According to Ron Segura, president of Segura & Associates, which works with large facilities helping them streamline their cleaning and building operations, there are essentially three steps to help a facility become greener and more sustainable.
 
"This three-step process has worked well at the major universities, corporate campuses, and hospitals I have worked with," says Segura. "In a sense, it's all about finding out where a facility is now in its green and sustainability journey and where it wants to go."
 
With that in mind, Segura shares his three key steps:
 
Analysis. This involves establishing a benchmark as to what cleaning products, processes, and technologies are currently in use to maintain the facility; the training and capabilities of the custodial workers; as well as an analysis of the overall cleaning needs of the facility.
 
Development. With a benchmark established, the development stage involves the actual creation of a green and sustainable cleaning program; cataloging conventional cleaning solutions and equipment to determine which can be eliminated and which have green alternatives; determining if custodial workers need training as to green cleaning best practices; explaining to building users why a green and sustainable cleaning program is being implemented; and forming a Green Team to move into the final step - implementation.
 
Implementation: "We like to start with a kickoff meeting to build enthusiasm and extoll the benefits of the green program," says Segura. From here, training of custodial workers begins as well as the actual transfer to environmentally preferable cleaning products and the implementation of the program."
 
While the process may look cumbersome, "if all stakeholders, especially building owners and managers, are behind, it moves along smoothly and results and improvements are often noticed very quickly."