Visitors to stand F27 will learn more about the newest sustainable wiping solutions offered by Chicopee and Sontara, as well as their joint commitment to deliver high performance cleaning solutions manufactured locally in Europe, to further reduce their environmental impact.

Chicopee, which specialises in general cleaning markets such as hospitality and healthcare, will be showcasing its new rMicrofibre wipe, the first 100 per cent microfibre and 100 per cent recycled wipe which achieves over 99 per cent bacteria removal using just water. Delivering a carbon footprint reduction of 50 per cent versus non-recycled alternatives, rMicrofibre is at the forefront of fully recycled microfibre disposable wipes, offering a highly effective and sustainable solution for applications that require maximum cleaning effectiveness and efficiency, such as high-traffic areas or applications using touchscreen technology.

Sontara will be emphasising its expertise in high performance wiping solutions for specialty sectors such as industrial, cleanroom and aerospace. The brand recently launched an extensive sustainable wipes range that delivers up to 42 per cent less CO₂ emissions than standard Sontara wipes. The new range uses exclusively sustainable raw materials including recycled PET from PCR bottles, plastic-free fibres such as viscose, lyocell and cotton, and natural wood pulp. Sontara’s new sustainable wipes portfolio will be front and centre during the show, where their team will be showcasing it along with some of the brands’ renowned solutions, all made with their proprietary advanced fabric technology that creates wipes with exceptional strength, absorbency, and extremely low linting.

Product demonstrations for each brand will be held on stand, and visitors can expect to learn more about a series of exciting upcoming innovations from both Chicopee and Sontara.

“As individual brands, Chicopee and Sontara have set the standard for professional wipes in all applications, and now, united under Magnera with extended capabilities and renewed investment, they are pushing the boundaries for innovation and sustainability in their respective markets,” said Lorenzo Vaira, Product Manager for Europe, Chicopee and Sontara.

“The Manchester Cleaning Show provides the perfect stage for us to share the latest in high performance wiping technology for the markets that Chicopee and Sontara operate in respectively, and we look forward to giving visitors a glimpse into what we have in the pipeline for the year ahead, and discuss how we can help their businesses be more efficient and achieve their sustainability goals.”

The Manchester Cleaning Show 2026 takes place at the Manchester Central from 18-19^th February. Register for your free pass here: The Manchester Cleaning Show 2026

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Excel Dryer, Inc., inventor of the touchless, high-speed XLERATOR® Hand Dryer, has been honoured with three prestigious recognitions at the 2025 Loop Design Awards, which celebrate innovation across global design disciplines.

The company’s sustainable office renovation, designed by Fennick McCredie Architecture, received top honours in the Interior Renovations category for its biophilic design approach and commitment to workplace sustainability.

Excel Dryer also earned a Bathroom and Wellness Design award for its collaboration with Artists For Humanity (AFH), which brought together art and innovation by showcasing original works from nine Boston-based teen artists on custom cover XLERATOR Hand Dryers.

In addition, the D|VERSE Sink System, a collaboration with D|13 Group, earned a citation award in the Bathroom and Wellness Design category. The system features Excel Dryer’s XLERATORsync® Hand Dryer with advanced Electrostatic HEPA (eHEPA®) Filtration and redefines the handwashing experience with an elegant, all-in-one unit.

William Gagnon, Executive Vice President and COO of Excel Dryer said: “These awards reflect our ongoing commitment to innovation, sustainability and the power of collaboration. We’re proud to lead the way in transforming restrooms into spaces that are efficient, beautiful and forward-thinking.”

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John Norris, Head of Innovation for Samsic UK, discusses the future of innovation in the facilities management sector.

No matter the industry, any successful business must be prepared to innovate if it is to succeed rather than stagnate. Innovation is often the foundation of positive change, and positive change is invaluable to a business, whether it focuses on products, services, or company culture. 

But what does the future of innovation look like in the facilities management sector? To which areas should businesses apply their focus, and how do we ensure that we’re implementing any innovations effectively, efficiently and safely?

