How many square feet of space does Link Hospitality clean? 

We clean over 1 million square feet of space through commercial buildings, hotels, and transportation facilities. 

What does sustainability mean to Link Hospitality? 

At Link Hospitality, sustainability is one of our core values and refers to all of our company practices that support ecological, human, and economic health. 

What innovation or accomplishment are you most proud of from a sustainability standpoint?  

I’m most proud of our work to incorporate additional sustainability measures into our green cleaning programs. For example, we successfully worked with a client in the transportation industry to create a green cleaning program for them that also includes a recycling program. 

What do you value in your partnership with Green Seal? 

We value the support Green Seal provides us and the leverage we receive from sharing our partnership with potential clients. 

Do you see business value in your certification? 

The Green Seal certification has helped us to reach a new line of customers that prioritize certified green cleaning. Certification also helps validate that our company practices make a difference when it comes to human and environmental health. 

Do your customers see the value in green cleaning? How do you help educate them? 

Yes, our existing customers see the value in green cleaning.There has also been an increased need for green cleaning companies and programs recently, so more businesses are beginning to look for more sustainable options. We educate our customers about the value of our offerings by sharing our knowledge of sustainability practices and implementing our green cleaning programs. 

From an operations cost perspective, how do you find that green cleaning compares to regular cleaning? 

Green cleaning promotes sustainability, which appeals to our customers because it offers them an added benefit they don’t get from traditional cleaning methods. Contrary to popular belief, green cleaning also helps reduce our operating costs. 

How has the pandemic affected your operations? And have you seen a change in the demand for green cleaning vs. conventional cleaning? 

The pandemic significantly impacted our operations. Since most of our clients are hotels and they were shut down at the beginning of the pandemic, we saw a dramatic reduction in customers. Since the pandemic, there has been increased interest in green cleaning, and more buildings and facilities are now required to contract green cleaning programs. 

What’s next for Link Hospitality? 

We are targeting a new line of customers now that we have earned the Green Seal certification. We want to grow by providing clients with sustainable ways to maintain their facilities while at the same time providing added value to their customers and guests. 

How many square feet of space does Serval clean?

Serval operates in more than 400 cleaning operations in 5 Brazilian states. Of these operations, 7 are Green Seal-certified with an area equivalent to 360,000 square feet. Our team has solid experience in optimizing cleaning routines in high-traffic environments, such as shopping malls, condominiums, hypermarkets, educational institutions, offices LEED certified buildings, hospitals, and industries.

What does sustainability mean to Serval?

The GREEN CLEANING program is our approach uniquely designed to improve human health and promote sustainability in the different spaces we clean. From choosing the most effective equipment and products to operating procedures and staff training, we strive to meet with excellence in the strictest socio-environmental criteria, which include compliance with all legal requirements applicable in the country.

What do you value in your partnership with Green Seal?

Having the Green Seal as a reference in our operations is a quality differential in the market as it makes us permanently seek excellence. Our certified operations show our customers that we are capable of offering a quality final product with strong foundations in efficiency and sustainability.

In our institutional marketing, we promote the standardization, safety and efficiency of our processes through an international certification of quality in cleaning services.

Do your customers see the value in green cleaning?

Before the pandemic, customers were more interested in hiring a service with quality and good cost. Today, with green cleaning we offer, in addition to quality and cost, a high standard of service through a systematically trained cleaning team, products with low environmental impact and smart equipment. We always seek to communicate this to our customers through lectures, information on our social networks and in new contracts.

From an operations cost perspective, how do you find that green cleaning compares to regular cleaning?

In our Green Seal-certified operations, we have seen a reduction in the cost of chemicals used in cleaning. In addition, the assurance we provide our customers about biosecurity is not directly reflected in the costs of operations, but is a differential of trust and credibility when compared to regular cleaning

What innovation or accomplishment are you most proud of from a sustainability standpoint?

