Servest switches to water-wise plants
Implements a number of measures to cut back and conserve
SERVEST has modified their interior plants innovation by replacing all its high-water use plants with water-wise ones. Servest is the largest majority black-owned facilities management company on the African continent and has a significant presence in Africa and the UK.
A feature of the Servest Group strategy is the extension into its African markets through training, associations, partnerships and joint ventures.
Abubakr Hattas, the group business improvement specialist at Servest, said as leaders in the world of facilities management, the firm relies on the use of water as a key resource to deliver its core services, including cleaning, landscaping, catering, office plants and hygiene.
“It was, therefore, an imperative for Servest to consider the conservation of water as a vital resource that is leaning towards almost becoming a scarcity, this is certainly the case in Cape Town at the moment.”
Kumuran Pillay, national sales and marketing director for office services, said one of Servest’s main policies and strategy was to approach environmental sustainability through innovation and an example of this is the firm’s Office Plants Division, which had modified their interior plants operation.
“We have changed the types of plants in the working environment by replacing all plants that require a high-water intake with hardier, sustainable, water-wise plants. These plants require less than one litre of water every six to eight weeks, and if the environmental conditions are applicable, some plants only require water once every three months.”
According to Servest, the firm also uses water that is harvested from cooling systems at its depot, and recommends other innovative water-saving tips and solutions, which are specific to operational landscaping and turf.
These include implementing digital technology and sensors to improve water management, substituting exotic lawns with indigenous lawns, mulching of beds, hydro-zoning, spray-to-drip conversions, reducing and re-using storm and irrigation run-off water, and installing AstroTurf as a substitute to conventional grass turf.
Meanwhile, The Test Kitchen, the world-renowned restaurant based in Woodstock, has introduced an innovative Drought Kitchen menu, which is aimed at saving water and securing jobs at the restaurant.
The restaurant has implemented several-water saving measures throughout the restaurant, including using melted ice-bucket water for cleaning the floors, and fitting water-saving taps.
Chef and owner Luke Dale Roberts has designed a menu that uses minimal water to prepare.
Roberts said the largest water usage in his restaurant was for the dish washer, and switching to disposable plates that fit into frames saved on washing 5 000 dishes a week, which had reduced the labour need in the scullery. He will be training one of his scullery staff to work at the bar instead.
Economic Opportunities MEC Alan Winde said that for businesses to survive and thrive during this drought, they need to be creative and innovative, and this was exactly what Roberts was doing.