Eco-friendly firm is a sweeping success

A Norwich mum, who set up an environmentally-friendly cleaning company, is set to expand her business across the UK. Julie Bishop founded Living Clean, which has 300 customers in Norfolk and has produced her own range of cleaning products.

A Norwich mum, who set up an environmentally-friendly cleaning company after her asthmatic son had an allergic reaction to household cleaning agents, plans to expand her firm nationwide.
In the three years since Julie Bishop, from Hillcrest Road, Thorpe St Andrew, founded Living Clean, she has attracted 300 customers in Norfolk and developed her own cleaning product range.
With a new office opening in Dereham next month, the 37-year-old is looking to branch out across the East of England in two years and the UK in five.
Ms Bishop said she owed much of her success to the changing public attitude towards the environment and the domestic products that for so long we have regarded as safe.

"More and more people are becoming aware of the chemical build-up in their homes and the carcinogenic properties within common cleaning products," she said. "With the prevalence of asthma and eczema also on the increase, there is growing fear of a link between that rise and these products."
Ms Bishop suffers from asthma herself while her son Paul Newman, six, has also suffered from the ailment. When Paul had an allergic reaction which closed his oesophagus, Ms Bishop was prompted to take action.
Her father always thought his illness was caused by chemicals, so she began to suspect their asthma was too. "I started looking at all the products I had around the house and realised that it was the . cleaning agents that were causing me to wheeze," she said.
Determined to do something about it, she started shopping around for products that were free from harsh chemicals and kind on the environment, ending up by importing an American product called Equinox."After I tried that, it got me into thinking about how I could run a business cleaning other people's

homes using safe products," she said."At first clients were not particularly interested in the benefits, but now people want us purely because we use no harsh chemicals and are environmentally-friendly."
Since starting out, Ms Bishop has established her own, locally-made Dolly the Dolphin product range using natural ingredients such as orange and mandarin oils.
"They are all named after dolphins because they are designed to be marine compatible," she said. "You could clean a fish tank with Bathroom Blitz and the fish would be fine."
Ms Bishop said the rise of the company would never have been possible without the tremendous support of the Women's Employment, Enterprise and Training Unit (WEETU) which lent her £1,000 for her first van.
"WEETU has been excellent," she said. "They gave me all kinds of support, especially when my dad was so ill."