How Housekeep's technology reduces the carbon footprint of cleaners
According to EarthDay.Org, the organisation behind Earth Day, “private sector innovation (with public support) accelerates the kind of rapid change we need, like nothing else.”1 And our technology is playing its part in reducing the carbon footprint of the cleaning industry.
We’ve built technology that helps cleaners get lots of jobs close together and close to their home. This means that cleaners can travel to - and between - jobs by taking very short public transport journeys or by foot.
This isn’t how it’s always been. Typically, cleaners have had to travel long distances to get to work, often working for customers across the city in order to stay busy.
But our large customer & cleaner bases – and the network effect this creates – means this isn’t the case for Housekeep cleaners. We’ve built tech that matches them with customers in dense, local areas – and optimises their schedules to ensure the least possible travel.
The result?
Cleaners can usually work in just a few postcode areas – and still get busy quickly. In fact, some Housekeepers are able to fill their schedule without even leaving their home postcode.
Housekeep’s technology is saving ~1000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year
We’ve crunched the numbers and estimate that our technology is reducing the carbon footprint of Housekeep cleaners by ~1000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions each year.
This is the equivalent of the…
🌳 Emissions offset by planting 17,000 trees
♻️ Emissions offset by recycling 45,000 bin bags, instead of sending to landfill
🚗 Emisisons produced by driving 2,500,000 miles in the average car
You can find our workings by scrolling to the bottom of this page.
How you can help to make your cleans greener
There are a couple of super simple ways to ensure your cleans are as green as possible.
Rather than booking a short arrival window, why not go for a flexible ‘anytime during the day’ start time?
This means that your cleaner has more flexibility to choose the most efficient routes between their cleans. This could be the difference between your cleaner being able to walk between jobs, or having to get the bus and double-back on themselves.
You could also make the switch to greener cleaning products. Housekeep cleaners are happy to work with whatever your preferences are – and switching to environmentally friendly sprays can be a simple but effective way to make your cleans green.
Not sure which environmentally friendly products are best? Check out our list of 8 of the best eco-friendly cleaning products.
How you can get involved with Earth Day initiatives
EarthDay.Org runs a number of campaigns throughout the year, where the public can get involved with pro-environmental action.
They've also created resources to help you make better choices – check out the sustainable clothes shopping & clothes care guides for lots of practical tips.
EarthDay.Org is also running The Great Global Cleanup® , encouraging the public to clean up their local area – reducing plastic pollution and improving the environment for wildlife.We’ve taken part in a similar event over the last couple of years, the Great British Spring Clean, and would thoroughly recommend a litter picking event for any individuals, friends, businesses or other organisations who’d like to make a small – but meaningful – difference in their local area.
How we've crunched the numbers
We’ve looked at where cleaners live in London, and where the busiest postcodes for home cleaning are.
It's hard for independent cleaners to fill their schedules - so most of the time they have to travel into the busier areas to find work.
We looked at the route that a cleaner would take to get to three jobs across these areas every single day. Then we researched the distances, and the carbon emissions for each leg of the journey. We looked at the data for both bus & train/tube travel.2
Then we compared this to a typical Housekeep cleaner’s daily journey - which is usually just within a few neighbouring postcodes. We've got the most cleaners & the most customers in London, so there's a strong network effect, and we're able to pair up customers and cleaners on a much more local level.
Here’s what we found when we compared an independent cleaner's travel to a Housekeep cleaner's travel:
Most cleaners take the bus to and from work, as this is the least expensive way to travel around London. We’ve compared the bus routes of these two round-trips to calculate the CO2 equivalent emissions that our tech has saved.
References
1) https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2022/
2) https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator
3) https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/carbon-footprint-travel-mode