SERVAL is a local industry leader in sustainability with the expertise to service operations in LEED certified buildings and develops strong partnerships with leading green organizations to ensure that our Green Cleaning program meets international standards.

SERVAL is the company responsible for the green cleaning program of the SEBRAE-Ceará headquarters building, which is LEED Platinum certified. It was through this operation that the green cleaning process became a discussion for the opportunity for internal improvement on a daily basis.

How has the pandemic affected your operations?

The pandemic has brought greater concern about biosecurity and effectiveness in cleaning processes. Mainly in hospital environments, protocols and cleaning procedures became more rigid and the customer much more demanding. The search for reliable disinfectant products has become a concern. Certified green cleaning operations already provided assurance of these features before the pandemic.

What’s next for Serval?

SERVAL seeks to continuously improve its processes and offer more and more excellent services. In 2022 we aim to expand certified operations to the industry.

What does sustainability mean to GSF?

For more than a decade, GSF has incorporated sustainability into its cleaning programs for customers. We clean 40 million square feet per month in schools and commercial office buildings. We believe in sustainability because it is the right thing to do for our employees and our customers. Cleaning in an environmentally friendly way not only benefits the planet but the people who live, visit and occupy indoor environments. 

What do you value in your partnership with Green Seal?

Partnering with a trusted leader like Green Seal helps GSF enhance its understanding of sustainable cleaning and improve its customer offerings. We care about clean and want to deliver it in the most responsible way. Green Seal has decades of experience building a greener, healthier world and we are proud to be a partner.

We will be heavily promoting that GSF’s carefully developed processes are now Green Seal certified to give our customers even greater confidence that we know how to effectively and sustainably clean and maintain their buildings. 

Do your customers see the value of green cleaning? 

Customers are increasingly demanding that cleaning service providers help them limit waste and reduce the environmental impact of their cleaning operations. Indoor air quality is paramount, and cleaning can help uphold good IAQ, which in turn supports the health and wellbeing of facility occupants. We are proud to work with like-minded customers that truly believe in the power of sustainable cleaning.

We train our employees to have the skills and knowledge to effectively clean and to confidently communicate the importance of green cleaning with customers so they can educate them about best practices and new trends that are worth pursuing. 

From an operations cost perspective, how do you find that green cleaning compares to regular cleaning?

There is a common misconception that green cleaning requires a greater investment than regular cleaning. Over the long term, green cleaning is the right choice because it provides savings for the bottom line, the environment and people, both people using facilities and those who clean them. Implementing the right green cleaning solutions, whether from a chemical, equipment or tool perspective, can offer water, chemical and energy savings, as well as enhanced efficiency.

What accomplishment are you most proud of from a sustainability standpoint?

What we are doing with the electrochemically activated solutions (ECAS) from PathoSans is without a doubt our biggest accomplishment. It goes beyond simply purchasing and installing an on-site generator in a custodial closest. We are changing the entire culture of clean in these facilities, which takes tremendous effort from top to bottom, including training, education and communication around this innovative technology. 

ECAS is an industry disruptor because it completely upends the way facilities engage with chemical companies and distributors. Using cleaning and disinfecting solutions made from water, salt and electricity is a safer, more sustainable and better solution for facilities. It will transform the standard of cleanliness and we are proud to be part of this movement. 

How has the pandemic affected your operations and the demand for green cleaning?

The pandemic has increased the public’s awareness about the cleanliness of facilities and their interest in how organizations are achieving cleanliness. We have always been clear about the way we approach cleaning and our customers appreciate this now more than ever.

With cleaning happening more frequently, this can increase the risk of poor indoor air quality, especially if caustic chemicals are used. Cleaning more regularly can also generate higher volumes of waste, such as from ready-to-use cleaning products in plastic bottles. Facilities can often achieve safer cleaning by transitioning to greener alternatives that benefit the health of building occupants without harming the environment. 