The current direction of innovation is heavily influenced by environmental social governance (ESG), social mobility, and customer experience.

Customers are paying close attention to ESG performance, asking how organisations are working – or planning to work – sustainably and responsibly in the coming years. The emergence of enzyme, probiotic and next generation cleaning, which is designed to reduce or remove the presence of chemicals in cleaning operations, is a prime example of innovations centred around positive changes in sustainability.

While this is only an emerging technology at the moment, it can reduce a business’s impact on the environment and protect the health and safety of our staff at work, so we’re watching its development with interest.

Productivity and efficiency are naturally priorities for customers. Whilst this has always been the case, the way in which we aim to make our operations more efficient is changing quickly. When it comes to productivity, there are numerous innovations that are already making an impact in our industry. Cobotics and sensor technology sit high at the top of the list.

Cobotics – or collaborative robots – work closely with our people to help improve efficiency and minimise health and safety risks. The automated floor cleaning of the ICE Phantas cobot, with its dual functionality of a vacuum and scrubber drier, is amongst my favourite recent innovations, primarily because it frees up cleaning staff to concentrate on other more productive activities which require a human touch.

Proximity technology is another way we can help staff to optimise their time. By installing these sensors in areas like restrooms, we can use data to schedule on-demand cleaning. This kind of forward-thinking optimisation can allow a business to focus on more pressing matters, reduce wasted effort (and therefore client spend), or dedicate more time to developing other services and skillsets.

The really exciting part is that we’ve only scratched the surface of what cobotics and sensor technology can do. They’re evolving day-by-day, to incorporate other areas and activities. For example, technology now allows us to provide a digital twin of a customer building, which enables us to simulate activities in a digital environment. Optimised route and activity planning are just two possibilities that this enables. It’s more clear than ever that these technologies will be a key tool for the facilities management sector.

There’s also the vast potential of AI. While it is far from a flawless system at the moment, as it develops it will bring about a variety of possibilities and opportunities for our industry. Currently, we are investigating the ways that artificial intelligence can help our recruitment processes, from advertising new roles to shortlisting and interviewing candidates. Used sensibly, AI can yield significant benefits for organisational efficiency and efficacy.

With such emerging technology there are wider implications to be considered including the availability of resources to implement AI, the associated bias built within AI and its algorithms, the lack of human influence and associated impacts with labour and resource reductions.

We are just starting to think about the wider implications of AI and its safe implementation for our customers, and we expect this to become a large part of our sector in a fairly short period of time. It’s clear that we can benefit massively from AI, but it’s crucial that businesses approach it carefully and avoid taking unnecessary gambles with technology that hasn’t been fully tested, ironed out and vetoed.

It’s important to note that innovation isn’t just about new technologies and products.  Customers are also asking what businesses are doing to look after their people and their wellbeing. Innovation in ESG can simply mean adapting existing processes and systems to help your business work more sustainably, or changing the way you invest in your local communities and your people.

One area of focus should be training your employees to give them the best possible opportunity to grow and develop, both within your business and in the wider industry.

At Samsic we’re constantly updating our Learning Management System (LMS), but we’ve made some significant recent improvements and reached some exciting benchmarks. Our reporting suite is fully operational, which allows us to stay completely up-to-date with our teams’ development and training needs. The new starter induction process has been upgraded, and is designed to ensure our newest staff members can hit the ground running.

With the cost of living in the UK rising, we recognise the importance of assisting our community of colleagues wherever we can. Our Wagestream platform, for example, gives our employees the flexibility to access, track, build and better manage their pay, as well as providing financial wellbeing support and guidance.

The technologies, processes and products that will shape the future of innovation are being established, and businesses around the world are making ESG a primary focus in line with their customers’ values. But how do we implement these new innovations in a fair, sustainable manner?

Customers have a defining say in the success of any business’ innovation. They are the ones who say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to any process that affects the customer experience, and so it’s important that organisations listen carefully to customer feedback. Showing intent and action to improve ESG performance offers more than just business progression; it can win over new customers and strengthen bonds with existing ones, too.

