Easily Green

To be truly environmentally friendly, a green cleaning program must implement products and procedures that reduce harm to the environment, both outside and inside the facility.

“When you go green it’s more than just a green chemical, it’s the tools and the way you clean,” says Linda Silverman, vice president of sales and marketing for Maintex, Inc., City Of Industry, Calif. “You have to look at all the ways to improve the health of the building you are cleaning.”

With that mission in mind, microfiber is an obvious choice for any green program despite it not being certified by a third party. Microfiber technology has several pro-Earth, pro-health benefits, including reducing waste and improving health.

“If Green Seal or any third party had a standard for a non-chemical product like this, I absolutely think microfiber would get certified,” says Chris Pratt, sales manager at E.A. Morse & Co., Middletown, N.Y.

Even without green certification, microfiber is an important component of green cleaning. For example, using microfiber towels and mops can earn credits toward Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Some states advocate for microfiber in their green cleaning guidelines, and most manufacturers of green chemicals recommend the use of microfiber for product application.

“There is a huge environmental impact,” Pratt says. “Microfiber is one of the greenest, non-chemical tools on the market today for the cleaning industry.”

Less Waste

Waste reduction is one of the pillars of the green movement and is microfiber’s strongest selling point.

Unlike paper towels or cotton rags, microfiber is reusable hundreds of times with laundering. A longer lifespan means fewer items end up in a landfill. Pratt helped New York State Museum in Albany convert to microfiber last year, reducing its cotton rag usage from 50 pounds a month to less than eight pounds a month while also drastically lowering its paper towel needs.

“Over time, that adds up,” Pratt says. “The amount of waste they have reduced is substantial.”

Microfiber also greatly reduces water usage, which helps both the environment and the bottom line. Microfiber is far more absorbent than traditional materials and that allows the product to retain water and clean better.

In fact, microfiber flat mops used for damp mopping interior corridors, offices, patient rooms and other areas can reduce water consumption by 25 to 50 percent compared to a traditional mop.

“The beauty of microfiber is when you get them wet they dry out quickly,” Pratt says. “When you rinse them off they release the dirt quickly so you don’t have to keep rinsing them.”

To further reduce waste, microfiber can be used without chemicals for some cleaning and dusting applications and jobs that demand chemicals typically require less when coupled with microfiber.

“Micofiber is able to absorb many times its weight in chemical so it retains more chemical and you can apply it to more areas,” says Steve Hanson, owner of Brainerd Lakes Cleaning and Supply, Brainerd, Minn. “Plus, it reduces dry time, applies a more even coat, and the end result is better.”

Better Health

The environmental benefits of microfiber also include improving worker and occupant health. Although health issues such as limiting breathing difficulties and allergies receive less attention, they are just as important to a green program as the reduction of chemicals and energy.

Eliminating or reducing chemical usage can help improve indoor air quality (IAQ) by lessening the amount of harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) a worker or occupant may inhale. VOCs also can contribute to smog formation when they are ultimately exhausted outdoors.

Microfiber also captures more soil and doesn’t leave behind lint or dust like cotton and paper can, thus improving IAQ.

“They lift and hold the dirt so it doesn’t get it back in the atmosphere,” Silverman says. “Instead of moving the dirt from one spot to another or throwing it up in the air, you are actually controlling it in the cloth. That’s an indoor air quality benefit.”

Another health benefit of microfiber is that it can reduce cross-contamination. A study by the University of California at Davis Medical Center found that microfiber materials led to reducing the number of bacteria on a surface by 99 percent, whereas a conventional cleaning material reduces bacteria by only 33 percent.

In addition to cleaning better, microfiber is very easy to swap out and to color code. Using one color in the restroom and another for general cleaning helps prevent cross-contamination, as does quickly changing mop heads between rooms.

“A lot of people are adapting a hospital-type cleaning philosophy using microfiber so they aren’t cross-contaminating,” Pratt says.

Finally, microfiber flat mops provide ergonomic benefits for the janitors who use them. They can reduce back and repetitive-motion injuries because they are lighter weight when loaded with water, cleaning solution, or floor finish compared to their traditional counterparts.

“It’s less stress for the employee,” Silverman says. “You can use a lighter mop and get the same results.”

There are many newer microfiber tools that are also ergonomically preferable, including flex dusters that can be used to clean hard-to-reach places, such as the tops of doors and vents, without straining.

Smart Choice

All microfiber products are not alike. The term microfiber simply means a very fine, manmade fiber. Within that broad category can be significant differences in usage, quality and price. A cheaper product will not work as well or last as long as a quality one, thus eliminating its sustainable benefits.

“Even the cheapest microfiber is a major step forward for our industry,” says David Holly, director of green contractors for The Ashkin Group LLC, Bloomington, Ind. “But once you’ve made the decision to move to microfiber, look for ones that are better made because they will literally last years longer than the cheaper ones and turn out to be a much greener, more sustainable alternative than a feather duster or a paper towel.”

What separates a $5 cloth from a $5 bundle of cloths is its construction. To identify a well-made microfiber cloth, look for one that has at least one side with lots of fluffy loops. This allows for more airspace within the cloth, which allows it to trap and hold dirt better than the less-expensive varieties. The four edges should also be very tightly sewn, which allows it to be laundered hundreds of times.

“One will just look more well made and more substantial and the other will look cheap,” Holly says.

Roadblocks

Microfiber is a booming product category that now includes dust mops, wet mops, hand tools, and even floor pads for buffing. Despite this growth, microfiber is not yet all-encompassing.

There are a few tasks that cannot be performed with microfiber, including stripping floors, blotting carpets, cleaning grease or heavy soils, and maintaining stainless steel.

“It has its limitations,” Pratt says. “It doesn’t totally replace the rag but it covers a good percentage of those tasks.”

Hanson says his employees use microfiber to clean painted and wallpapered walls, vents, VCT, wood, stone and Formica.

“We haven’t come across any surface we could not clean with microfiber cloth,” he says. “And when it comes to floor finishes, any technician can apply an even coat every time with a microfiber flat mop.”

Even with its myriad benefits, microfiber has not fully saturated the janitorial market. Some purchasers are put off by the higher upfront cost of microfiber. Although the price point is quickly dropping, the cloths do cost more than bulk rags. Distributors need to help customers understand that the initial price of microfiber is quickly recouped by the product’s reusability.

“Try to stop thinking of them as a rag and think of them as a tool,” Holly says. “You’ll spend more on a tool than a disposable rag and you’ll give it a little more thoughtful consideration.”

Becky Mollenkamp is a freelancer based in Des Moines, Iowa. She is a frequent contributor to Sanitary Maintenance.