By Stephen Ashkin

Why should you care about "green cleaning"? Better yet, could you define the concept if you had to? Let’s take a closer look at one of the commercial building industry’s hottest buzz terms and try to make sense of it in a context bottom line-oriented facility executives can appreciate.

Most facilities management professionals who aren’t directly responsible for the housekeeping mission have heard of the term or have been witness to it being bantered about by peers and subordinates.

A little knowledge, in this case, can be a dangerous thing because there’s much more to green cleaning than environmentally preferable cleaning products. Green cleaning is not about simply replacing your current product with a milder brand of cleaner.

Green cleaning can be defined as "cleaning to protect health without harming the environment." Formulating a green cleaning philosophy and strategy involves understanding the unique requirements of your building and your occupants, examining your entire process of cleaning, identifying the areas that can be improved, developing a plan and the procedures to implement the plan, executing the plan and measuring the results. A properly designed and implemented plan will have positive impact on the cleanliness of your facility, the health and performance of occupants and your bottom line.

The Cleaning Product Exposure Factor
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency notes that the cleaning industry employs about 2.8 million cleaning professionals. In addition, many other building occupants perform light cleaning on a routine or occasional basis, e.g. dusting, wiping off desks and counters, etc. — making it possible for all building occupants to be potentially exposed to the hazardous components of commercially available, non-green cleaning products. For example, chlorinated cleaners such as some sanitizers and mold and mildew stain removers contain bleach (sodium hypochlorite). Traditional cleaning products formulated with this ingredient can cause serious skin and eye burns; irritate the respiratory tract, which can be especially problematic for those with asthma; permanently damage clothing, carpeting and other fabrics through accidental contact; and, if mixed with other commonly used cleaning agents, such as those containing ammonia, can produce a poisonous gas.

American businesses use more than six billion pounds of cleaning chemicals a year. Now add the 500 million pounds of janitorial equipment – enough to fill 10,000 garbage trucks – that are shipped to landfills every year, and this becomes a much more serious issue than anyone anticipated. Then there’s the 4.5 billion pounds of janitorial paper products – toilet tissue and paper hand towels -- most of which are made from virgin tree fiber, requiring the cutting of approximately 15 million trees. These fibers are bleached with chlorine compounds.

Green Cleaning’s Hidden Savings
Researchers have determined that high standards of indoor air quality can have a positive impact on worker productivity and result in a savings of 3 to 34 minutes per day, per worker. On the conservative side, those three minutes might be saved by reducing the frequency of blowing a nose, rubbing an eye, dealing with an allergen-induced headache, not to mention the avoidance of calls to doctors and pharmacies, and time wasted discussing these maladies with co-workers.

The Building Owners and Managers Association–International estimates the cost of salaries and benefits per square foot in a Class A office building is nearly $150. Thus, a three-minute per day increase in productivity results in a 75 cents per square foot savings. Contrast this number with electrical upgrades and retrofits that are made because they can save up to 25 cents per square foot, and it’s clear that the time has come to add green cleaning to the next boardroom meeting agenda.

It should be clear that the pursuit of traditional, non-green cleaning programs can have wide-ranging and deleterious effects on personal health, safety and performance of those who are employed in the commercial cleaning industry, building occupants who may perform light cleaning tasks, building occupants in general, and the greater indoor environment.

I also want to point out that not all the current commercial cleaning products are problematic, and, in fact, traditional cleaning methods have made important contributions to protecting health and facilities. Green cleaning simply represents the development of new technologies that allow for cost-effective cleaning, while at the same time further reducing the risk of harm to both people and the environment.

The International Sanitary Supply Association — with 4,800 corporate members — is the co-sponsor of a program with the U.S. Green Building Council. The program addresses how to leverage cleaning as a way of ultimately gaining LEED-EB (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – Existing Buildings™) certification. Similarly, the Building Service Contractors Association International — with over 2,000 corporate members — recently published a book on green cleaning.

So whether you use an in-house cleaning staff or contract out your cleaning services, you have more leverage than you think. Thanks, in part, to organizations such as the USGBC, "green buildings" have become more top-of-mind for building owners and facilities executives The USGBC’s recently adopted LEED-EB rating system, for example, provides a set of credits and performance standards for the sustainable operation of existing buildings which can serve as the "roadmap" for green cleaning.

The LEED-EB criteria cover building operations and system upgrades in existing buildings where the majority of interior or exterior surfaces remain unchanged, reducing the environmental impact of cleaning. LEED-EB credits can be gained (up to 13 credits) via a range of activities, including purchasing cleaning products, janitorial paper and equipment; performing exterior maintenance and pest management; training; recycling; and more — issues which will be addressed in more detail in future newsletters.

What About Product Availability and Cost?
Over the past few years, manufacturers of commercial cleaning products have introduced numerous green alternatives for cleaning chemicals; toilet paper and paper hand towels; vacuum cleaners; and floor machines. Just two years ago, there was only one company that had products certified by Green Seal – a non-profit environmental standard-setting organization. Today there are 31 companies with more than 120 Green Seal-certified products — and more in the pipeline. As a result, the majority of local janitorial cleaning product distributors offer competitively priced green products that perform well. Thus it’s become easier than ever to replace that chlorinated or other traditional cleaners with ones that have been proven to perform well, while reducing health and environmental risks.

Creating greener, cleaner and healthier buildings for your occupants also can create a business advantage for you. Employing green cleaning solutions can reduce occupant complaints, absenteeism, tenant turnover and liability claims, while at the same time improve asset protection, the marketability of your space and worker productivity. The best news is that you can reap these rewards without spending more then what you are currently spending on cleaning.

Today, the green cleaning industry has gotten tremendous lift from the green building industry. Many large facility outsourcing companies offer green cleaning programs. To me that says a lot about acceptance. Does your cleaning service provider offer a green cleaning program?

I hope I’ve begun to establish a compelling business case for green cleaning. Improved employee productivity, enhanced health and well-being, reduced liability in the forms of fewer litigation dollars caused by "sick building" lawsuits, lower insurance premiums, better value for tenants, and increased property value can be green cleaning dividends.


About the Author: Stephen Ashkin, President of The Ashkin Group, LLC., has been a leader in the effort to green the cleaning and maintenance industry for 15 years. The Ashkin Group is a nationally recognized consultant firm with extensive experience helping federal agencies, states, counties, cities, school districts, commercial buildings and others implement green cleaning strategies. Ashkin is a 24-year veteran of the cleaning industry and is described in the book, Environmentalism Unbound, as the "leading advocate for a stronger environmental profile among cleaning product manufacturers and suppliers" and "the most visible industry figure advancing the cause of environmentally preferable products."

Return to Cover Page

To subscribe to ManagingGreen click here