Green Cleaning in Public Buildings

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Green Cleaning in Public Buildings

• Anoka County EPP Workshop
• Bunker Hills Activity Center
• December 14th, 2006

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Sources Green Seal, Center for a New American
Dream, WWF Canada, Seventh Generation, E
Magazine, Harvard Green Campus Initiative, US
Department of InteriorSpecial Thank You to
Steve Ashkin of The Ashkin Group. Call
812-332-7950 or visit www.AshkinGroup.com
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What is Green Cleaning?

• Cleaning that protects health without harming the
  environment.
• Holistic/comprehensive approach - Includes all
  products, tools, training, stewardship,
  communications, etc. Not just switching a green
  cleaning product for a traditional product.

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Impacts of Traditional Cleaning

• Environmental Impacts
• 6 Billion
  pounds of Chemicals
  4.5 Billion pounds of Paper
  - Bleached dioxin,
  mercury -
  no recycled content
• - 25-50 million trees
• 500
  Million pounds of equipment
• 36
  billion plastic trash bags

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Impacts of Traditional Cleaners, contd

• Health effectsShort term respiratory
  irritation, eye irritation, chest pain, vomiting,
  cramps, and diarrhea.  Long-term - may include
  liver and kidney failure, asthma, birth defects,
  emphysema, brain damage, and even cancer
  (children are uniquely vulnerable, long term
  effects largely unknown)
• An Epidemic Asthma is the most common
  childhood illness in the
  United States, as well as the leading
  cause of school absences due to illness and
  leading cause of emergency room visits. (US
  CDC)

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Asthmagens

• Asthmagens are not identified on MSDS
• Asthmagens listed at AOEC website
  http//www.aoec.org/aoeccode.htm
• A list of potentially harmful ingredients are
  found at (great resource)

http//www.seventhgeneration.com/household_hazards
/glossary.php
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Fragrances

• More and more people are fragrance sensitive
• When switching to fragrance-free products,
  educate users and occupants.
• Many people think it is not clean if it doesnt
  smell clean.
• http//www.fpinva.org/

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Benefits of Green Cleaning

• Reduce health effects
• Increase safety
• Reduce environmental impacts
• Reduce costs
• Increase occupant and worker satisfaction

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Reducing Chemical Use

• Chemicals Cleaners Green Seal GS-37
  Others Low VOC, Concentrates with dilution
  controls Floor Finish Sustainable,
  metal-free Hand Soaps Non-antimicrobial
• Paper Liners Comprehensive Procurement
  Guidelines Chlorine-Free Paper Association
• Equipment Vacuums CRI Green Label Program,
  HEPA Filters
• Entry mats

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Disinfection

• Recognize where disinfection is REALLY needed,
  use less harmful cleaners whenever possible
• Spectrum of environmentally preferable
  disinfectants
• Lean away from Quats and toward H2O2, if possible
• Chlorine Quaternary Ammonia
  Hydrogen Peroxide

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Minnesota Healthy Schools Project Houston Public
Schools, Houston, Minnesota Maintenance
Supplies

• Green gymnasium floor finish Tip Off is now
  being used. Custodians happily report less strong
  noxious odors and a huge improvement in
  application timeframe. They are able to apply the
  first coat (water based) at 9 a.m. and the second
  coat at 1 p.m. the same day, instead of having to
  wait 24 to 48 hours.
• Foot traffic is allowable the very next morning,
  instead of having to wait two weeks!
• Switched to 100 recycled fiber for tissue and
  hand towels. Savings of approximately 10 per
  case.

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Other Examples

• City of Minneapolis Green Cleaners Resolution
  (Oct 2006)
• Anoka County building switch to H2Orange2
• Rockland County, NY 27 cleaners gt 3
• Westchester County, NY fewer students using
  inhalers
• Charles Young Elementary School, D.C.
• reduced absenteeism, reduced health
• complaints, increased math and reading
• test scores

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Using the State Contract for Cleaners

• Located at the Dept of Administration
• Materials Management Division
• -to provide leadership and service to
  government entities in the acquisition of
  products and services in a socially and
  environmentally responsible fashion
• State Contracts for products and services are
  created for and used by State Agencies, Counties,
  Local Units of Government, Independent School
  Districts, and others (Cooperative Purchasing
  Venture Members)

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What are State Contracts? How do they work?

• State contracts provide purchasing members with
  the opportunity to have access to a wide variety
  of products and services at competitive prices
• Products and services are bid for through
  Requests for Proposals (RFPs), where a potential
  vendor may competitively bid against other
  vendors for the product in question
• Contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder based
  on specifications in the RFP
• Contracts exist for a period of 2-5 years,
  depending on the contract

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Green Cleaners

• State of Minnesota
• Contract C-252(5)
• http//www.mmd.admin.state.mn.us/envir

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Mandatory Health And Environmental Specifications

• The following are criteria adopted from Green
  Seal (GS-37)
• Toxicity
• Carcinogens And Reproductive Toxins
• Skin And Eye Irritation
• Eutrophication
• Aquatic Biodegradability

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Desirable Health And Environmental Specifications

• Skin Sensitization
• Combustibility
• Photochemical Smog, Ozone Production, And Indoor
  Air Quality
• Aquatic Toxicity
• Concentrates
• Fragrances

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Ingredients of Concern

• The product preferably will not contain the
  following ingredients
• Alkylphenol ethoxylates
• Dibutyl phthalate
• Heavy metals including arsenic, lead, cadmium,
  cobalt, chromium, mercury, nickel or selenium
• Ozone depleting compounds

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Disinfectants and Sanitizers

• VOC limit less than 1
• Registered by the U.S. EPA

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Floor Care Products

• Floor Finishes
• Floor Strippers
• Maintenance Products

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Mandatory

• Products must be free of zinc or other heavy
  metals

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Desirable

• None contain glycol ethers or ammonia
• Floor finishes not contain phthalates
• Floor strippers have a pH between 2.5 and 12 and
  exhibit a VOC limit of less than 1
• Maintenance products not contain phthalates and
  exhibit a VOC limit of less than 1

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Other Requirements

• Training
• Packaging
• Labeling
• Dispensing equipment
• Dilution ratio (performance)

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Next steps

• Research alternatives.  Start with Green Seal's
  list of certified cleaners at http//www.greenseal
  .org/certproducts.htm. 
• Use the above criteria to evaluate alternatives.
• Research products available through your vendor. 
  
• Ask your vendor if they have cleaners that are
  Green-Seal, Eco-logo, or Design for the
  Environment (DfE) certified

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Next Steps (continued)

• Demand greener cleaners if they dont have any. 
  Get a few free samples to try, if they do.
• Model green cleaning contracts such as the
  Minnesota State Contract for cleaners or
  Massachusetts Contract for cleaners at
•  http//www.mass.gov/epp/products/cleaning.htm

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Buy Recycled Content Materials

• 2.35 mill tons of materials recycled in MN in
  2003
• saved nearly 34 trillion BTUs of energy (enough
  to power 321,000 homes for one year)
• resulted in reductions of net greenhouse gas
  emissions of 1.5 million tons (gt1 million cars
  off the road)
• reduced overall emissions, excluding CO2 and
  methane, by 1.98 million tons

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Contact Information

• Angela Bourdaghs
• EPP Specialist
• (651)-215-0261
• angela.bourdaghs_at_state.mn.us