Product: Green Cleaners
Why Buy Green?
One out of every three cleaning products used in the US contains ingredients known to cause human health or environmental problems, according to the Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project (JP4), an EPA-funded initiative. Health problems caused by the chemicals in conventional cleaners include cancer, reproductive disorders, hormone disruption, major organ damage, permanent eye damage, asthma and other respiratory ailments, headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. Cleaning chemicals that make their way into the environment also contribute to non-vehicular emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which can cause respiratory problems, contribute to smog formation, and inhibit plant growth. By switching to safer, "green" cleaners, schools may improve student health, increase student performance, decrease environmental impacts, and reduce liabilities.
This section of the guide focuses on cleaners used in schools—including institutional products purchased by school custodial services or facilities departments, such as floor and carpet cleaners, multipurpose cleaners, bathroom and glass cleaners, and degreasers. Also covered in brief are environmentally preferable floor polishes and strippers, disinfectants and sanitizers, hand soaps, and graffiti removers. Although some small-scale schools may purchase household products to clean their facilities, this section does not address these products in detail because there are few agreed-upon environmental standards or independently certified household cleaning products available on the market. Moreover, green cleaning programs typically discourage using household products in the classroom, even if they are believed to be “green,” in an effort to develop consistent green cleaning protocols.
Approximately six billion pounds of cleaning chemicals are used every year in the US, according to green cleaning expert Steve Ashkin. The JP4 found that “[E]ach year about six out of every hundred professional janitors are injured by the chemicals that they use. Burns to the eyes and skin are the most common injuries [representing 20 percent of the total], followed closely by breathing toxic fumes.”
Children are particularly sensitive to the negative impacts of toxic chemical exposures because, compared to adults, their bodies are smaller, their metabolism is faster (so they breathe in more air), their hand-to-mouth behavior often leads them to ingest more toxic chemicals than adults, and their defenses are less developed, according to The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, American Pediatric Association, and others.
Five million school-aged children nationwide reported having asthma in 2003, and 3.1 million experienced “an asthma episode” the previous year, according to the US Centers for Disease Control. CDC has deemed asthma to be “one of the leading causes of school absenteeism, which can negatively affect students’ academic performance.” By switching to less-toxic cleaning products, schools may be able to reduce the number of sick days students take – in large part by lessening exposures to chemicals known to trigger asthma attacks. In addition, green cleaning programs in schools may result in fewer worker compensation claims associated with accidental chemical spills and lower their hazardous material disposal costs.
Criteria: How Do I Know It's Green?
Green Cleaners
There are many cleaning products on the market that manufacturers claim to be “non-toxic,” “biodegradable” or environmentally preferable for some reason. These claims can be misleading, inaccurate or incomplete, making it difficult for schools to determine which products to buy to best protect workers, students and the ecosystem. Schools have several options: they can establish their own health and environmental criteria and specifications to include in bids for janitorial products; they can review the product's Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and evaluate the chemical ingredients (though not all ingredients are always listed); and/or they can select a product that has been certified by an independent third party as meeting health and environmental standards.
It is generally not practical for school districts to evaluate all of the potential human health and environmental risks associated with various cleaning products on their own. Fortunately, two programs exist that make it easy for schools to find safer janitorial cleaning products by issuing “transparent” independent (third-party) standards that prohibit or limit chemicals that cause cancer and reproductive harm, asthma, corrosive damage to the skin and eyes, toxicity to fish and other aquatic organisms, indoor air pollution and other environmental and health problems, and then certify products that meet these standards. The two most reliable “eco-logos” for green cleaners that schools should look for are:
- Green Seal, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, issued GS-37 in 2006, an Environmental Standard for General-Purpose, Bathroom, Glass, and Carpet Cleaners Used for Industrial and Institutional Purposes, and has certified several hundred green cleaners in these categories. A revised GS-37 standard was issued in August 2008; existing certified products will have one year to comply with the new standard.
- EcoLogo, a certification program created by Environment Canada, which is Canada’s equivalent of the U.S. EPA. In 2005, EcoLogo issued a set of standards (CCD-146) for various “hard surface cleaners,” which include bathroom cleaners, boat and bilge cleaners, cooking appliance cleaners, degreasers, dish cleaners, industrial cleaners, vehicle cleaners for household and institutional use, window and glass cleaners, and cleaning products with low potential for environmental illness.
Both Green Seal and EcoLogo have certified hundreds of green cleaning products under these standards. Schools can require their suppliers of janitorial cleaning products and services to offer products meeting these standards by simply specifying that Green Seal and/or EcoLogo-certified products be provided. See Green Products: What Should I Get? for links to specific lists of products.
