Green Team Newsletter

The Green Cleaning Award for Schools and Universities, presented by American School & University magazine with HSC and the Green Cleaning Network, is in its third year of recognizing outstanding green cleaning programs in schools. The judging criteria for the award are based on the five simple steps to green cleaning outlined in HSC’s Guide.

Concerned about healthy and clean schools for students and staff? Concerned about the environment? What to be part of a national movement to promote green cleaning in schools? Then join industry leaders, national school stakeholder groups and non-profit advocates on September 15, 2009 for the Second Annual Green Clean Schools National Summit in Washington DC.

New States Pass Green Cleaning Legislation:
Certification Programs Help Schools Make Purchasing Choices

Legislators in four more states have passed green clean schools legislation in 2009, showing that even during times of economic hardship, green cleaning is both practical and cost-effective.

"What we’re seeing is a real movement as more school leaders recognize green cleaning as a simple change that goes miles in protecting the health of everyone in the school building,” said Mark Bishop, HSC deputy director.

Illinois, Maine, Missouri and New York have laws in place requiring or encouraging green cleaning in schools. Legislators in four states—Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada and Hawaii—all passed green clean schools legislation this year.

Steve Ashkin of The Green Cleaning Network and The Ashkin Group, LLC said: “Green cleaning in schools is a win-win situation, protecting our children’s health while helping our marketplace evolve toward safer and more sustainable practices.”

And while states differ on their definitions of environmentally preferred cleaning, most states are turning to three leading eco-label programs to aid their efforts in simplifying green purchasing decisions:

“Providing a clear definition of ‘green’ goes a long way toward helping schools make good purchasing decisions and protect the health of their students and staff,” said Bishop.

The Design for the Environment (DfE) program, run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is one of the reasons that safer, greener cleaning products are available today. Clive Davies, chief of the DfE program, spoke with HSC about the value and impact of DfE.

In a nutshell, what does DfE do for consumers, industries and the environment?

DfE does two basic things. First, we allow the use of our logo. That provides an incentive for manufacturers to work with us to improve the environmental and human health profile, see if a chemical might cause cancer or be a skin sensitizer. Allowing the use of our logo on products is kind of an incentive. The other thing that we do is work with industries that use chemicals which are problematic in some way. If there are chemicals that are showing up in people’s blood or the environment, we pull together a multi-stakeholder group and find a mutually acceptable path forward. Usually what we do is compare a bunch of chemicals that are possible alternatives and then we help people choose or make the information available, which helps them avoid the potential for unintended consequences. We make sure people aren’t going to run into trouble down the line.

What do you hope the DfE label represents to the consumer, when they see it on a product package?

What I believe the label conveys is credible science. We rely on partners to promote our program. We think that the best use of that money is to make sure that the science is right. My feeling is that as it's used more and more, people will begin to recognize DfE-labeled products as representing credible science standing behind people and the environment.

When Going Green, A Team Effort Makes Real Change

By Mike Sawchuk

Resistance to change is common in workplaces everywhere. Experienced facility managers know that when it comes to green cleaning, they need to engage custodial workers in making change and show their employees why they are going green and how the change will help the employees.

This is exactly the approach taken by Sean Griffin, research coordinator for the nonprofit organization ToxicFree Canada. This organization works with public and private facilities, including schools and universities, to help make them greener and healthier. More specifically, their activities have helped school districts such as the Burnaby School District, made up of 33 elementary, 7 community, and 8 secondary schools, incorporate green cleaning.

"When we first meet with custodians and operations managers, they often tell us that they are very happy with their cleaning products and do not want to make a change," says Griffin. "Then we ask to see the MSDS sheets on the [conventional] chemicals they are using and point out the ingredients that can be harmful, many even carcinogenic."

Griffin says that once the cleaning workers know that transferring to green cleaning products is for the benefit of their health, as well as that of students, staff, and the environment, the doors open and resistance begins to fade away. However, concerns may still exist about the effectiveness of the cleaning products, and this issue can only be addressed by allowing the cleaning professionals to try different green cleaning brands.

"We call this the green cleaning challenge," says Mike Sawchuk, vice president of Enviro-Solutions, a leading manufacturer of green cleaning chemicals which provides the green products for Burnaby School District (and a sponsor of The Quick & Easy Guide). "Not only are the custodians testing the green cleaning chemicals of different manufacturers, they are testing them against the conventional cleaning products they have used for years."

Sawchuk says that because the cleaning challenge is a "hands-on" approach, once a specific brand or group of products proves acceptable, further resistance to green cleaning dissipates rather quickly. "The health issues are critical," adds Griffin. "But the products must prove themselves as effective."