ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

The advent of new environmental rules is bringing change to the sector in Italy, says Anna Garbagna.

With the introduction of the New CAMs (Minimal Environmental Criteria) following the Decree of the Ministry of the Environment in January, many changes have been introduced in the professional cleaning sector.

Their implications were addressed in a workshop organised by Afidamp recently. Alessandra Mascioli, coordinator of Gruppo di Lavoro CAM - Ministero della Transizione Ecologica (CAM Working group of the Ministry of Ecological Transition) clarified the scope of their application ranging from cleaning services in residential environments to cleaning and sanitisation in healthcare applications, from the supply of detergents for regular cleaning to detergents for deep cleaning, from hand detergents to tissue paper products for personal hygiene.

The main objective is to introduce new environmental requirements which will make the documents more effective at allowing the required targets to be achieved, ie. reducing the use of dangerous substances, greater efficiency in the use of resources and lower carbon footprint of cleaning services. Mascioli emphasised how CAMs represents an objective for environmental qualification in the professional cleaning sector and they can also be applied in the emergency situation related to the pandemic.

Many changes have been introduced. Among them: requirements for detergents and disinfectants have been standardised; requirements for machinery, auxiliary products and some detergents have also been introduced; the effectiveness of cleaning services in residential environments has been approached;  and recognition has been sought for bidders who commit to perform services with the customer, the customer’s sector, or the customer division in possession of the Ecolabel (EU) for cleaning services. Cleaning and sanitisation techniques have also been enhanced. These reduce environmental impact and achieve better results in terms of service effectiveness.

The CAMs have also brought about the obligation to adopt environmental criteria for contracts supplying hand detergents and tissue paper products.

All the issues related to selection criteria and contract terms for the different types of products have been reviewed.

The region of Emilia Romagna was highlighted as a virtuous example of this sector, for its commitment to training and possible standardisation of conformance and assessment procedures with the aim of creating a checklist to ensure effective and correct operation.

As a stakeholder Afidamp has played a key role in setting the new CAMs  - working closely with the Ministry of Ecological Transition in the development of the guidelines.

Italy turned out to be the European country with the highest number of Ecolabel certificates for cleaning services (34) compared to Austria (one), France (two), Poland (one) and Spain (two).
Many questions were asked, showing the interest generated by the topic and demonstrating how Afidamp is a reference point for the sector.