We believe that the demand for green cleaning will continue to be a priority as more organizations look to improve transparency and demonstrate to their customers that they are taking the right steps in their cleaning program. 

What’s next for GSF? 

We recently expanded our Illinois operation into the Rockford area, and are on pace to continue growing our business by bringing on additional customer accounts and talented cleaning technicians and staff members. We are excited to bring our Green Seal-certified Écologique cleaning program to new customers to show them the value that green cleaning can bring to their operations.

When is disinfecting appropriate? The CDC now says to disinfect when someone confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 has been in the building within the past 24 hours.  

This is the same guidance Green Seal provided last Summer in our Safer Guidelines for COVID-19 Disinfecting for Schools and Workplaces, a free public resource that is now being implemented in more than 1 billion square feet of building space, including by Green Seal-certified cleaning services. 

Why Disinfecting Can Harm Instead of Help

It has been clear for some time that dousing a space in hazardous disinfecting chemicals won’t do much to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There are two main reasons for this: COVID-19 is much more likely to spread through person-to-person and airborne transmission than it is through surface-to-person transmission, and coronaviruses are relatively easy to kill on surfaces with plain old soap and water (or regular cleaning solutions).

There is a natural instinct to turn to the harshest chemicals available to attack a nasty virus, but the CDC’s new guidance should reassure us all that we can follow the science to avoid a dangerous reliance on disinfection. Doing so will avoid health risks ranging from cancer to serious respiratory disease – an especially grave risk for vulnerable populations such as children and the 1 in 13 Americans with asthma.

Not All Disinfectants are Created Equal

For the times when disinfecting is appropriate, some disinfecting products are safer than others. Green Seal has curated U.S. EPA’s List N: Disinfectants for Coronavirus to help you identify safer ones.

Unlike other active ingredients commonly found in disinfectants, the active ingredients we recommend are not linked to asthma, cancer, endocrine disruption, DNA damage or skin irritation. Find our list of recommended ingredients and products here. 

WHY IS THIRD-PARTY VALIDATION IMPORTANT WHEN IT COMES TO SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CLEANING SERVICES INDUSTRY?

Green cleaning is a common term these days in the cleaning industry. The concept has been around for a long time.  However, in recent years, the sustainability community has actively embraced it.  They are better quantifying its impacts and promoting its value. Thanks to national benchmarks such as LEED as well as  Green Seal’s Green Cleaning Services Standard, green cleaning has become more common.  The knowledge of best practices has become more standardized within the industry.  Many facility teams, building managers, and office managers are utilizing some elements of green cleaning.  That said, green cleaning is a series of continuous improvement steps.  It is based on core principles that include training, site-specific plans, careful chemical management, and environmentally preferable purchasing.  In most cases we’ve seen, when a group says they’re implementing green cleaning, there are often major gaps in the implementation, the level of rigor, and the results.  A third-party certification process confirms the application of actual green cleaning procedures and benefits.

HOW DOES GS-42 CERTIFICATION BENEFIT JANITORIAL COMPANIES AND THEIR CLIENTS?

We’ve heard from cleaning companies of all sizes that simply the act of applying for certification is beneficial.  In completing the checklists, you can quickly identify gaps in what you were doing, assumptions you made, and communications that should have been developed that never were. It helps you get a bird’s-eye view of your own business.  During the process, you’re speaking with a facilities management expert.  This person can help you dive into the best practices of green cleaning and the unique ways to develop your site-specific plans.

Commercial properties that choose certified green cleaning services attract higher quality tenants. Consumers today are demanding a higher level of social and environmental consciousness. Green cleaning delivers on those priorities by reducing the building’s environmental impact and promoting the health and wellbeing of building occupants – as well as some of society’s unsung heroes: custodial workers.

Building occupant productivity is also a benefit. Occupants of green office buildings report three fewer sick days each year and a 5% increase in overall productivity.  This has a direct connection to indoor air quality. In fact, a 2018 study from the U.S. Green Building Council found that 80% of green building occupants say the enhanced air quality improves their happiness and productivity.