See Green Cleaners: Health Criteria & Best Practices for more detailed information on what to look for and what to avoid when evaluating cleaning products.
Safer Disinfectants and Disinfecting Practices
Many schools use a substantial amount of sanitizing and disinfecting products, which are also sometimes used as a general purpose cleaner. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) registers all “antimicrobial” cleaning products as pesticides. A disinfectant is used on hard inanimate surfaces and objects to destroy or irreversibly inactivate infectious fungi and bacteria, but not necessarily their spores. Sanitizers are used to reduce, but not necessarily eliminate, microorganisms from the inanimate environment to levels considered safe as determined by public health codes or regulations. Most of these products are used in restrooms, although they are sometimes used in classrooms, hallways and other areas. Since both disinfectants and sanitizers are designed to kill organisms, it is critical that they be used carefully and diluted properly. Since most germs attach to dirt, surfaces should be thoroughly cleaned before disinfectants are applied – rather than cleaning and disinfecting simultaneously. And the products must be left on for the required dwell time to disinfect properly. Disinfectants are commonly over-used. Best is to clean first and target disinfectants only in areas that require it.
The U.S. EPA does not allow registered sanitizers and disinfectants to be labeled or marketed as less-toxic or otherwise environmentally preferable products, although the Canadian government does allow this. There are a handful of Green Seal-certified products, most of which contain hydrogen peroxide, which are co-labeled as an EPA-registered sanitizer or disinfectant. This means that the same product has two different labels: one indicating that it is a registered disinfectant or sanitizer and another containing the Green Seal logo (but EPA won’t allow both claims on the same bottle or marketing material).
When selecting disinfectants, you should try to avoid products containing chlorine bleach and quaternary ammonium compounds (“quats”). Bleach is considered hazardous because it is corrosive. It generally contains sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide, which according to the MSDS for a common bleach product, “may cause severe irritation or damage to eyes and skin.” When bleach is mixed with acids (like vinegar) or other cleaners (like ammonia) or other ingredients in cleaners (like surfactants or fragrances), compounds react and can generate chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Mixing chlorine bleach and ammonia together produces a toxic chlorine gas that can be fatal. Chlorine that enters wastewater can also contribute to the formation of chlorinated compounds, some of which are probable human carcinogens. Quaternary ammonium compounds have been linked to asthma and hypersensitivity.
Peroxide-based disinfectants and effective cleaning methods, mentioned above, may be adequate for many situations; however, schools may still need to use other disinfectants for specific applications, such as killing a blood-borne pathogen, containing a MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus , or staph) outbreak, or complying with specific state or local regulations. Know the laws and guidelines in your district.
Green Cleaning Practices
One of the most important principles of an effective green cleaning program is: first, keep the dirt out. Walk-off mats in doorway entries can prevent mud from being dragged into classrooms. Second, training on proper cleaning and disposal practices can help reduce injury, illness, and pollution. Third, proper dilution of products is an important component of safety, as some chemicals that pose little harm when diluted can be dangerous in their concentrated form. Reading and following labels should be emphasized in all “green cleaning” training workshops. Also, remember that “clean doesn’t have an odor” – smells of ammonia or fragrances (that may contain phthalates or other toxic compounds) can actually be harmful!
Another practice to consider when selecting green cleaning products is that many are formulated to function as a system. For example, most environmentally preferable floor finishes and strippers are designed to work in tandem since many “green” floor polish removers cannot easily or effectively strip off “non-green” zinc-containing floor polish. Therefore, schools wishing to use Green Seal-certified floor strippers may need to first remove the old floor polish with a conventional stripper before applying a “green” floor polish. They should also pair the new green floor polish with an environmentally preferable floor cleaner, since some conventional floor cleaners contain chemicals typically found in floor strippers (such as Monoethanolamine, which is also an asthmagen).
See Green Cleaners: Health Criteria & Best Practices Details for more information and how best practices can save you money. See Resources section for tips and tools on how to start a program at your school.
Costs: Can I Afford It?
The transition to green cleaning products and practices – if done properly – is generally considered to be “cost neutral” and in many cases can even save schools money. Several pilot tests conducted in schools and other public facilities have documented the ways in which schools can save money by adopting a variety of green cleaning and purchasing practices, such as the following. See Green Cleaning: Health Criteria & Best Practices for more in-depth details.
