Green cleaning” immediately evokes images of products that smell like pine and toilet tissue made from recycled paper. But green cleaning in 2001 connotes more than “natural” remedies and “reduce-reuse-recycle” mantras. Business and governments are realizing that putting the earth first also can have a great impact on health and morale and, therefore, the bottom line.

Building service contractors who assume facility owners and managers are too price-conscious to consider products that are environmentally engineered and therefore, more expensive, may be off mark.

“The reason they’re [contractors] going green is because their customers are asking for it,” says John Vlahakis, president of Earth Friendly Products in Winnetka, Ill. EFP sells 100 percent plant-based and biodegradable cleaning solutions in recyclable containers. Contractors are mostly concerned with initial cost, Vlahakis says, and often don’t look hard enough at this trend to recognize the bottom-line business sense behind it.

The meaning of green
BSCs must understand the context of today’s environmentally friendly cleaning concepts. To some degree, they are geared toward introducing fewer chemicals and less waste into the overall outdoor environment. But the trend predominantly is the result of the past decade’s increased indoor environmental quality (IEQ) awareness. Many BSCs who have begun marketing their services to capitalize on this trend already have seen customers loosen their purse strings if it means tenants will feel healthier.

IEQ awareness is not new. But the large numbers of organizations mandating specific products and techniques to guarantee better environmental quality are new. The Clinton administration issued a “greening the government” executive order prior to the president’s departure in 2000. In addition, this June, federal acquisitions regulations governing all federal government agency purchasing were revised to mandate environmental stipulations in any contract where products or services might offer a viable “green” option.

The Department of Interior (DOI) awarded a $6.258 million green cleaning contract for its combined 1 million square feet in two buildings in August of 1999. Criteria in the contract exceeds EPA requirements, says Richard Sarrano, DOI facilities specialist.

“We have attempted to define and require solutions that are environmentally preferable and safer for cleaners to use while requiring higher performance,” says Heather Davies, who wrote the contract for the DOI’s Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance.

But the DOI did hit a few bumps. One industry consultant, Steve Ashkin of Healthy Housekeeping, estimates the initial cost savings at about 25 percent, but the first BSC hired defaulted on the DOI contract’s requirements, underestimating what it would take to meet green guidelines. Though, Davies estimates that, if done correctly, there still will be significant savings.

Pentagon officials say they also want to enter the green cleaning arena. Three new bids should be put out this fall, and those contractors will receive monetary benefits if environmentally friendly practices are used, says John Irby, director of the Pentagon’s federal facilities division. Other federal agencies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, have expressed interest in starting their own programs, says Davies.

Scores of individual city and state governments also have started instituting green cleaning standards in their buildings. The state of Minnesota’s Office of Environmental Assistance has launched an eight-month pilot project to test cleaning products for efficiency throughout the winter months.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has commissioned non-profit environmental group Green Seal to pen a green cleaning manual that will be tested this fall in select government buildings and rolled out en-mass next year. “This is meant to be a three-ring binder ... not a $350 textbook that’s going to sit on a shelf,” says Mark Petruzzi of Green Seal.

Other states such as Massachusetts are interested in adopting similar measures and the guidelines would even apply to corporations if commercial properties were interested in copies, he says.

Commercial interest
As with other contracting trends, once the vast number of local and federal government buildings put something into practice, private sectors soon follow if there are measurable benefits.

At the moment those reported benefits are streamlined cleaning chemical programs that can lead to lower costs; decreased janitorial injuries from less contact with harsh chemicals; decreased cleaning personnel and building occupant allergies; increased worker and building occupant moral; and continued, if not increased, levels of cleaning quality.

The private commercial sector already has shown an interest in green cleaning, as part of a larger green/energy efficient trend. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) plans to release operational and maintenance procedures this fall as a follow up to its LEED (leadership, energy and environmental design) rating system released last March.

The LEED system provides indoor and outdoor environmentally friendly guidelines for architects and building planners for new construction or renovations. But the organization soon realized that once built, some buildings need specific upkeep to maintain a green status, says Paul von Paumgartten, a member of the USGBC’s LEED steering committee. Myriad existing buildings, where renovations aren’t an option, also need guidelines to help turn them into more environmentally friendly facilities.

“It’s a national trend — we’re seeing a tremendous increase and interest in green buildings,” says von Paumgartten, who also is director of energy and environmental affairs for Johnson Controls, a Milwaukee-based facility-management firm which uses green cleaning in some if its own buildings. “Indoor chemical and pollutant controls is an area the council looks at very closely, including using environmentally friendly cleaning chemicals.”

“Get on the bandwagon,” he says to cleaning contractors. “This is a mega trend that’s going to continue. Don’t fight it. Just do it.”

Choosing the right products
Much of green cleaning is about procedure and products.

“When companies are going out of their way to clean it right, they’re cleaning green,” explains Michael Berry, a University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill professor of environmental management, who spent 27 years with the Environmental Protection Agency’s indoor air program and now privately consults.

Basically, green cleaning focuses on removing as many contaminants as possible during the cleaning process and attempting to add as little else as possible to what already is there — even water and soap can be considered unwanted, since it is added to the existing indoor and outdoor environments.

“Many green cleaner manufacturers are specifically changing formulary to find new, effective ingredients to substitute for toxic compounds previously used,” says Davies.

Floor finish, for example, often has metals in it such as zinc, which is dangerous to aquatic species. So when that is washed away and discharges into a river or bay it will affect wildlife.

