Green Team Newsletter

The New York State Office of General Services (OGS) is amending the state’s Green Cleaning Guidelines for schools and is seeking public comment. The revisions to the original 2006 guidelines do not seem particularly significant. In fact, the most notable substance was in what has not changed – the continued inclusion of an alternative qualification and continued exclusion of U.S. EPA’s Design for the Environment.

In the first of these "substantive non-changes," OGS continued their support of an alternative qualification. Our understanding was that last year, OGS removed this option because of the complexity of implementation. So we were surprised to see that it was reinstated. It will be interesting to see how OGS handles the process in an effective and efficient way.

Second, while OGS did expand the guidelines to include the Carpet and Rug Institute’s (CRI) green label for vacuums, it didn’t expand them to include U.S. EPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) for other chemical categories. The discussions of green label selection in the guidelines were limited to a single sentence stating that Green Seal and EcoLogo were selected for “generally meeting the intent of the legislation to help schools select environmentally-sensitive cleaning and maintenance products.”

HSC updated our recommendations in The Quick & Easy Guide for Green Cleaning in Schools in 2008 to include DfE as part of our basket of recommended third-party eco-labels. We did this based on changes to the DfE program that improved its transparency and the efforts to create a documented standard – two areas where DfE is continuing to make necessary improvements. (DfE’s most updated product standard can be viewed here [pdf].) But most importantly, we made this change because we believe that the DfE program is one that helps schools select environmentally-sensitive cleaning and maintenance products.

To this end, HSC will be submitting comments to NYOGS in general support of their revisions, with disappointment that the DfE program was excluded.

The revision included a number of other changes, more about form rather than substance. Some of these changes included:

If you are interested in submitting comments to the NYOGS you can do so until Nov. 20, 2009. The proposed revisions can be viewed online here and comments can be emailed to nysogsesu@ogs.state.ny.us.

Online Guide Provides Access to Full CD Content
HSC Recommends Using Free Web Version of Guide After Windows Security Update

HSC has learned that a security patch recently released by Microsoft is limiting the functionality of the CD portion of The Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools in Windows operating systems. HSC recommends that, to address this problem, users access the full guide online at www.greencleanschools.org. The online content is identical to that of the CD and is available free of charge. HSC has also produced a limited number of updated CDs that function fully on updated Windows operating systems. If you would like to order one of these updated CDs, please click here.

By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director

When HSC began working on green cleaning issues in 2003 we had a simple premise: clean for health, reduce the use of nasty chemicals, and we'll have a healthier learning environment as a result. I must admit that we took what I consider a very logical and acceptable leap of faith. Fortunately, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) has put some science to our premise. The group just came out with a fantastic report that gives us some concrete research documenting the benefits of green cleaning. When you clean a classroom with a "green cleaner," do you end up with fewer toxic chemicals in the room? The answer is a resounding YES.

In short, EWG tested several "green cleaners" as defined by Green Seal or EcoLogo; their testing showed that these products cleaned effectively while polluting the indoor environment significantly less. Actually five times less:

Green cleaners released a lower overall number of measurable air contaminants. The conventional cleaners analyzed produced three to five times more air contaminants than green general purpose cleaners.
Green cleaners produced lower levels of one important class of air pollutants, volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Total VOC levels measured from conventional general purpose cleaners were six times higher than their green counterparts.

http://www.ewg.org/files/2009/10/school-cleaners/general-purpose.png

Of course, what you also see in the graph above is that green cleaning isn't perfect, so there's still room for improvement. From my perspective, there are two take-aways here:

First, green cleaning isn't just about switching out traditional chemicals for "green" chemicals. It's also about processes, procedures, and training. Yet this study only looked at swapping out traditional products with green products. The greenest chemical in the world isn't very green if it's over-used. Even better than using green chemicals alone is also finding ways to reduce overall chemical use, such as:

Stopping dirt before it gets into the building (by putting proper mats at doorways, for example)
Adapting processes to reduce the need for chemicals (microfiber cloths can do wonders if used properly)
Using innovative technologies that reduce or eliminate chemicals all together (have you heard of the Active Ion or the Tennant Ec-H20?)

This means that the report may actually over-estimate the amount of contaminants one would be exposed to when a classroom is cleaned in a green cleaning program. (Put another way: the report may under-estimate the benefits of a green cleaning program as it would be used in real life.) Those properly implementing a green cleaning program not only use healthier chemicals, but also identify ways to use fewer chemicals.

Second, "green" chemicals can still get greener. Will there be a point when we can create cleaning chemicals that produce zero contaminants? It may be possible, but we're not there yet. We still need to work with manufacturers, regulatory agencies, elected officials and school leaders to strive for continual improvement. We all have unintentional and very intimate day-to-day interactions with cleaning products and their residues. Because of this, we need to make sure they are as healthy as possible -- and continue to get healthier.

But most significantly, this research shows how important green cleaning programs are. Green cleaning is very effective, it doesn't have to cost more, and this report documents that green cleaning clearly creates healthier environments.

Rarely in this world can we say we have a win-win-win situation. This is one of them.

To learn more about green cleaning in schools, check out HSC's free Quick and Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools.

And thanks to the EWG for such a great and health-promoting report!

HSC is pleased to announce that sponsorship opportunities are now available for Version 3.0 of The Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools!

The expanded third edition will include changes to ecolabeling programs and updates on current laws and regulations. Version 3.0 will also feature detailed information on green cleaning and H1N1 as well as an expanded section on food service. Check it out for the latest in training and operations for green cleaning programs and much more.