Green Cleaning Tips & Best Practices
“Green cleaning” refers to the use of products and procedures that are more healthful and more environmentally friendly than others serving the same function. The Environmental Standard for Cleaning Services (GS-42) is Green Seal’s current standard that specifies green chemicals, supplies, and equipment as well as cleaning procedures and mandates employee training and communication with building owners and occupants. Here are some tips to
Green Cleaning Tips
- Carefully plan and time the chemical cleaning process. Keep a schedule of events and plan to disinfect high-traffic areas and entrances more frequently than those areas where access is limited.
- Identify Occupants with special needs and implement a plan sensitive to those needs. For instance, if there are allergies to the chemicals used in cleaning, or any other allergies, be sure to design the cleaning process to avoid exposing occupants. In order to identify effectively, get the word out and invite anyone with concerns to notify the staff of their specific needs.
- Reduce chemical waste by using dilution methods as instructed by the manufacturer, tracking quantities of chemicals used and using appropriate dispensing technology to limit overuse of chemicals.
- Improve indoor air quality by maintaining sufficient outdoor ventilation. Ventilate properly when chemicals are being used in cleaning. Design a ventilation system where airflow is properly reaching the interior of the building.
- Chemicals aren’t the only things releasing VOCs. Certain cleaning equipment releases harmful emissions. To reduce the impact of these effects, properly maintain your equipment and/or replace with VOC Compliant ones.
- Disinfection should be limited to surfaces where pathogens collect, such as door handles, bathrooms and other high-traffic surfaces where there is much hand contact.
For more tips, try a Google search on ‘Green cleaning‘. You can find green cleaning products & more at AdvancedJanitorSupply.com.
Happy cleaning!
Dr. Dirt