IEHA Preps Announcement For Unsung Hero Award

The International Executive Housekeepers Association (IEHA) is excited to announce the recipient of the 2009 Unsung Hero Award. This award is presented to frontline workers in the housekeeping and custodial industry who show exemplary initiative in going “above and beyond” their call of duty. Because the work of frontline staff often goes largely unrecognized, IEHA’s Unsung Hero Award assists in bringing more attention to cleaning departments in institutions across the globe.

The Unsung Facility Hero Award winner will be named during International Housekeepers Week, September 13-19, 2009.

GBCI Launches LEED Credentialing Program

The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) launched a credentialing maintenance program (CMP) for LEED APs and Green Associates, ensuring that LEED professional credentials will remain relevant and meaningful in a rapidly evolving marketplace.

With the launch of LEED v3 in April 2009, GBCI put in place a number of changes and enhancements to the LEED professional credentialing program, including the introduction of the LEED Green Associate and realigning the specialties within the LEED AP program to better reflect market practice areas.

A number of activities qualify to earn LEED credential holders credit toward their credentialing maintenance. Those activities include continuing education, as well as the practical application of LEED on projects and active participation in the green building community. A CMP Guide is available at www.gbci.org that outlines CMP-eligible activities and the requirements for maintaining both the LEED AP and LEED Green Associate credentials.

USDA Proposes New Biobased Product Label

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making it easier to identify biobased products through the release of its proposed BioPreferredSM labeling rule. USDA’s BioPreferred labeling program intends to create a product label that would appear on qualifying BioPreferred biobased products. When final, this regulation will allow biobased product manufacturers to participate in a voluntary labeling program to identify biobased products on store shelves.

Manufacturers will be able to utilize the BioPreferred label, when finalized, to help customers identify their products as biobased. Currently, USDA has identified more than 15,000 commercially available biobased products across approximately 200 categories, from cleaning products to construction materials. Biobased products are currently available to consumers and the new label will help make these sustainable products more accessible.

More information about BioPreferred’s proposed labeling rule can be found at www.biopreferred.gov.

Hawaii Enacts Green Cleaning Law

The Hawaii Green Cleaning for Schools law requires the state department of education to require all public school facilities to “…give first preference, where feasible, to the purchase and use of environmentally sensitive cleaning and maintenance products that have been approved by the Green Seal program…”

The new state law limits the scope of cleaning products covered to the following: Bathroom or restroom cleaners; Carpet cleaners; General purpose cleaners; Glass cleaners; Hand cleaners, hand soaps; Paper towels or other paper used for cleaning; Other categories as determined by the state department of health.

HB 1538 does not cover: Products intended primarily to strip, polish, or wax floors; Cleaners intended primarily to clean toilet bowls, dishes, laundry, upholstery, or wood; Toilet paper, facial tissue, or paper towels used for drying hands.

Under HB 1538, the Hawaii Department of Health is charged with the responsibility of maintaining a list of products that have been approved by Green Seal. Under the law, public schools will use this list as a first-preference guideline when purchasing and using environmentally sensitive cleaning and maintenance products.

The Department of Health is also required to “…review and evaluate existing research regarding environmentally-sensitive cleaning and maintenance products, including any research and guidance issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.”

 

Eco-Friendly Self-Cleaning Coating Created

U.S. scientists say they’ve created a simple but effective coating for glass, plastics and other materials that enables the wiping away of oily smears. Purdue University researchers said the coating can be added to window cleaning sprays to prevent bathroom mirrors, facility windows and other surfaces from fogging.

“These are eco-friendly coatings — environmentally ‘green’ in the sense that they eliminate the need for harsh detergents and solvents in settings ranging from home kitchens to industrial machine shops,” researchers said.

The eco-friendly plastic chemical could reduce the need for detergents containing phosphates. The polymer materials also could reduce the use of detergents for laundering clothes and, thereby, reduce the amount of phosphates that wash into lakes and streams and stimulate growth of algae.




POSTED ON: 9/9/2009