Environmental Considerations
The moral and legal obligations to care for the environment are overwhelming. At SARL Handyman France we do what we can. By the nature of our business, we are not a major cause of pollution. So we pay attention to the smaller, less obvious ways of caring not only for the world environment, but also for that in which we live in Southern France.
- We run as near a paperless administration system as is possible.
- Invoices etc are nearly always sent by email.
- Wherever possible, we pay invoices by electronic transfer.
- We encourage electronic transfers rather than have cheques sent to us by post.
- When printed paperwork is necessary, we use lightweight 60g or 70g paper rather than the "norm" of 80g - that equates to at least 12.5% less paper that will one day be turned into waste or that needs to be recycled. And the printer is set to fast normal to use less ink, another pollutant.
In our routine operations, there is often very little scope for waste reduction. But we do what we can
- We actively promote automatic watering systems where appropriate. They use, and therefore waste, less water. It is also a less expensive way to maintain a garden.
- When waste is generated it is disposed of responsibly, complying with all local requirements.
- By using trusted suppliers of goods and services we do not needlessly burn fuel driving around chasing progress or putting things right.
- Rodents can be a particularly unpleasant problem, but even they have a right to life. Using electronic deterrent measures is better for them; harmless to pets; and the immediate environment is not cluttered with dead animals. Poison is normally only used in places where electronic measures would be inoperable.
It is in Gîte cleaning that SARL Handyman France is perhaps leading the field. This is the part of the environment that is close up and personal. So to clean even the biggest of houses, we would normally use only a few litres of water, and so little cleaning agents/chemicals that it is hardly worth mentioning.
- All bathrooms, WC's, kitchens and wall tiles are steam cleaned. Only in exceptional cases are any chemicals used.
- Only below the water line in WC's and on floors do we use cleaning agents as normal practise. On floors, the diluted cleaning agent is sprayed directly onto the floor and then mopped with micro fibre. We do not use even a single bucketful of water. Conventional methods (mop and bucket) would use up to twenty litres of water just cleaning floors in larger houses. We use about one litre.
- Washing powder? No. SARL Handyman France uses wash-balls - plastic balls that contain mineral pellets that are good for over a hundred washes - for a quarter of the price of one box of cheap powder. The laundry is just as clean as by using soap powder/liquid. The waste water is cleaner. One item of waste packaging for an entire season's laundry, not counting conditioner (we will eliminate that next!). Therefore, it is a less polluting method.
- Because no chemicals are used, we create no allergens for holiday makers to suffer from.
- The amount of waste packaging generated by our Gîte cleaning service is practically non-existent.
The SARL Handyman France commitment to providing cost-effective, quality services is not hampered by environmental considerations. It is enhanced by it.