Five cleaning companies were recently recognized for completing San Francisco’s Custodial Green Cleaning pilot program, the first program of its kind in the nation.
By Bill Picture
Published: November, 2014
Five cleaning companies were recently recognized for completing San Francisco’s Custodial Green Cleaning pilot program, the first program of its kind in the nation.
As part of this program, the five companies—Metro Maintenance, CMSC Janitorial / Maintenance Services, Aim to Please Janitorial Service, Japan Janitorial Service and Signature Home Cleaning—learned more than just environmentally kind ways to clean house. They also learned how to keep properties tidy with the health and well-being of their own employees and building occupants in mind.
“These five companies collectively represent more than 4.5 million square feet of property in San Francisco that is now being cleaned using safer and more environmentally friendly cleaning methods,” said San Francisco Department of the Environment (SF Environment) Director Debbie Raphael at a recent news conference.
The program was created by SF Environment with an assist from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, which contributed $74,500 of the program’s nearly $100,000 price tag. SF Environment’s Senior Commercial Toxics Reduction Coordinator Swati Sharma said that getting custodial companies to think of the big picture when it comes to daily building upkeep was the goal from the beginning.
“Doing what’s best for the environment is always a major focus for us,” she said. “But it was just as important for us to take employee health into account, and how that’s impacted by the products and processes being used for everyday building upkeep.”
Swapping out toxics
Arguably the biggest threat that custodial programs pose to the environment, employee health and occupant health is the highly toxic cleaning products traditionally used to sanitize buildings and make surfaces sparkle.
“We looked at the number of these products being used, and the amount of each product,” Sharma adds. “The truth is, you don’t need to use 90 different products. In reality, you need only a handful. Just eliminating what’s not needed moves a cleaning company in a greener direction. But we’re talking about changing attitudes and behaviors, which we all know can be tough.”
Surprisingly though, Sharma said that the five companies were all receptive to the proposed changes. “With these first five companies, there were varying degrees of acceptance,” she explained. “But that was great experience for us as the program moves forward. I’d say these companies all wanted to do the right thing. They just weren’t sure how to go about it because of all of the ‘greenwashing’ happening out there.”
Just as some so-called organic food items fall short of their healthy and eco-sound promise, many supposedly eco-friendly cleaning agents turn out in the wash to be no kinder to the environment than their traditional predecessors. This is where the “greenwashing” comes in. It turns out some manufacturers are taking advantage of environmentally-minded consumers by slapping “green,” “organic” and “biodegradable” on products containing ingredients that are really none of those things.
“Some of the custodial companies thought they were using green products but really weren’t,” Sharma said. “How are we supposed to know?”
In order to know if a so-called green cleaning product lives up to its claim, Sharma said that the users really have to do their homework. “You go through every product ingredient by ingredient, and then you do that for every product. It takes time, and it’s not easy.”
But what will it cost me?
For some of the companies, making the switch to truly green cleaning meant eliminating up to 90 percent of the products on their shelves. “Then of course the concern becomes cost,” Sharma said. “What is this costing me? Are these products more expensive than what I’ve been using all these years?”
On the whole, Sharma said that the certifiably eco-friendly products are comparable in price to their traditional toxic counterparts. To save money, participants in the Custodial Green Cleaning pilot program were encouraged not only to cut out as many “specialty” products as possible, but also to use concentrated products that are diluted with water. This reduces the amount of product needed, resulting in long-term savings.
“And from an employee and occupant health perspective, you can never go wrong using fewer cleaning products,” Sharma said. The result, she says, is cleaner air.
“Americans spend 90 percent of our time inside buildings where indoor air pollution can be two to five times higher than outdoor levels,” said EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld.
A lot of the indoor pollution to which Blumenfeld is referring is the result of the chemical agents used throughout the day to keep buildings looking their best—in everything from offices and restaurants to churches and schools. A quick Google search shows that daily inhalation of chemicals found in disinfectants, glass cleaners, furniture polishes and other surface cleaners can lead to toxic exposure and a host of respiratory illnesses.
“Using green, non-toxic products lets us breathe easier wherever we work, learn and live,” Blumenfeld added.
Getting the green point across
But simply restocking a custodial company’s shelves with green cleaning products isn’t enough. Sharma said that it takes a buy-in from management and the employees doing the work, and that the success of an effort like the Custodial Green Cleaning pilot program requires actual face time with the cleaning crews, whose members are often extremely diverse.
“From the beginning, we said this program has to be hands-on,” she said. “It has to be actual on-the-job training, and we need to be able to speak their language.”
The program that Sharma and her colleagues developed includes multi-lingual training videos and materials, as well as multi-lingual staff.
Since the September press release honoring the pilot program’s first five graduates, Custodial Green Cleaning has also graduated—to a full-fledged City program that’s open to any company wishing to join. And a few companies have already signed up for the next round of training.
“Now our job becomes getting the word out, and getting more companies to participate,” Sharma said. “And not just here in San Francisco. We developed this program so that it can be easily replicated anywhere, so we’re reaching out to other cities, counties and states to inspire them to take our program and start it in their areas.”
For more information on San Francisco’s Custodial Green Cleaning program, visit www.sfenvironment.org/article/business/custodial-green-cleaning.
The program created by SF Environment not only taught environmentally kind ways to clean, but also emphasized how to keep properties tidy with the health and well-being of their own employees and the building’s occupants in mind. Photo courtesy of SF Environment
Certifiably eco-friendly products are comparable in price to their traditional toxic counterparts. To save money, participants in the Custodial Green Cleaning pilot program were encouraged not only to cut out as many “specialty” products as possible, but also to use concentrated products that can be diluted with water. Photo courtesy of SF Environment
