Case study: Z-Water Delivering Sustainability Results at Major University

The Customer, Situation and Need

GJK has delivered cleaning services to a major university customer in Tasmania since 2019 across three major campus locations. Within this contract, we clean 102 buildings, including all amenities, offices, classrooms, labs, kitchens, stairwells, and public areas.

Before 2022, GJK used four different chemicals to clean. These chemicals, while effective, did not have ‘green’ accreditation.  Each chemical came in a 5L bottle and lasted 3-4 weeks maximum. Except for one, none of the chemicals were diluted and so we were disposing of a large number of plastic bottles.

Our university customer works towards a Green Star sustainability rating and certification system. As such they are required to support best-practice sustainability outcomes throughout their building’s operations – including cleaning. The university is also aiming to deliver a 25% reduction in waste-to-landfill by 2025.

Desired Outcome

In this case, GJK needed to develop a 100% non-toxic cleaning solution at our customer campuses while also delivering quality and value outcomes. It was also important to reduce our reliance on plastic bottles and produce less waste-to-landfill to help the university achieve their targets.

GJK Solution

After trials and proven outcomes at other contracts, GJK helped the university implement a Z-Water Unit into one of its campuses in 2022 to replace the use of all other chemicals.

Z-Water is a new cleaning innovation where water is electrolyzed to purified pH12.5 ionized alkaline water. Made with advanced Japanese technology, the cleaning agent is 100% chemical-free.

The large Z-Water unit, which continuously generates 200L in 10 hours, was installed in the Social Sciences building, . Our GJK cleaners easily decant the Z-Water into smaller, reusable bottles to be used on multiple surfaces across the 32 campus buildings. Z-Water is now used for general cleaning on surfaces, windows and floors, replacing most traditional chemicals.

Results and Evidence

• Quality –  Z-water ionized alkaline water cleans, deodorizes and sanitizes at the same time. Our staff reported excellent cleaning outcomes from Z-Water – particularly for glass and as a general cleaning agent.
• Value – At this campus, GJK was able to rely mainly on this all-purpose cleaner and substantially reduce the purchase of other cleaning agents. On an ongoing basis, GJK estimates a savings of around $1,500 per month from switching to Z-Water as our main cleaning agent. Our staff have also been able to work more efficiently, using just one bottle for multiple surfaces, rather than four.
• Wellbeing – being odorless and non-toxic, our staff reported better personal wellbeing as a result of using Z-Water. This also extends to better Indoor Air Quality and improved wellbeing for university patrons.
• Sustainability – switching to a 100% chemical-free alternative has yielded exceptional sustainability benefits and is helping the university achieve its Green Star accreditation. Namely, it has meant that:
  • GJK is using no chemicals in our cleaning at this campus
  • We have saved approximately 50 x 5 Lt plastic bottles going to landfill per fortnight.
  • We are no longer contaminating the comingled waste with chemical residue left in the plastic bottles.

The implementation of Z-Water into our cleaning operations was a huge success. Not only from a sustainability perspective, but it has also proven to deliver better wellbeing, quality and value results. This is a great example of the way GJK harnesses technology to deliver better service outcomes and help customers achieve their goals.