HOW DO CLEANING CHEMICAL CHOICES IMPACT BUILDING OCCUPANT HEALTH?

VOCs are one of the most common hazards in today’s buildings.  They can cause allergic responses, exacerbate asthma, or other respiratory issues, cause headaches, eye irritation, or dizziness, prevent us from feeling our best – or, at worst, send people to the emergency room.

Young people, sick people, pregnant women, and the tens of millions of Americans who suffer from asthma are especially at risk from exposure.  One in seven cases of adult asthma can be attributed to the use of spray cleaners.

Cleaning professionals are on the front lines of these impacts. A large body of research has found that both domestic and professional cleaning work is associated with a higher risk of asthma and other respiratory issues. In fact, the first long term study on the topic recently found that cleaning with conventional products is as bad for your lungs as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day over 10-20 years.

The good news is that you easily mitigate these risks by simply switching to green-certified products.

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS FOR CLEANING CHEMICALS? 

We start by looking at function. It’s important for us to understand the intended function of a product.  In many cases there are several.  This helps us understand why a certain active chemical ingredient may be necessary or beneficial. Once we understand those two pieces, we conduct a marketing review by looking at safety data sheets or European regulations, which frequently home in on chemicals of concern before the U.S. does.  We identify the known toxic chemicals that are in most cleaning products.  Then we look at the products that have been designed without those toxic chemicals.  We independently validate that these products still function to industry standards.

By focusing on those leadership products, we’re able to craft a profile that looks at everything from the raw materials and production processes to the formula and the end of life of the product.  We zero in on the best opportunities for reducing environmental and human health impacts. We strive to create standards that are achievable for the top 20 percent of the industry. As the industry catches, we review and increase the performance thresholds where it makes sense, so that the Green Seal mark continues to set a leadership benchmark.

DO GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS (OR LACK THEREOF) IMPACT HOW YOU DEFINE YOUR STANDARDS, AND IF SO, HOW?

 We rely on a number of authoritative lists to screen product formulations for chemicals of concern. These lists range from those set by international bodies, such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s list of carcinogens, to those set by professional associations, such as the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics’s list of asthmagens. In between, of course, are federal and state lists by U.S. EPA and California.

By referencing multiple sources, we ensure that we have the most health-protective standards based on the latest science. Green Seal’s standard development is guided by the precautionary principle – if there is a lack of full scientific certainty on the suspected health and environmental health hazards of a chemical, we prohibit it until it’s proven to be safe. That’s why commonly found toxins like methylene chloride and 1,4-dioxane – which have only recently spurred widespread public concern in the U.S. – have been prohibited in Green Seal-certified products for decades.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE YOU HAVE SEEN FOR CLEANING SERVICE PROVIDERS TO ADOPT GS-42 STANDARDS?

We see employee turnover and maintaining buy-in as two of the biggest challenges.  Green cleaning itself is not intuitive.  It’s a careful, conscious process of monitoring, setting baselines, and understanding opportunities for where chemicals are unnecessary or overused, and shifting to better practices.  It is a continuous improvement game.  It works best with the buy-in of your teams—in particular, custodial managers, who can lead a culture shift.

In some cases, building occupants need to be educated about green cleaning.  We’re conditioned to think that a bleach smell or a lavender fragrance signifies “clean.” It can also be hard to overcome the misconception that constant cleaning is beneficial.  Many times, it’s counterproductive, and it unnecessarily increases chemical exposure.

It’s important to convey the concept of green cleaning to the building occupants. They must find value in this new way of working with non-fragrance products, in restricting cleaning schedules to off-hours, and in restricting the use of disinfectants and sanitizers to high-touch surfaces. But increasingly, we’ve seen that building tenants and occupants are aware of the benefits.  They are requesting green cleaning, even if they don’t yet understand all the details.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST CONCERN AS IT RELATES TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE CLEANING INDUSTRY?

