Astral Hygiene Blog | Commercial Cleaning & Hygiene Advice UK

  Revolutionary New Sustainable Products  7th January 2025  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Sustainability Unlike blogs where they are talking about this sort of subject where they describe sustainable catering products – this blog is different. We have stocked sustainable toilet rolls for a long time, including  mini jumbo ,   3 Ply , to  2 ply  to  Coreless , but we have taken it even further now! If you have a look at our website, every single paper product we stock is now EU Ecolabel, and we are incredibly proud of this.   We are always pushing boundaries here at Astral, and we are delighted to introduce a toilet roll with a difference. Dependent on supplier, our paper products are packaged differently. Some are wrapped in cardboard, others are wrapped in recycled plastic, and some handtowels (for example), are wrapped in both recycled plastic (the bundles of 250 towels), and then wrapped in cardboard.   Most of our toilet rolls a...

  Recycled vs Pure vs Bamboo Paper – Which is the best?  17th May 2022  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Environmental Health ,  Sustainability Choosing a sustainable solution to your paper needs is so important in todays' environmentally conscious world. With so many companies claiming to have the most environmentally sound paper solution from recycled, to recyclable, to green and environmentally friendly – it is really difficult to determine which is the right solution for you and importantly for the environment?  While some recycled products do live up to their name, many of them especially in the paper industry, do not live up to the hype.  There has been a significant rise in recycled paper products, and paper made from virgin fibres (fibres that have not been recycled) are now seen as wasteful, but in most cases this is exactly the opposite. Most of the most popular paper brands are not popular due to the superiority of product, but because they are...

  Public Bathrooms….protect yourself…..  9th May 2022  | By Anna Armstrong I’ve written about how sharing spaces with others means increased risk of cross contamination.   So it’s no great surprise that sharing amenities such as toilet seats, toilet rolls, sinks, and taps with strangers have been linked to health risks.  Here I break down the credible claims, and dispel the myths.  Within this article, I talk around what kind of infections and viruses can be caught from pubic washrooms and importantly provide ways in which you can protect yourself. Due to the volume of people passing through public washrooms, it is a sensible conclusion to come to that these areas are as veritable hot bed for bacteria and other nasties to lurk. Clinical trials,including ones Astral Hygiene has been part of have demonstrated that there are any number of bacteria and viruses that could be lying in wait in public toilets – including streptococcus, E.coli, salmonella, typhoid f...

  Guide to buying paper towels  4th October 2021  | By Anna Armstrong What should I consider when choosing my paper towel? Paper towels, or hand towels are a huge part of our society, and are used by a mulititde of people for many differing reasons. They can be used for drying hands, mopping up spills, and everyday cleaning.  In todays' blog, we'll examine everything you should be looking at and evaluating, when considering which type of hand towel is for you.   Many people think that price is the most important factor, and it is important, but you also need to think about what impression do you want to make; how many towels are in a case (because a case of towels at £20 for 1200 towels is VERY different than for a case of towels at £20 for 5000 towels).   Other areas for consideration would be how many ply, sheet size, absorbancy, fold or roll, centrefeed or handtowel roll?  See what I mean? Something so simple like choosing a handtowel is a...

  Disposable Sanitary Bins.... Did you know that most organisations don’t need to use sanitary bin contractors to collect sanitary waste or nappies? If you want to save at least £500 per year, keep reading!   Astral Hygiene have had a partnership with  Binny Bins,  since 2015, and we have been using and selling these bins since then.  We have tested these bins, and have sold thousands, so I thought it was about time that I did a blog on these fantastic money saving bins.     Binny disposable sanitary bins  remove the need for traditional sanitary bin supplier contracts and are already in use across many organisations including NHS Sites, cafes, restaurants, bars etc. There is a considerable amount of mis-information concerning sanitary waste to ensure organisations utilise traditional sanitary bin suppliers. However, both the HSE and the Department of Health (DOH) clearly define sanitary bin waste as “offensive waste” and this is not hazardou...

  Are your toilets the first to welcome guests at your door?  28th November 2019  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Hygiene This is quite an unsavoury topic you must admit. However, myself and my team here at Astral are so experienced, we tackle this subject daily with gusto! We have all experienced walking in to a public house or a restaurant and instead of being met with the smell of mouth-watering cuisine, or the smell of a nice candle, or even the smell of malt and hops…. We are affronted with the smell of urine coming from the toilets. Now don’t get me wrong, this is VERY common, and one which myself and my team have to bring up with our customers very regularly.  There seems to be a silent acceptance that if you run an establishment and people have one too many tipples, your toilets (particularly the gents!) will smell like urine – but it doesn’t have to be this way.  During this blog I’m going to explain why they smell (and it’s not bad hygiene or unclea...

  Paper Towels Vs Hand Dryers - Pros and Cons  6th February 2020  | By Anna Armstrong   |  Hygiene ,  Sustainability ,  Cleaning Tips As a hygiene supplier and a distributor of both paper hand towels and hand dryers, we are often asked which ones we prefer, so I thought it would be a good idea to write a blog about the benefits and the draw backs of both the humble paper hand towel and the new ever more popular hand dryer. Paper Towels are definitely the most hygienic way to dry your hands.  You are using an absorbent piece of paper to dry your hands, and it is actually the preferred method for the general pubic (C. Huang et al. 2012). This study assessed twelve groups, and the groups reported little effectiveness in the use of hand dryers, and all preferred hand towels.  In fact the study also went on to report that hand towels are not only preferred, but cause less contamination and are in fact superior to hand dryers in terms of infection ...