The city of Seattle used to award cleaning contracts based on lowest price, but now looks at the total picture and incorporates more environmental values, says Ulla Johnson, Copernicus project lead for the city of Seattle. Copernicus is Seattle’s transition program installing green cleaning products in all city buildings and departments. Its janitorial team chose to avoid the following in cleaning products: ozone-depleting compounds; toxic bio-cumulative chemicals; carcinogens, mutagens and teratogens; low-volatile organic compounds; and hazardous waste.

Instead of straight cost, the group then took into account whether green chemicals could offer the ability to recycle or lower injury rates when doing the cost analysis, to make sure social and IEQ responsibilities still were cost effective. Soon all city workers and facilities will follow the protocols.

Green cleaning also can go beyond chemicals. For 8-year-old, Phoenix-based CBN Building Maintenance, a green BSC with more than 100 clients, other important considerations include filtered burnishers; a carpet protector that repels oil, greasy soil and dry particulates; backpack vacuums with added filters; and heavy vacuuming instead of mopping and dusting.

Distinguishing help from hype
But a big challenge is figuring out which products truly are “green.” Several products cluttering the market claim to be more friendly or naturally-based but, when tested, are not, often adding to skepticism about environmentally friendly initiatives.

“There are a lot of products out there that we bought into and found out they didn’t work,” says Jim Everoff, Yellowstone National Park management assistant.

If the Federal Trade Commission ever seriously examined supposedly green cleaning products, a lot of manufacturers would be trapped in false claims, add Berrys.

“[Manufacturers] sell to the contemporary market demand for things that are environmentally compatible,” he says. “Appearance can really be misleading. There’s all types of tricks.”

That’s where Green Seal steps in. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit is in its 12th year of testing and recommending environmentally friendly consumer products, and is able to offer “consumer report” tips to contractors hesitant to buy into the green cleaning trend. Passing environmental standards in areas such as packaging, transportation, extraction and ingredients will earn a Green Seal of Approval.The group extensively researches items to make sure the ingredients follow environmentally friendly definitions.

“What we’re finding is more and more companies are stepping up to the plate and hiring chemists to develop those products,” says Johnson.

Benefit analysis
Often, environmental benefits and occupant health don’t register with BSCs and customers concerned most about cost. But switching to green cleaning seems to have benefits even cynics can appreciate.

BSCs should ask ‘Will it take more labor?,’ says Tom Barron, a civil engineer in LaFayette, Calif. who received two grants from the EPA to study facility-based pollution prevention for both large and small facilities.

While some green chemicals may have longer dwell times than more caustic products, many workers just shift their cleaning tasks to fill the time, maintaining productivity levels. Some chemicals also may take less time than traditional solutions.
Products safer for the environment also are reported to be safer to use. The average amount of time lost when a janitor suffers an injury is 18 hours, and it costs $615 per incident. This makes reduced injury rates a definite bottom-line reason for green chemicals says Johnson. They also require less safety gear.

Although some supplies, such as new high-filtration vacuum bags, may cost more than their older, thinner counterparts, they actually can cut down on labor.

“With the same number of sweeps of the vacuum we can pull more stuff out of the carpet,” says Bob Craft, president of CBN Building Maintenance. He also says he feels better having less soil emitted from vacuums so that his workers don’t have to breathe the dust.

Often, green chemical switches also lead to lower supply costs because of consolidation, and less packaging if they come in bulk concentrate.

The city of Santa Monica, Calif.’s Sustainable City Program is unarguably the epitome of all green cleaning initiatives. Criteria for the city’s janitorial products were unveiled in September 1994 after custodians tested less-toxic or non-toxic cleaning products. Fifteen cleaning products were substituted with environmentally friendly ones that came in more concentrated form with lower packaging and shipping costs. That saved Santa Monica about 5 percent of supply costs annually.

Johnson estimates that a move to green chemicals cost the city of Seattle 60 percent less per usable gallon.

The Clean Environment Co., a green-cleaning products distributor in Lincoln, Neb., replaced Yellowstone Park’s 130 products with nine. The containers used were all returnable. Plus, buying in bulk and in concentrate helped slash costs, says Yellowstone’s Everoff. The park now spends a third less than it used to on cleaning products.

Three to four cleaning contracts are now up for bid with the park system and must follow a list of product criteria, including non-toxic, non-corrosive, naturally derived, non-aerosol, competitively priced and superior performance, says Everoff. After witnessing Yellowstone’s success, about 24 other national parks quickly followed suit.

Sunflower Cleaning Services in Milwaukee, a strict green-cleaning company, spends less than it would on typical cleaning products because it reuses dust rags and towels, and uses lower concentrations of chemicals that still are effective, says owner Laura Rody.

Just five percent of Sunflower’s clientele are commercial buildings. But in the next year, Rody plans to aggressively market more commercial clients.

“There really are customers out there who care what goes back into the Earth,” Rody says of the interest she gets from existing customers. She started the company when fired from a larger BSC for complaining that working with chemicals made her ill during her pregnancy.

Employee morale also can improve when harsh chemicals are replaced, say experts. When employees are happier, their cleaning performance is better, says Berry.

“We sought out ‘natural’ champions among our janitorial staff and used them to get the products going,” says Everoff of how he involved staff in green cleaning. Immediately there was a “heightened morale among janitorial staff.”

But Everoff admits the beginning wasn’t easy. “It was very hard to pry [familiar chemicals] out of their hands,” he says. That’s where education comes in handy to smooth the transition. CBN used videos, hands-on demonstrations and more thorough training to explain the benefits of the newer and more natural products.

While changing products and even mindsets won’t be easy, too many facilities are demanding green cleaning for BSCs to avoid the trend. Savvy contractors will step up to the challenge these initial contracts offer and learn with their clients, hopefully finding benefits they can then pass on to other, less green customers.

Kristine Hansen is a business writer based in Madison, Wis.




POSTED ON: 8/1/2001