Water use. The more we can encourage the shipping of concentrated products, the more we can reduce the unnecessary emissions of shipping water.  There’s an emerging concept in Europe where water itself is not required as frequently in cleaning.  That could be interesting in the future as well.

We’re also concerned about the overuse of disinfecting products because of the potential for the development of microbial resistance to these products.

HOW DO YOU SEE SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CLEANING INDUSTRY CHANGING OVER THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS? 

Green cleaning will be better understood. We’re going to see reductions in water use, more careful application of chemical-based products, and a shift to more evidence and quantification of green cleaning and effective cleaning.  There will be more demand from building occupants for third-party certified services and products that protect and promote health and wellness.  You can already see that in popular shared workspaces like WeWork – they offer snacks, coffee, and spaces that only use green products.

From Building Maintenance Service Blog – November 7, 2019. Contact us to learn more about BMS’s Sustainability initiatives, including our Green Seal (GS-42) certification.

North Carolina State University’s certified green cleaning program has generated a host of benefits for the campus community, including improved air quality, reduced operational costs, and improved employee health and morale. To maintain Green Seal certification, University Housekeeping will be reevaluated annually to ensure its cleaning products, processes and employee training meet leadership levels.

Pilot green-cleaning projects led to campus-wide adoption

 “NC State began its shift toward green cleaning more than a decade ago as increased awareness of environmental and human health prompted many manufacturers to develop eco-friendly options. First, University Housekeeping tried a chemical-free cleaning solution made of ionized water and salt. Not only did it work on campus, but it saved money and was safer for building occupants and housekeeping employees. With that success, NC State continued pilot green projects that led to campus-wide adoption. Housekeeping also found safe, effective alternatives to aerosols and harsh chemicals. They use many Green Seal certified cleaning chemicals and hand soap to protect indoor air quality and reduce chemical exposure.”
Carla Davis
University Sustainability Office

We’re looking our for the health of our employees, customers, and the environment

“We’re looking out for the health of our employees, customers and the environment. What makes us stand out is that we adopted green products early and saw benefits early. We were very progressive in making our products and processes better.”
Hezekiah Henry
Supervisor – University Housekeeping

Green Seal examines absolutely everything you do

“Green Seal examines absolutely everything you do. They verify every chemical, every piece of equipment, your cleaning process, your training program. They leave no stone unturned. It is rigorous and comprehensive and helped us standardize our cleaning program in every building. This certification shows our commitment to sustainability and helps us become a leader.”
Vincent Taylor
Deputy Assistant Director – University Housekeeping

Green Seal certification has given our staff greater pride in what they do

“Our staff have to know the reasoning behind our process and the difference between cleaning and green cleaning. There’s a lot that goes into that, and Green Seal certification has given our staff greater pride in what they do.”
Tony Brown
Supervisor – University Housekeeping

I could not be prouder of the entire University Housekeeping team

“Green Seal Certification affirms our dedication to sustainability and the health of our employees and the campus community. I could not be prouder of the entire University Housekeeping team.”
Ada Baldwin
Director – University Housekeeping

Our employees have less chronic illness and ergonomic problems

“Our industry is much more concerned with employee health than it was before. With our green cleaning program, our employees have less chronic illness and ergonomic problems.”
Taft Waldon
Deputy Assistant Director – University Housekeeping

What does sustainability mean to BMS?

Because the environmental impact of the janitorial industry is so enormous, so is our potential to reduce it. As a responsible company committed to sustainability, it’s our obligation to offset this however we can. Annually the janitorial industry consumes 6.2 billion pounds of mostly petroleum-based chemicals. Additionally, our industry goes through about 30 million trees worth of sanitary paper and one billion pounds of equipment. Not to mention a huge amount of packaging and equipment is disposed of each year.

Why do you prioritize green cleaning?

