ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

CWS-boco is seeking to change the face of the washroom as we know it with its Loovio concept.

Loovio is a holistic outsourcing service whereby CWS-boco takes over the entire running of the washrooms of high-traffic facilities.

"We renovate, furnish and operate and take care of everything from the tiles and furnishings to the detergents and dispensers," said CWS-boco managing director Johannes Wintgerhager.

He claims the service has arisen from customer demand. "When a new shopping mall is built, the washrooms tend to be a by-product - but these will be subject to high traffic over a period of many years," he said.

"We found that customers were increasingly asking us if we would be prepared to take care of their washrooms. So we came up with the Loovio concept which brings the full supply chain under our control and enables us to guarantee certain standards."

The first Loovio opened at a railway station in Rome in 2016 and others are now in operation in shopping centres and service stations in Germany and Denmark. All Loovios are equipped with CWS-boco's cotton towel dispensers and its self-cleaning toilet seat system.

Use of the facilities can either be offered in exchange for a fee paid via a turnstile, or be provided free of charge if the customer prefers.

"Customers are increasingly demanding a hygiene experience rather than just a set of dispensers," said Wintgerhager. "Outsourcing is a trend that is becoming stronger so we are providing a solution. By 2020 we hope to have around 50 Loovios in operation."