Switch from ready-to-use cleaning and disinfecting products to concentrates. In pilot tests conducted in two schools in Honolulu, Hawaii, for example, switching from pre-diluted non-acid bathroom disinfectant (shipped in gallon jugs and 55-gallon drums) to a concentrated restroom disinfectant that is diluted on-site with 64 ounces of water for every one ounce of cleaning product resulted in a 6 to 14-fold cost savings, according to the Green Purchasing Institute. The replacement of ready-to-use cleaning chemicals with concentrated ones not only saves money by dramatically lowering shipping costs, it simultaneously shrinks the carbon footprint of schools by avoiding the transportation of products that contain mostly water.
Use metered dilution equipment rather than mixing cleaning chemicals by hand. Although many schools are already using concentrated cleaning products, most are packaged in containers that allow custodial staff to pour these chemicals into mop buckets and spray bottles by hand. Consequently, many are likely to be using more cleaning product than necessary, based on the often flawed concept that “if a little bit of cleaning product works well, more will work better.” The use of dilution equipment that automatically measures and dispenses the correct amount of cleaning product can save schools money. This practice also minimizes the potential for custodial staff and building occupants to become exposed to cleaning chemicals that are spilled or over-concentrated when hand-mixing is used. (Note: there are a variety of types of automatic dilution equipment that schools can use ranging from simple hand-held models to more sophisticated wall- or cart-mounted units. Check with your vendor.)
Reduce the number of types and brands of cleaning products used. Some schools try to save money by procuring cleaning products that are the least expensive at the time, often through individual purchase orders or other short-term contracts. Others try out products that are offered as free samples or with temporary discounts by their suppliers. These practices may result in frequent switching of cleaning chemicals, equipment and methods that can end up wasting products and increasing training needs.
Products packaged in aerosol containers, should be avoided because they are expensive and can result in increased exposure to cleaning chemicals that are dispersed in a fine mist.
Use microfiber mops and cloths. One way to cut the use of disinfectants and other cleaning products while improving performance is by using microfiber mops and cloths. The fibers are smaller than the human hair and the greater surface area of the fibers and their negative electrical charge make them attract and hold dirt and dust particles more effectively than cotton or sponge mops and regular cleaning and dusting cloths. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, microfiber mops and cloths offer many health, safety and economic benefits. For example, field tests have shown that they can: Cut chemical use by about half, Reduce water use by about 95 percent (as well as any energy needed to heat the mop water), Prevent back strain because fewer full buckets need to be lifted and emptied during a cleaning shift and because microfiber mopes are more ergonomically designed than conventional loop mops so less effort is needed to get the job done, and most importantly, Clean more effectively. Several studies have demonstrated that microfiber mops are more effective at removing dirt and avoid cross contamination that typically occurs with traditional mopping methods. Microfiber cloths can be used wet to clean countertops, desks, mirrors and other surfaces, as well as dry for dusting computer screens, furniture and other surfaces with little or no chemicals.
Negotiate long-term contracts for green cleaning products. Soliciting bids for green cleaning products and/or services that last at least a year can often present school districts with the best overall value because they can avoid the need to change out mixing equipment and retrain workers every time a new product line is procured. As noted above, buying whatever cleaning products have the lowest upfront price at the time often ends up costing more because it can result in a hodge-podge of different products that will sometimes end up being wasted when new products are procured later.
Purchase green cleaners available through State of California contracts. One way school districts in California can quickly and easily access green cleaning products at a relatively low price is to use the State of California’s janitorial supplies contract. Because this multi-state contract was subject to a formal bidding process through the Western States Contracting Alliance (WSCA), school districts may be allowed to order products offered on it without going out to bid separately. Schools in other states can check with their own state procurement agency.
The primary vendor for this contract is Waxie Sanitary Supply, which offers a full line of green cleaning chemicals and equipment, including Green Seal-certified cleaners, floor polishes and strippers, hand soaps, and toilet tissues, as well as microfiber mops and cloths, high-efficiency (HEPA) vacuums and more. Discounts of approximately 45 to 50% are offered on most janitorial supplies listed. Additional discounts are offered to school districts and facilities that commit to ordering online, in bulk, and with scheduled deliveries (which reduce truck trips). Ordering instructions, a price list, and contact information for the State contract administrator is here and Waxie representatives here. A smaller selection of Green Seal-certified cleaning products are also offered through the State’s Maintenance, Repair and Operations contract with Grainger; for more information, click here.
See the Green Buying Tools section to the right for more information about how to purchase through the State of California contracts.
Beyond Buying: Other Environmentally Friendly Options
While we generally do not recommend that household cleaners be brought to school, you can make your own less-toxic cleaning products with vinegar, baking soda, and other ingredients. Women’s Voices for the Earth has make-your-own green cleaner recipes and many reports about safe cleaning practices. | |
To find these green products, go to:
