Brian Peters, CEO of Peters Supply and distributor of Solaris Paper products, sheds light on current sustainability trends in an article featured on ISSA.com. According to Peters, the past few years have marked the beginning of Green Cleaning 3.0. Learn more about this new evolution in environmental responsibility.
ISSA.com – ( April 7, 2015) – In a sense, we are now beginning Green Cleaning 3.0. Green Cleaning 1.0 began all the way back in the mid-1990s when, after an Executive Order by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, federal offices and facilities were required to start using environmentally preferable cleaning tools and supplies whenever and wherever possible. Clinton’s order resulted in federal facilities transferring to green cleaning products and, because the federal government is such a huge purchaser of cleaning supplies, sparked manufacturers in the professional cleaning industry to develop green cleaning products more earnestly.
Green Cleaning 2.0 came into its own in the mid-2000s. That is when the demand for environmentally preferable cleaning products moved into private industry. More and more facilities were seeking the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification and could earn LEED points by using green cleaning products. Today, buildings are required to have a green cleaning strategy in place to even be considered for LEED certification. In addition, more types of facilities started transferring to green cleaning, including schools, health care facilities, office buildings, and hotels. The result was substantial growth in the green cleaning market.
Green Cleaning 3.0 began evolving over the past few years. The use of environmentally preferable cleaning products has now become status quo, with more facilities in scores of industries selecting green cleaning products first and only selecting a traditional product if a green one does not exist or is cost or performance prohibitive. However, Green Cleaning 3.0 has brought a number of challenges with it. Among these are the following:
- Staying current. In general, cleaning contractors and facility managers are now interested in learning about what green cleaning tools, chemicals, and equipment are available today that were not available a few years back. Their goal is to see if newer, better-performing, and more cost-effective products have come on the market since they first transferred to a green cleaning program.
- Focusing on sustainability. An increasing number of cleaning professionals are looking for ways to reduce waste, recycle, and minimize their use of natural resources. In some cases, they are doing this because they believe it is the morally right thing to do. In other situations, they are required to take sustainability steps in order to do business with large purchasers of their products and services.
- Eliminating redundancy. Traditionally, contractors and facility managers have selected a variety of green cleaning chemicals and products each designed to perform a specific task. However, they are realizing some of these products (or newly introduced products) can be used for multiple purposes. To reduce costs, reduce waste, minimize training requirements, and streamline ordering, contractors and managers want to minimize the number of products they select and eliminate those that are no longer needed.
- Cold-water cleaning. End-users are aware that cold-water dilution is often recommended in green cleaning programs, and it also fits in with their goals to become more sustainable and use less energy. However, they need more information about the uses and best practices for these products before they can make educated buying decisions.
- Eliminating ready-to-use products (RTUs). Although RTUs are convenient, contractors and managers are opting to eliminate ready-to-use cleaning products, preferring to select chemicals in larger, 5-gallon containers instead. While buying in bulk helps promote sustainability, a significant cost savings can be achieved, as well. More concentrated cleaning chemicals in large drums typically last longer.
- Looking beyond chemicals. Many cleaning professionals are investigating cleaning equipment and procedures that do not require the use of cleaning chemicals?green or traditional. Sometimes referred to as chemical-free cleaning, this involves using equipment or products that perform using engineered water. In certain situations, this may turn out to be the ultimate in green cleaning.
Peters Supply proudly distributes Solaris Paper’s sustainabile paper products derived from Rapidly Renewable Fiber and backed by a commitment to Zero Deforestation.
Read Peters’ full article on ISSA.com:http://www.issa.com/articles/article-details/all/welcome-to-green-cleaning-30/#.VSQUjk10zIU