It’s no longer a trend, but an expectation. While BMS is leading this effort, we now see that almost all cleaning companies have green cleaning programs. The benefits reach beyond statistics. Green cleaning has a significant impact on the health of janitorial workers and building occupants who are now breathing cleaner indoor air with less exposure to harmful chemicals that can cause asthma and other serious health conditions.

Why did you pursue Green Seal certification? 

Third-party auditing from Green Seal demonstrates our commitment to transparency and accountability in our operations. It’s critical to us that our sustainable practices and procedures are best-in-class. Being Green Seal certified is an important part of ensuring we maintain our standards. It helps us ensure sustainability becomes a part of our corporate culture. Our staff receives annual Green Seal training, which results in companywide buy-in. And regular Green Seal recertification ensures our continued adherence to best practices.

Do you highlight your green cleaning practices with customers?

Being Green Seal certified gives BMS leverage with prospects. In a competitive market, being able to showcase points of differentiation is key. We are proud to share our sustainability practices with our customers! Our BMS Green Clean℠ program is Green Seal certified, and was designed to enhance human health and foster sustainability within the commercial real estate, hospitality and education spaces we clean.

Does cleaning with green products cost more?

It is a common misconception that green products are more expensive and less effective. This is false. These products are never more costly than traditional chemicals, and are equally, and in many cases more, effective. In fact, when used properly, they should cost less. Microfiber dusting cloths, dilution control systems, efficient machinery and ample staff training provide tangible savings. The only cleaning program offered by BMS is a sustainable one. We have built green cleaning into our everyday operations and clean to LEED standards all the time.

How are you doing on offsetting your environmental impacts?

We annually track our sustainable efforts using the tools available to us. Our last Sustainability Report outlined the following environmental savings, and we have Green Seal to thank for helping us achieve these statistics: 

• 81% purchasing of Certified “Green” products 
• 92.8 tons of packaging reduction by purchasing chemical concentrates 
• Over 531,551 gallons of water use reduction 
• Use of 2.3 million pounds of recycled paper 
• 1,500 of gallons of chemical reduction 

Anything else you’d like to share?

BMS cleans over 100 million square feet of space across New York, Chicago and the Mid-Atlantic. The statistics show that it is essential that our industry act now by investing in green cleaning practices. Collectively, we can make a tremendous impact. All of us, businesses and individuals, have a part to play in protecting the environment.

Transparent Requirements to Achieve Certification 

To understand Green Seal certification, anyone can download a specific standard (a free PDF on our website) and note each of the requirements for performance, human health protection, and environmental leadership. For example, purchasers know that a Green Seal-certified cleaning product has demonstrated a specific level of performance, that it is not formulated with certain hazardous substances, and that it has an overall reduced environmental impact compared to most other products on the market.

A Bit of Maintenance: Keeping Our Standards Clear and Accurate

The guiding principles of a Type 1 Ecolabel require us to keep each of our standards relevant to today’s market, to ensure that they accurately define environmental leadership, and also to verify that the requirements are practical for certification. Our periodic assessments of each standard also include a review of the market to identify if relevant technologies and best practices have evolved. Green Seal references many external sources in our standards that make a revision necessary: ASTM and ISO update the names and criteria of their test methods; the OECD updates their suggested methods for evaluating chemicals, and the US EPA often increases the size and complexity of its environmental databases in response to newly published scientific studies. Also, the market is continuously evolving. Manufacturers are always developing new technologies and re-designing their products. For example, over the years companies have expanded their offerings of environmentally-preferable packaging. Source-reduced packaging, packaging take-back programs, and packaging made from higher percentages of post-consumer materials are being used by environmental leaders in the cleaning industry now, but were not widely available a decade ago. For our standard revisions, we note these types of changes and gauge whether an update is necessary.

