The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched a nationwide program aimed at providing K-12 schools with the proper resources that can help build successful chemical management programs.

The program, Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3), which launched in late March, aims to ensure that all schools are free from hazards associated with mismanaged chemicals.

Across the country, the EPA estimates that nearly 33,000 middle and high schools have laboratory and other chemicals — including cleaning chemicals — that could cause accidents and injure students.

The EPA also says a high number of chemical-related accidents occur on a regular basis and regularly go unreported.

“We know that there are chemical emergencies that go unreported and there are others that are reported,” said Janette Petersen, associate director of the hazardous waste minimization and management division for the EPA. “We hear about them in the news — there’s no such collection of that kind of data. But we know that schools are having chemical accidents on a fairly regular basis. What we want to do is put a system in place that prevents that from happening in the future.”

The SC3 campaign, which has brought the U.S. Department of Education on board for additional guidance, is structured behind partnerships that can help create a chemical management program that meets the unique needs of each school.

Schools, parents, businesses and local organizations are urged to work together to make sure teachers, facility managers, custodians, and anyone else dealing with chemicals in cleaning or laboratory supplies, learn the proper guidelines behind the use, storage and disposal.

“The campaign is designed to bring partners together who can help in all aspects of developing a chemical management program for K-12 schools,” said Petersen. “That means it’s community partners who do chemical removal and disposal and it’s those partners who can also train teachers and teach them how to use chemicals properly and how to put a chemical management plan in place.”

Petersen also says that by each school implementing the SC3 program into their daily planning, costly and dangerous mistakes can be greatly reduced.

The EPA advises school personnel, parents, businesses and local organizations to visit the SC3 campaign’s Web site, www.epa.gov/sc3, where a specialized tool kit is available for those who want to help implement a safe learning environment for students.

NEWS MAKERS

Voters Rate Healthcare Top Election Issue
According to a March 2007 poll by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), 55 percent of U.S. voters rated presidential candidates’ healthcare platforms as their top issue.

SEIU surveyed 1,607 likely primary and caucus voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. With primaries less than a year away, only 50 percent of those who will vote in the primaries had seen or heard about the presidential candidates’ healthcare plans.

A November 2006 poll by SEIU found healthcare and Iraq were tied at 27 percent as the top voting issue.

Carpet Cleaning Tips For Dummies Released
Carpet Cleaning Tips For Dummies, an easy-to-use resource for keeping carpets looking their best, is now available.

Sponsored by the Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) and HousekeepingChannel.com, the book’s author, household management expert Elizabeth Goldsmith, provides simple solutions for fighting dirt, removing nasty spots and stains, using the right products, and how to call in professional cleaners when necessary.

Pricing Pressures No. 1 Business Concern
More than 50 percent of U.S.-based jan/san distributors report “pricing pressures” to be their number one business concern, while “growing influence and competition from national distributors“ follows as a close second with 48 percent, according to a recent online survey conducted by AlturaSolutions Communications, Chicago.

Among other findings, 56 percent of distributors indicated that addressing future business challenges could be best accomplished by concentrating on ”niche” markets.


Letter To The Editor
I have been an avid reader of your magazine for several years. Recently I read an article in your March 2007 edition titled “Odor Control: Sniffing Out Stinky Areas,” and found some of the content to be severely misleading to your readers. In this article, some of the quotes suggest enzymes alone can effectively eliminate odors. Jonathan Cohen suggests “enzymes literally eat the bacteria that causes the odor.” Honey Paine also states that she tells her customers that enzymes are like “little Pac-Mans.”

This thought process is not uncommon, and appears not only in statements made by distributors, but also in marketing literature and presentations made by manufacturing companies. As you know the jan/san industry has taken the proactive stance on educating its customers in recent years in order to keep up with changing times. Yet it seems that many manufacturers are ineffective in properly training distributors on their products and the “science” associated with them.

Enzymes are not alive. They are complex chemicals produced by bacteria. They cannot reproduce, or actually consume waste. They speed up chemical reactions without getting used themselves. Enzymes merely serve as “soldiers” for bacteria, breaking down the waste so the bacteria can effectively consume it. So in the end, it is the bacteria that consume the odor source, with carbon dioxide and water often times being the by-products of this reaction.

As an informative vehicle for many distributors as well as end users within this industry, I would think you would want to effectively communicate what bio-enzymatic products do and how they actually work.

— Matt Robinson, Environmental Biotech International LLC




POSTED ON: 4/1/2007