Essential Cleaning Supplies & Equipment Your Office Needs
Cleaning is a cornerstone of every office and workplace. While many businesses and companies hire commercial cleaning services to clean their office, others hire full-time caretakers. If you are among the latter, you should ensure you have all the required cleaning equipment and janitorial supplies in the office.
In this article, we have provided a list of all janitorial supplies, cleaning equipment and consumables every office should have.
Types of Supplies for Cleaning
There are three different types of supplies and equipment for cleaning purposes. Each has a category of items that we’ll talk about here.
The main three types of supplies for cleaning are:
- Janitorial Supplies like chemicals and solutions used for cleaning.
- Cleaning Equipment like tools and appliances used for cleaning.
- Consumables like items used frequently for basic cleaning and hygiene around the office.
To determine what items you need from the following lists, take a look at your office and see what sorts of cleaning are most required. For example, if the chance of something getting oily or greasy is low or zero in the office, you can cross out the degreaser solution.
List of Janitorial Supplies
Janitorial supplies are cleaning products, chemicals and solutions for cleaning different areas in the office. For example cleaning floors, office space, meeting room, furniture, kitchen and so on.
Here’s the list of janitorial supplies you should have in your office:
- Floor cleaning solution
- Window cleaning spray
- General-purpose cleaning spray
- Multipurpose cleaning solution
- Antibacterial hard surface cleaner
- Toilet cleaner and sanitiser
- Drain cleaning liquid
- Sanitary cleaner & descaler
- Degreaser solution
- Carpet stain remover or carpet shampoo
- Cleaning gloves
This list has general items most offices need for cleaning. However, you may not need some of the items on this list or may need specific solutions not listed here. First, check what your average office cleaning includes and update the list to fit your requirements.
Read More: How to Correctly Dispose of Cleaning Chemicals?
List of Cleaning Equipment
Cleaning equipment is any tools or appliances used for cleaning or storing cleaning solutions and consumables in the office. For example, a vacuum cleaner or a soap dispenser. Such appliances are often purchased once and used for a long time if you maintain them correctly.
Here’s a list of cleaning equipment you’ll need in your office:
- Sponge
- Scrubber
- Lint-free microfibre cloth
- Tea towel
- General-purpose cleaning bucket
- Floor mop
- Steam mop
- Vacuum cleaner
- Toilet brush
- Feather or flick duster
- Dustpan
- Broom
- Window cleaning squeegee
- Bristle brush
- Rubbish bins (recycling, food waste and general waste)
- Air freshener dispenser
- Hand soap dispenser
- Dish soap dispenser
- Hand towel dispenser
- Toilet paper dispenser
- Janitorial trolley (for large offices)
- Cleaning Signs and Stickers for Safety
Don’t forget that you may not need all the cleaning equipment listed above. Pay attention to your office cleaning routine and update the list to fit your office cleaning requirements.
Read More: Best Cleaning Goals for Businesses
List of Consumables
Consumables in the commercial cleaning industry are items used for basic cleaning and personal hygiene in the office. These items are often used by everyone in the office like cleaners and employees. Consumables are generally used frequently, so you have to stock up, usually once or twice a month.
Here’s the list of consumables every office requires for cleaning and hygiene:
- Refuse sacks
- Bin liners
- Hand soap
- Dishwashing liquid
- Dishwasher tablets or powder
- Toilet paper
- Paper and hand towel
- Kettle or coffee machine descaler
- Air freshener can or capsule
- Anti-bacterial or disinfectant spray, gel or wet towel
You can cross out certain items from this list. For example, if there isn’t a dishwasher in the office, then you won’t need dishwasher tablets. Similarly, you can also add any certain consumable to the list if you have frequent use for it in your office.
Read More: Signs Your Office Needs Commercial Cleaning Services
You Have Eco-Friendly Options
Many companies in the UK are moving towards eco-friendly solutions to reduce their impact on the environment. One of the contributions you can make to the plant is to use eco-friendly cleaning products and solutions.
A wide range of eco-friendly janitorial supplies and consumables are available like eco-friendly window cleaning spray, compostable hand towels and natural general-purpose cleaning solutions.
Also, if you have a pet-friendly office, it is highly advised to use eco-friendly cleaning solutions as they are often safe for pets and won’t cause harm if they lick the residues off the floor or other surfaces. We have a full guide on how to clean pet-friendly offices you can get more information about how to maintain your office if pets like cats and dogs are welcomed.
Read More: How to Reduce Office Waste Output?
Save Money When Buying Cleaning Supplies
One of the best ways to reduce business cleaning costs is to buy janitorial supplies and consumables in bulk. Suppliers often give great discounts when companies and businesses partner with them and buy in bulk. Recent trends in cleaning show buying supplies for 6 to 9 months to benefit from great discounts.
Don’t Forget About Colour Coding
One of the risks associated with cleaning office spaces, especially large offices, is cross-contamination. Cross-contamination happens when, for example, the equipment used for cleaning toilets is also used to clean the rest of the office like the kitchen.
You have to get separate cleaning equipment (mob, brush, cleaning cloth and water bucket) for each zone in the office (toilet, kitchen and general office areas). Also, you should get them in different colours according to colour coding for cleaning guidelines to clearly mark them for cleaning specific areas.
How to Clean The Office?
If you want to clean your office yourself or train your new caretaker to take up the task, you should use a checklist. Commercial cleaners use a daily office cleaning checklist to make sure the entire office is thoroughly cleaned and the job is done efficiently. You can check our article about the daily office cleaning checklist where we provided the exact checklist commercial office cleaners use.
However, our recommendation for companies and businesses in London is to hire commercial office cleaning companies for their daily cleaning requirements. Commercial cleaning services not only save you time and money in the long run but also free you of the responsibility of buying all janitorial supplies and cleaning equipment required in the office. Commercial cleaners come to your office prepared and restock your consumables if they are about to run out.
Read More: Benefits of Daily Office Cleaning
Conclusion
Cleaning is an important part of any office operation. The benefits of cleaning go beyond providing healthy and hygienic space for employees. A clean office can impact their mood and morale as well as their productivity.
Office cleaning requires tools and supplies. If you are hiring a caretaker for cleaning your office, then make sure you have all the janitorial supplies and cleaning equipment available.
This article provided the list of all essential janitorial supplies, cleaning equipment and washroom consumables every office should have. These lists will help you plan for purchasing the required items, so your office cleaning runs smoothly. Also, in this article, we talked about how to save money when buying janitorial and washroom supplies and how to clean an office using commercial cleaning checklists.
