Step 1:
Switch to Green Cleaning Products
Just five years ago, buying green cleaning products was extremely difficult. Many early green products either did not perform as well as their traditional counterparts or were significantly more expensive. There were no agreed upon standards for what constituted a "green" product, and there were, unfortunately, many spurious claims.
Fortunately, over the past five years, standards have evolved that take the guesswork out of identifying and evaluating products that have reduced health and environmental impacts. Using these standards makes purchasing green cleaning products quick and easy -- and provides a level of confidence that the products meet state-of-the-art performance, health, safety and environmental standards.
Standards
There are an increasing number of third party certifying organizations in the marketplace. If you are not using one of the standards we have included here, it is important to ensure that the certifying entity does not have a financial interest in the products and that their program meets the 
ISO 14000 eco-labeling policy.
The following standards currently apply to the majority of green cleaning products used in schools: Note that in most cases, Environmental Choice and Green Seal are interchangeable except where otherwise noted.
Click on the Applicable Standard for more information.
Cleaning Product Type |
CA
VOC1 |
Environmental Choice2 |
Green Seal |
General Purpose |
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Floor Cleaners |
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Deodorizers and other “high VOC” cleaners |
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Furniture and metal polishes |
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Disinfectants |
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Drain openers |
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1The CA VOC standard covers a wide array of products, however the standard only applies to one product attribute (volatile organic compounds), so it should be used only for purchasing products that are not covered by Environmental Choice or Green Seal standards.
2Although Environmental Choice certifies disinfectants, there are currently no Environmental Choice certified disinfectants that are EPA registered for sale in the U.S. (See the Choosing Green Cleaning Products section of The Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning for more information.)
Cost Comparison
Green Cleaning is considered " cost neutral" when compared to high quality traditional cleaning programs. Rather than just looking for the cheapest price, school districts should consider adopting a "best value" purchasing model, which not only looks at the performance, health and environmental attributes of a product, but perhaps more importantly, evaluates the vendor's ability to train custodial personnel on critical issues such as proper mixing of chemicals, proper techniques to maintain hard floors and carpets, strategies to reduce exposures to vulnerable and sensitive occupants, efficient methods to clean restrooms and classrooms, etc., along with the vendor’s ability for timely delivery and other support functions.
Unlike the purchase of most school products (e.g. furniture, arts & crafts supplies, text books, writing paper, etc.), the successful use of cleaning supplies is highly labor dependent (labor represents 80-90 percent of the cleaning budget, while cleaning supplies represent less than 10 percent). Thus, without the proper training, small savings on the product can result in large costs in labor.
Experience has shown that purchasing practices based solely on lowest initial costs can create significant difficulties when trying to implement a green cleaning program and create a healthier school.
Training Requirements
As indicated above, training or retraining cleaning personnel regarding the proper product applications, mixing and dilution and disposal is critical to making a Green Cleaning program work, and work economically. See the Training Issues and Opportunities section of The Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning for more information for more information on training options and resources available to schools.
Forward to Step 2
