What sustainability means for our CEO
Creating a cleaner and healthier future.
Message from Antoaneta Tsocheva
Eco-friendliness and sustainability is a process - a lifelong journey. It’s about persistence. It’s about the small everyday choices that we make to protect our health and the environment.
As the founder and CEO of a prominent, London-based cleaning company, I am in a position where my choices can have a significant impact on the environment. I know my clients, their businesses and their specific cleaning needs. This puts me in a very unique position, where I can see the situation from up-close.
My sustainability journey began several years ago, with the project of one of our biggest clients at the time. It was a hostel-cleaning job, where the premises needed to be cleaned at the end of each year. We had to use heavy (and, as I came to realise - quite dangerous) cleaning solutions, which could put the health of our workers at risk. Soon after I learned of the dangers, I decided that we can’t work with them any longer.
It was a big and really well-paid project, but chemical exposure was not worth the risk. And, since I didn’t want to just cancel the contract that we’d had for the last five years, I simply tripled our price. Naturally, they weren’t willing to pay that much and cancelled. But, even though I had to let that customer go, I wasn’t worried. I was doing it for a good cause, and I knew that I would find more opportunities in the future. Safer opportunities that wouldn’t put my cleaners in danger.
My firm stance on this matter actually helped us find more real estate companies later on - they were looking to work with sustainable cleaning agencies and were eager to sign up.
This inspired me to look further into sustainability and eco-friendliness. I didn’t want to put my employees’ health at risk, and I didn’t want to harm the environment. I was convinced that here just had to be a better way to things. And so, I started reading.
The more I read, the more my passion for eco-friendliness grew.
For me, sustainability means:
- Living in a way which would preserve the world for those who come after us.
- Taking the time to protect and cherish what you have
- Not using more resources than you have to, even if you can afford the luxury
- Thinking about your actions and their impact on the environment
- Producing less waste and recycling as much as possible
- Choosing long-lasting products, rather than disposable, single-use items
I achieve that by making sure that I:
- Strive to lead a minimalist life - minimalism encourages sustainability
- Limit shopping to necessities, rather than being excessive
- Stay away from plastics and stick to the reusable alternatives
- Look for organic and ethically-grown foods
- Always read the labels carefully
- Avoid chemicals and toxins
My eco-friendly journey also inspired me to:
- Begin educating my cleaners and my clients on the subject
- Start my own green living brand - Eco Bravo - by using everything that I’ve learned
- Create a website dedicated to happy and sustainable living, where I frequently post articles, videos and inspirational pictures