What is Green Cleaning?
U.S. Presidential Executive Order 13101 in 1998 defines “green cleaning” as:
“…reducing the health and environmental impacts compared to similar products and services used for the same purpose.”
These executive orders lead to the most commonly used definition of Green Cleaning:
“Cleaning to protect health without harming the environment.”
The Importance of Green Cleaning
Traditionally, the cleaning industry has been seen by facility managers and the general public as a necessary expense having little social, environmental, or economic impact. Over the past decade, as attention and studies have been focused on improving productivity, morale, and economy results through the “greening” of institutional facilities, the impacts of cleaning have become more much apparent.
| The Economic Impact of Green Cleaning (This chart shows the impact making Green decisions can have on the ROI of a facility over 20 years.) |
| CATEGORY | 20-YR NET PER VALUE ($ PER FT2) |
| Energy Savings | $5.80 |
| Emissions Savings | $1.20 |
| Water Savings | $0.50 |
| Operations and Maintenance | $8.50 |
| Productivity and Health Value | $36.90 to $55.30 |
| Subtotal | $52.90 to $71.30 |
| Avg. premium for building “Green” | (-$3.00 to $5.00) |
| Total 20-yr Net Benefit | $49.00 to $66.30 |
Social Impacts of Green Cleaning
More than 4 million people are employed in the cleaning industry. The vast majority of these people are line employees, actively using the products and equipment to maintain our facilities. These workers often have long term exposure to cleaning chemicals, some of which have been demonstrated to cause both long and short term health issues.
Environmental Impacts of Green Cleaning
More than 6 billion pounds of cleaning chemicals are consumed annually. While many are necessary to effectively clean--- too many are still made from scarce, non-renewable resources.