How "Clean" is Your Green Floor Cleaning?

The goal of today’s green cleaning movement is to minimize impact on the environment, building occupants and cleaning personnel. One result has been a reduction in the use of potentially harmful chemicals when scrubbing hard floors in commercial and institutional settings. Intuitively, it might seem that the “greenest” cleaning is done with no chemicals at all.

However, maintenance staffs still need to meet the standard of clean required for their facilities—whether that standard is simply “cleaning for appearance” or a more stringent requirement for disinfection in hospitals and even schools to combat viral threats such as MRSA and H1N1.

Every floor cleaning challenge is different, and rarely is there a “one-clean-fits-all” solution. Download this paper to learn today’s myriad requirements for green and for clean, in relation to the hard floors found in schools, healthcare facilities, retail stores, office buildings and similar sites.

Improving IAQ In Schools Following Natural Disasters

This article was originally published in CleanLink.

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Sandy tore through the East Coast, destroying neighborhoods and causing severe damage for millions of Americans. As the rebuilding process begins, EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air staff are committed to equipping communities with the tools and knowledge needed to ensure that indoor environments in schools are safe before students, teachers and staff members return. The aftermath of any natural disaster, including a hurricane that causes extensive flooding, can create widespread health problems that are especially dangerous for children.

EPA's Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Tools for Schools resources can be helpful to schools and school districts as they clean-up buildings after a natural disaster. These resources help school staff identify and resolve most IAQ problems in schools with minimal cost and effort

Resources to Help Clean-Up Schools:

• Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings
• Environmental Contaminates in Schools
• Managing Asthma in the School Environment
• IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit

Read the full article to learn more. 

Mitsubishi Electric Power Products Keeps Clean With Advance Adgressor™ Scrubber

Mitsubishi Electric Power Products manufactures high-voltage circuit breakers for the utility industry at its facilities in Warrendale, PA, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. Prior to shipping products to utility customers, the parts for these circuit breakers are stored in a new 40,000- square-foot warehouse facility about four miles from the manufacturing site.

To control dust, dirt and sand from constant forklift traffic, prevent product contamination and keep floors clean and attractive for visitors, Mitsubishi Electric Power Products employed the Advance Adgressor™ Scrubber.

Primary choice factors included:

• Higher productivity than previous walk-behind scrubber
• Superior cleaning performance
• Ease of operation and maintenance
• Low water/detergent usage
• Good value 

Download the full case study here to learn more. 

Splitscreen Clean Advance

Green Trends Not to Be Ignored

This article was originally published in ISSA.

Not so many years ago, distributors of commercial cleaning products would only venture to stock a handful of green chemical cleaners, and often, there was little or no demand for these products.

Fast forward to today, and it is an entirely different picture. In a recent survey conducted by ISSA and Sanitary Maintenance magazine, distributors reported that almost one-third of their total sales were green cleaning products, and they covered the gamut of commercial cleaning products—chemical cleaners, powered equipment, paper and plastics, and every other janitorial product.

While this statistic is a wonderful testament to green cleaning gaining traction in the marketplace, the cleaning industry (and green cleaning market in particular) will continue to evolve and take on new characteristics in the near future. Changes to green building certifications, new green cleaning products, purchasers’ demand for transparency, and a greater focus on cleaning for health will all affect the green cleaning marketplace.

Read the full article here to assess the future direction of green cleaning and learn how the green building market is growing.