Overview

Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust first got in contact with Arrow to help assess their cleaning spend and to implement the introduction of more environmentally friendly products. Arrow undertook an in depth investigation into Ironbridge’s buying behaviour and needs and following a successful product trial period, Arrow has helped Ironbridge Gorge Museum achieve:

    • 50% reduction in floorcare cleaning products

    • Introduction of recyclable and eco-friendly product alternatives

    • 50% reduction of overall cleaning spend

    • 30% reduction of cleaning spend in high season

Ironbridge Gorge Museums

Spread along the valley beside the River Severn in Shropshire, the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust manages ten award-winning museums and thirty-five historic sites. Accommodating up to 500,000 visitors per year, the Trust works hard to ensure that their facilities are consistently clean and safe.

Challenges

Striving to achieve green-cleaning objectives without compromising on effectiveness, Stores and Transport Manager Dave Bates talks about how the Trust turned to Arrow County Supplies to help them assess their current buying behaviour and investigate how and where changes could be made:

“Before we engaged with Arrow, we were just buying anything cleaning wise. Our stockroom was filled with a huge variety of cleaning products, the versatility of which we were not aware of. We are committed to providing clean, pleasant and safe environments for our visitors, but we wanted to work much smarter; spending less whilst operating a green cleaning programme was the focus. We needed to understand very clearly what we were spending, what we were using and the alternative products and process that we could adopt to achieve a more environmentally-friendly way of working. It was at this point that we got in touch with the team at Arrow.”

How Arrow Helped

Embarking on a trial period within several sites at the Ironbridge Gorge Museums, Arrow completed an in-depth investigation of the Museum’s buying behaviour. Identifying the products that could be swapped for a green-er alternatives and processes that could be made much more efficient, it wasn’t long before Dave began to see the benefits.

“Further to Arrow’s assessment of our cleaning function, we have swapped many of our products and refreshed a string of procedural practices in-line with their advice. Sourcing products that are as effective, yet less harsh on the environment, Arrow have helped us to successfully implement a green-cleaning programme that we continue to develop. As well as cutting our floor cleaning products down by 50%, amongst other positive changes, we now no longer use bleach or aerosols and many of our products are recyclable.”

To complement the changes to the cleaning division at the Ironbridge Gorge Museums, Arrow spent time with the cleaning team to ensure that they were not only trained on how to effectively use the new products, but to maximise the successful roll-out of a change in culture. Demonstrating the practicalities and the benefits of green cleaning, Arrow helped Dave to engage his team to change methods and behaviours to cut labour time and save cost.

Results

It wasn’t long before the benefits of adopting Arrow’s recommendations began to surface. Dave recalls:

“Although we have seen no reduction in our excellent cleaning standards further to switching to ‘green’, our spending on cleaning products has significantly decreased. Since we have been working with Arrow, our bills have been cut by 50% which is amazing. Further to Arrows intervention, we have reduced our spend in high season by 30%. Changes such as swapping our toilet roll holders for over-fitted twin roll holders for example, have enabled us to increase our efficiency which in turn has ultimately saved us money and reduced waste.”

Since working in partnership with Arrow, the Ironbridge Gorge Museums have entered and won the Green Tourism Award. Assessed on everything from cleaning products, to C02 and recycling, Ironbridge Gorge Museum has become the only multi-site museum in the country to achieve this status. Citing Arrow as the driving force behind their success in this award, Arrow’s details were published on the award body’s website for the information of all other green suppliers.

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