Color-Coded Stickers Help Reduce GHG Emissions
In an article for the magazine, Sustainability Tool CEO Stephen Ashkin says placing small, inconspicuous colored dots on a variety of electricity-hungry equipment and sources that use water can guide custodial staff, usually the last ones to leave a building, on when to turn off different equipment, enabling significant energy and water savings.
Testing Your Green Cleaning Knowledge
Enviro-Solutions has put together the following “Are You a Green Contract Cleaner?” quiz to help grow awareness and understanding of green cleaning. Give it a try and test your knowledge of green cleaning (all answers are below).
Developing a planned commercial carpet maintenance program
As part of an ongoing Facebook series, U.S. Products is posting tips and suggestions intended to help facility managers, cleaning professionals and carpet cleaning technicians develop carpet cleaning maintenance programs designed for specific facilities, according to a press release.
Top 10 floor stripping mistakes
The May 2013 Powr-Flite Floor Care Troubleshooter lists the top 10 mistakes cleaning workers often make when stripping floors and offers some ways to prevent them:
Correctional Facility: Floor Drains
As many administrators may remember, 2003 was the first year we started hearing about severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The first officially reported case of a victim of SARS occurred in mid-February of that year when a 48-year-old Chinese businessman, traveling through Hong Kong, apparently contracted the disease. In a very short time, the business man died, as did the doctor who was treating him.
Top Five Things To Consider In Infection Control
Hot spot cleaning and high touch point cleaning are common phrases used in the professional cleaning industry.
This type of cleaning is universally understood by in-house cleaning departments and building service contractors (BSCs) as strategically identifying areas in a facility that building occupants often “touch” the most, including door knobs, faucets, levers and handles.
While targeting these areas with disinfection processes is a sound practice, cleaners, facility managers and BSCs should realize that more should be involved with hot spot cleaning.
Here are five things we have identified to consider:
The Rainbow Of Sustainability
We are seeing a new use for color-coding systems, this time as an efficient way to help facilities become more sustainable, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, curb energy and water use and cut operating costs.
The key to the system is the placement of small, inconspicuous colored dots on a variety of electricity-hungry and water-using sources in a facility.
Backpack Vacuum balances ergonomic design and power
Respectively operating at 68 and 62 dBa, Comfort Pro Standard and Premium models feature Aircomfort Harness System by Deuter and are designed for extended use with minimal fatigue/discomfort. Both models have 4-stage HEPA filtration as well as Carpet and Rug Institute’s Gold rating for performance. Waist belt design lets operator carry detailing tools directly on unit, and Premium model also allows for hands-free operation with storage of telescoping wand directly on waist belt. 
LEED v4®: The Next Version of LEED
The next version of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and with it LEED-EBOM (Existing Buildings, Operations and Maintenance) certification criteria, which together have been officially named LEED v4®, is expected to be voted on and adopted this summer. Proponents have widely heralded this version, which will replace LEED 2009, as raising the bar so that facilities are built and operated in a much Greener and more sustainable manner.
It cannot be denied that v4 has had its share of difficulties in becoming ratified, along with its share of detractors, when compared to past versions of LEED. However, according to Stephen Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group and the professional cleaning industry’s leading advocate for Green cleaning, there has been less controversy when it comes to the cleaning-related criteria in v4, Green cleaning strategies, and the use of environmentally preferable cleaning chemicals, tools, and equipment.
“This should come as a relief for many facility managers seeking LEED certification for their facilities because cleaning is such a key component of LEED,” says Ashkin, who has been directly involved in authoring the cleaning-related criteria and standards in v4. “Essentially, what we have done with v4 is to expand the overall intent of Green cleaning, which is to reduce the [negative] impacts of cleaning on people’s health, protect the environment, and further promote sustainability.”
Green Cleaning Starts at the Hotel Door
When it comes to green cleaning, an often underemphasized area is the need for matting at all hotel entries. Stopping dust, soils, and contaminants before they ever enter a facility helps reduce the need for cleaning and enhances indoor environmental quality. This is why it makes sense to place effective matting systems at the heart of any green cleaning program.
The most effective type of mats are referred to as high-performance mats, which are higher-quality mats that have a performance life of several years. These mats are often part of what is called a soil “source control” strategy.
Hotel managers, even cleaning professionals, overlook the immense impact that sidewalks, parking lots, entries, and other surrounding areas can have on the health and appearance of the indoor environment. But, as much as 90 percent of the dust and dirt that enters a facility “walks in” through building entries. Further, studies indicate that up to 24 pounds of dirt can be tracked in by just 1,000 people coming through an entrance over a 20-day work period.
Hotel managers who successfully implement a high-performance matting system as part of a green cleaning program can keep their properties cleaner and healthier for longer periods of time, which can keep chemical use—green or conventional—to a minimum. However, to better understand how this source control strategy works and why mats are so much a part of green cleaning, an education on high-performance matting systems is required.
