Green cleaning-the myths and the realities

Has your vision been greenwashed away?

Who knows what's the "best practice" for green cleaning? Is something better than nothing?

I wrote this blog to express my opinion as a practitioner in the cleaning industry:

You don't have to be LEED compliant to make a difference in the way you impact your environment. The quasi political divide between treehuggers and those that-don't-hug-trees needs to come to an end.
Small and Middle  operators should not be discouraged by info overload from advertisers and opportunists who proclaim that "green" cleanliness is next to godliness, or at the very least is the "next big thing". It is inevitable that when a legitimate change comes along the charlatans are among the first to arrive with it. Make reasonable decisions, start small but soon you will find that the new tech available to cleaners, while designed and marketed as green, has inherent in its design a long term and substantial cost savings. This is because of the concept of economical and envrironmental sustainability. I can provide simple examples, so can your supplier, if they're any good.

A lot of people like quantitative substantiation and rightly so, though most green practitioners cannot agree on 1)the on existing standards as a whole; or 2) like a lot their of detractors- whether they are even legitimate. It requires a little homework of your own, conferring with your supplier and other resources to come up with a way to begin implementing sustainable solutions.

I’m not professing to be an expert here and I do not recommend using “green clean” as a marketing ploy. When everyone is doing this and it tends to dilute the effect, plus, believe it or not some people just don’t care and are even put off by it. This can  work however, especially if you become an expert and can demonstate that to your client base and prospects and present it in the right light.

What others are doing (or not):

Toxic Use Reduction Institute

TURI is a non profit organization which oversees and publishes information regrading the efficacy of "green" cleaning chemicals and methods. I found this website both amusing and informative.

http://www.turi.org/Our_Work/Green_Cleaning_Lab/Does_It_Clean/Do-it-Yourself_Recipes

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS when considering a service RFP:

How long will an estimate take?

What is the lag time between a contract and its execution?

Does the company provide other services as well?

Are employees' backgrounds checked?