recent time have endeared many developers and property owners to choose the glass windows and doors over the other options.

Glass doors are common in places like worship centres, business centres, gym, hotels and restaurants; some of the doors are even automated! If you don’t have a glass window or doors we are sure you must have seen it being used around you!

Glasses can look messy if not properly taking care of and the beauty of the glass is best appreciated if it’s looking clean and without streaks.

There may be nothing as satisfying as perfectly-cleaned glass, but there’s also nothing as frustrating as actually doing the cleaning. Whether you’re scrubbing windows, mirrors, or a glass-topped table, none of it is as easy as it sounds. In this article, we have summarized the best 5 Tips for Cleaning Glass.

5 Cleaning Tips for Schools

After an eventful academic year 2020, schools are now looking forward to the Christmas and End of year break. Just like we are optimistic for a better 43year 2020, so are you!

We might not be able to say how tomorrow might be, but one thing is certain, we can plan for tomorrow. You can plan your cleaning!

5 Cleaning Tips for Schools

We have some 5 school cleaning tips you can adopt to make your school look like you were never gone on holidays. Or would you rather spend the first week 0f resumption cleaning the school?

  1. Create a checklist of cleaning activities

A checklist will only help to optimize all your tasks.  Draw up a list of areas to be cleaned and indicate its status whether it’s completed or not. It’s also helpful to create an inventory list of everything you have so that you can appropriately get needed materials.

  1. Clean on the go

It is important to clean the classroom before the school closes for the year. Stark up the desk and chairs such that a larger part of the floor is empty because, throughout the school year, layers of germs and bacteria build up on school floors and surfaces, so take advantage of the fact that the classrooms and halls are now empty, and use this time to perform a thorough deep cleaning.

  1. Take a picture

Pictures will help you know how things within the classrooms were before cleaning. It will help you see and remember what worked and what didn’t when it came to your classroom. It’s a way you can also assess the level of work done.

Professional cleaners also take the before and after pictures of area cleaned as part of their portfolio.

  1. Pack and label

When packing up the classroom at the end of the year, you must keep it organized, by packing a similar object in the same boxes or bags. But be sure to label them accordingly.

Let all stationary be packed in a different box, art object be kept together and label appropriately. Paste the ‘fragile’ sticker or tape on appropriate boxes. It will make it much easier to put the classroom together at the beginning of the next school year because you can work section by section until the room is completed.

  1. Restroom and classroom disinfection

Disinfection of all surfaces, no matter how big or small is crucial for the health and safety of students and employees. During rainy/ cold season6, schools are breeding grounds for bacteria and viruses, and disinfection can help reduce the number of sick people and absences.

Teachers should do regular disinfection of all surfaces in their classroom, especially doorknobs, desks, chairs, sponges, activity tools and toys, sinks, computer screens, keyboards, mice, and light switches.

Cleaning staff should disinfect bathrooms, kitchens, and common areas several times a day. Make sure each room in the school has a box of cleaning supplies at hand for everyday use or to handle any accidents.

With Covid-19 still affecting the school system, when students head to the wash hand basin, they often leave behind germs on the faucet knobs and sink itself. These areas should be sprayed with chemical treatments before using a wet vac or squeegee device to remove the soil.

Action point

School cleaning should be part of the student’s routine activities because it makes them conscious of their environment. Upon resumption of the school, they can easily put the classroom together again.

Children are venerable to infections, diseases are easily transmitted from one child to another. So the schools must continue to follow the Covid – 19 prevention and management guidelines. It is also important children are thought of the need to live and study in a clean environment.

 

Home cleaning: 8 ways to make your home looking new again

Home cleaning: 8 ways to make your home looking new again

Home cleaning may not be a phrase that excites you, but everyone loves their home looking clean.

Whether or not you enjoy cleaning, you don’t want to end the year with your home looking untidy or start the New Year with a pile of dirt at your doorstep.

Home cleaning: 8 ways to make your home looking new again 

We’ve got tips that could make the home look more valuable. Take a moment to read through our value-boosting cleaning tips

5 Industrial Cleaning Tips for a Productive Facility

The factory or warehouse are activity hubs, all activities are part of a production process. From product packaging, manufacturing processes, to storage and distribution. Neatness is one of the criteria used to check the quality of a product.

Working in an all messy facility can be risky, workers are prone to workplace accidents, and it is literary puts the safety of the staff to question. We recently surveyed some factories in Lagos and Ogun State and concluded that factories that are operated under a clean environment have better production time and quality.

CLEANING TRICKS: 8 Simple Tricks to Get a Sparkling Clean Home and Office

Home and office cleaning tricks

It is possible to have a sane human without having to do any form of house cleaning in a lifetime, but I found it difficult to believe there is someone who has not bathed themselves before? It’s rare, isn’t it?

Whether big or small, we all do cleaning. Although some of us might be lazy with cleaning, the truth is cleaning is never an easy task, it requires time and attention to detail for one to get that sparkling clean look.

Our clients usually ask our cleaners on site, how they carry out their cleaning task seamlessly, they often reply with a warm smile on their faces saying, we have been trained to do the complexly looking task in the simplest way possible without compromising on our standard.

8 Simple Tricks to Get a Sparkling Clean Home and Office

In this article, we are sharing just 8 of the trick to getting that sparkling clean and fresh feel to cleaning tasks.

4 Dangers of Improper Refuse Disposal

Refuse disposal is a major aspect of a cleaning task if dirt and wastes are not promptly disposed of the purpose for which cleaning is done would be futile. Another thing with this is that one could get infected by a related health or disease conditions. Recall in the year 2018, Lagos State who boasts as the economic hub of Nigeria had a refuse disposal crisis, at that time there were piles of unpacked refuse on major roads, it was one that threatened the once beautiful Lagos streets and roads which had the time was the toast of neighbouring states in Nigeria.

Cleaning Guidelines for the Prevention of Coronavirus

The effects of COVID-19 is there for all to see, schools have been shut down, football and other sporting events have been cancelled, suspended and others events postponed.

At some point, a total lockdown was declared in Lagos State all in a bid to control the spread of Corona virus.

In curbing the spread of covid19, various medium of communication were used by the Federal Ministry of Health and National Centre Disease Control to share corona virus disease prevention and control measures.

Together with other frontline workers, Kleenrite offered cleaning services at isolation centres. Our cleaners were all geared for the task ahead; which is to make the isolation centres clean, hygienic and safe for everyone.

As a burdened cleaning company, our hearts is drawn to the urgent need to inform you of the safest ways to clean, especially now that we are faced with the harsh reality of coronavirus in Nigeria.

Areas in which a person with a confirmed COVID-19 infection has previously spent time need to be disinfected before resuming their use.

COVID-19: Life-Saving Home Cleaning Tips During the Lock Down

As at the time of writing these article 15 states out of 36 states in Nigeria are on lock down, no thanks to the novel Coronavirus. Though not the easiest of action by the government, it was a necessary action to take given the way the disease is spreading.

The pandemic has taken its toll on the world’s economy because like Nigeria, other countries where Covid-19 had been reported also had to enforce lock down to reduce person to person spread of the disease.

COVID-19: 6 Life-Saving Home Cleaning Tips during the Lock Down

Except for persons offering essential services, others are compelled to spend more time at home. Staying at home can be a nice thing for some people, they see it as an opportunity to spend more time with family members. But while staying at home, there are few life-saving tips we like you to learn. Like we use to say at Kleenrite, “A clean environment keeps the doctors away.”