Whilst innovation is important in itself, the way we go about it is also crucial. Like a lot of organisational change, top-down innovation – i.e. innovation that is decided by management and given to staff to adapt to – is rarely effective at gaining employee buy-in. Employees should feel involved in the process, not just subject to it; it’s better if everybody ‘owns’ the change.

Innovation must be collaborative. At Samsic, we practise ‘open innovation’ from an early stage – collaborating with our own teams and external suppliers and start-ups. Working collaboratively really helps to increase engagement and also increases the chances of making change stick.

As we’ve experienced at Samsic, innovation can significantly improve your efficiency, which means that your team can allocate their time to other projects, initiatives and personal development. It’s important to recognise the ways that innovation can help outside of a business sense, too. It can help with wellbeing and work/life balance, which are crucial elements of a successful modern business and a key part of maintaining a happy, healthy and motivated workforce.

It’s a very exciting time for the facilities management industry. As we get to grips with new technologies and practices to make our organisations more efficient and sustainable, increase job satisfaction and boost productivity, Samsic will be at the forefront of that innovation with our collaborative approach.

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“As we celebrate 100 years of ISSA at this year’s show, it’s also important to look towards the future,” said Ed Nichols, ISSA Show North America Show Director for Informa Markets. “This year’s award recipients are truly elevating the cleaning industry and leading the charge for innovation into the next century of ISSA.”

GP PRO (Georgia-Pacific) was honoured with the Innovation of the Year Award for its Compact Quad^® Plus 4-Roll Toilet Paper Dispenser. Designed for maximum waste reduction, hygiene, and ease of maintenance, this coreless toilet paper dispensing system holds up to 6,000 two-ply or 12,000 one-ply sheets.

The Innovation of the Year Award Honourees include:

• PathogenFocus Air/Surface Disinfection Biosecurity by PathogenFocus is a clean tech solution—a chemical free organic technology that protects people and processes.
• Proline WAVE 1-liter manual dispenser by SC Johnson Professional uses the equivalent of 16.9 fl. oz. of recovered coastal plastic waste in its plastic bottles, making it a great choice for facilities that care about sustainability and want a reliable solution for their busy restrooms.
• All Floor cleaning system by Kaivac Inc. is designed to deeply clean high volumes of both hard surface flooring and carpeting on a single platform, with the ability to easily switch between modes for the best of both worlds.
• Multi-Surface Ceramic Clearcoat PURE AIR Coating by SIMIX LLC transforms all HVAC systems, floors, and roofs into air purifiers that never stop working.
• Evogen^® Tri-Vend High-Capacity No-Touch Menstrual Care Product Dispenser by Hospeco Brands Group provides comfort and convenience for patrons with an inviting, hands-free experience.

The recipient of the Environment & Sustainability Award, for its dedication to environmental innovation, is Natura Yarn by ABCO Products Corp., the first and only line of Green Seal-certified wet and dry mopping products.

Honourees of the Environment & Sustainability Award include:

• Super Hydro Pod Foaming Hand Soap by Soap2o allows you to completely eliminate single-use plastic and the shipping of water, while saving up to 40% on your costs.
• Tork Carbon Neutral Dispensers by Tork, an Essity brand, are a line of 11 innovative dispensers that have been certified as carbon neutral.

The recipients of the Innovation Industry Choice Awards include:

• Distributors: Natura Yarn line of mopping products by ABCO Products Corp.
• Facility Service Providers: All Floor cleaning system by Kaivac Inc.
• Manufacturer Representatives: TOPFILL No Touch Counter Mount Soap Dispenser by Kutol Products use an innovative locking refill dock that allows for refilling from above the counter—instead of below—saving labor time, strain, and stress.
• Residential: SIMPL: Smart Inspect Machine Predictive Learning by SmartInspect applies the power of machine learning to your inspection data.

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