Green cleaning is a trend on the rise – in our homes, workplaces, institutions, and public buildings. But why is it becoming so popular? What is the point of making sure our cleaning products and methods are “green”?
What Is Green Cleaning?
Green cleaning involves a combination of cleaning methods, equipment, products, and policies that are designed with one goal in mind: to maximize effective cleaning results while minimizing negative impacts on health and the environment.
With that in mind, the following are the key benefits of green cleaning:
1. Green Cleaning Safeguards Building Occupant Health
Whether you are in charge of hiring the cleaning company for an office building, a school, or a public facility, you want to keep the people in your building healthy. Cleaning is meant to improve health and hygiene – not harm it.
However, many conventional cleaning products and methods do negatively affect health, because of the chemicals they include.
Green cleaning products and methods use fewer chemicals overall. They also have restrictions on those chemicals known to be harmful, such as toxic carcinogens (involved in causing cancer), teratogens, hormone disruptors, neurotoxins, and more.
Certified green products are carefully controlled to reduce their corrosivity, inhalation toxicity, skin absorption, and combustibility. They are less irritating to the skin, eyes, and respiratory system, and have fewer health risks associated with them.
2. Green Cleaning Improves Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air quality is essential for good health. It also impacts employee productivity and energy (sick employees are not productive employees, after all!).
Conventional cleaning products release Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), which The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns have short and long term adverse health effects. VOCs contribute to respiratory irritation, allergies, headaches, rashes, colds, and many other ailments.
VOCs stay in your building long after the cleaning is completed, exposing your employees and/or visitors to the harmful chemicals on a continuous basis. In fact, the EPA claims that indoor levels of pollutants are often 2-5 times higher than outdoor levels!
Green cleaning doesn’t pollute the indoor air with these harmful chemicals.
3. Green Cleaning Offers Long-term Return on Investment
Green cleaning is cost-effective over the long-term:
- It improves productivity of employees or attendance of building occupants.
- It reduces the need for costly ventilation solutions to repair the damage of poor indoor air quality.
- It uses less destructive chemicals than conventional products and methods, increasing the longevity of surfaces including floors, furniture, building exteriors, etc.
- It reduces hazards and liability issues.
- Green cleaning products and methods are becoming more affordable as more options become available.
Healthy, environmentally-friendly cleaning may appear to be more expensive in the short-term, but the long-term ROI can’t be ignored.
4. Green Cleaning Promotes Environmental Sustainability
Green cleaning is eco-friendly cleaning that supports the environment.
Traditional cleaning leads to harmful, dangerous chemicals leeching into the soil, the water, and the air. These products typically have not been tested for effects on the environment, are non-biodegradable, and come in containers that are non-recyclable. Some are known to break down into unsafe components once released into the environment, such as phosphates or alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs).
On the other hand, green cleaning materials can be safely disposed of to minimize the pollutants entering the building and the environment. They are made from sustainable, biodegradable, and non-toxic ingredients, with packaging that does not create unnecessary waste.
Consider Green Cleaning for Your Building
Responsible cleaning should be a central consideration when choosing a professional cleaning company. Green cleaning is a commitment to safety, health, and the environment.
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