Our 2016 – 2017 Standard Revision: Improving Nine Cleaning Product Standards

On November 15, we published a document with the proposed revisions to our cleaning product standards and opened the Public Comment Period. As a Type 1 Ecolabel that provides an independent and life-cycle based evaluation, we actively engage the public in our revision process. When each standard is developed, and again when each standard is revised, we widely announce a Public Comment Period. During this eight-week period (sometimes longer!), we promote our “Proposed Revisions” and request feedback from any interested individual, organization, or company.  We often receive detailed comments from product manufacturers (some with and some without Green Seal-certified products), product evaluators, advocates in public health, and experts from environmental organizations. Many individuals stay tuned in to ensure that Green Seal’s standards maintain the same level of stringency, and others chime in to make sure that our requirements describe a practical evaluation. Institutional purchasers stay involved in order to ensure that they can still depend on Green Seal-certified products as a way of obtaining their group’s sustainability goals.

…And the Comments Pour In

During the Public Comment Period, we encourage comments that directly reference our proposed revisions (nothing outside of the scope, please); comments that are science-based; a realistic viewpoint of industry; and comments that helpfully reference scientific or technical information. We have received supportive comments, neutral comments about editorial improvements or the flow of a standard, and critiques, and all help us to evaluate our proposed revisions. After we close the Public Comment Period, Green Seal publishes our “Response to Comments” document which includes each comment that was submitted through our online forum, and provides our direct reactions. Sometimes we are able to respond to each submitted comment but in some cases we provide one response to a group of comments that touch on the same issue. In our responses, we try to clearly state: Yes, the comment resulted in a change in the standard, or, No, we’re going to proceed as we originally proposed. For both cases we describe our reasoning. Sometimes, we also get in touch directly with the commenter to provide a more elaborate reaction to help them better understand our perspectives, our goals, and also to hear from them about their concerns and their reasoning. These types of conversations are greatly beneficial, and help us to stay informed on the issues and perspectives of our stakeholders.

Stay Engaged, Add Your Comment, and Encourage Feedback

Do you have expertise in the performance, or environmental and health impacts of cleaning products? Do you have a specific interest in one of our proposed revisions? We welcome you to register on our online forum and provide your comments. This is your chance to help define environmental leadership for the cleaning industry. If you do not have expertise in these topics or a strong understanding of the issues that are being proposed, but you are strongly interested in promoting environmental leadership, consider reaching out to a health or environmental organization, or to your favorite cleaning product brand, and ask them to provide their input on our proposed revisions. Our standards and certification process play a major role in reducing the environmental impacts of your state governments and schools, and help drive environmental improvements in the cleaning industry.

An often overlooked component of the LEED EBOM (Existing Buildings Operation and Maintenance) is the section under EQ-Indoor Environmental Quality-Prerequisite 3 and Credits 3.1-3.9. This is unfortunate because the green cleaning portion of the standard can provide 6 or more points at little or no cost to the building owner. More and more cleaning contractors and in-house facilities staff are achieving certification to Green Seal’s GS-42, and many are aware of the LEED EBOM requirements for cleaning.

Those who have achieved GS-42 certification are ready and available to assist property managers with providing the documents and materials required for submission to the LEED AP. What a big help to the Property Manager! Also, high APPA audit scores and compliance with Custodial Effectiveness and High Performance Cleaning is easily available for LEED O&M credits when a GS-42 certified cleaning service is employed.

Green Cleaning – Above and Beyond the Pursuit of LEED Certification

Beyond LEED, the business of cleaning is going through a huge metamorphosis. It is no longer considered enough to push a broom and “slop” a mop. Through intensive training and achievement of GS-42 certification, cleaning companies and in-house services have elevated their staff to trained professionals who understand the importance of their occupation.

Green, healthy cleaning is a vital contribution to public health and the environment, considers the comfort and well-being of building occupants while maintaining the life span and appearance of surfaces in commercial and institutional buildings. So, let’s give more recognition and respect to cleaners, particularly those professionals who take pride in their work and are advancing the industry!