GCI Green Building

Posted by R. Michael Richmond

August 4, 2008

by R. Michael Richmond

What is the effect of the Green Cleaning movement on the janitorial industry? The facts are clean that the cleaning and janitorial world is in transition, and it will be forever changed to what will come to be known as the Green Janitorial era. How people transition to this new status will differ, and there will be those who try to ignore it until the Green practice is literally forced on them by mandate.

Florida is an example of the impact of Green mandates. Governor Christ passed a requirement that the state would not do business with any hotel that did not conform to a Green facility. This created an immediate rush for hotels to Go Green. Similar rules are being passed in other states that will affect nearly every type of business.

Both New York and Illinois have passed similar versions of the Green School Act that required all schools to adopt Green products and Green practices in the daily cleaning of their facilities. New York has now issued notices that all building owners have a time frame in which they must take their buildings Green. Other states are sure follow New York and Illinois, and cities are passing a variety of mandates on local businesses.

Both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush signed executive orders requiring all government agencies to buy Green products and implement Green practices. EPA and OHSA are promoting Green issues nationwide. You only have to take a look at most city programs to see that they are already talking about Green business to see that it is only a matter of time until every business will be Green too. It is easy to see why knowledgeable people are already predicting that the Green program will take over every business sector in the next two to three years.

This new economy will bring what I call Green Pretenders who will take only token efforts to be Green but will declare that they are the real Green janitorial service. You see, Green does not come in a bottle but in the service that uses the Green product. When all janitorial services have a few Green products and some HEPA vacuums, we will see what I also call the “Green Equalization.” This means that there will be plenty of look-alike Green firms, but not of them are qualified professionally.

Does a janitorial service need to go though training and certification from an outside source, or can they simple step into this arena as simply as reworking their website and advertising? As in any profession, there must be a standard in training and review that supports the claims of a professional service. Hey, even car mechanics are trained and certified. Shouldn’t we expect that a firm in charge of the health and sanitation of the building do more than hand the work crew new products?

Green Seal certifies products, but Green Clean Institute certifies janitorial services. If your company is “Going Green,” you will want to look into the GCI Green Building program. You should also require that your janitorial/cleaning service become Green Clean certified as well. Frankly, there is no substitute for the quality, training, support, and certification of Green Clean Institute. As the largest certification organization for janitorial services, Green Clean Institute is the best resource for Green Business.

It is important to remember that Green is not a synonym for environmentalism. Green is most correctly understood as the healthy status of a building and the concern for the health of the people who work or living in that building. There is confusion from programs like LEED that Green Buildings must have Green roofs, energy and water conservation programs, and access to public transportation. This is a nice addition, but these items are not truly about Green buildings. A Green Building according to the Green Clean Institute deals primarily with the indoor air quality and the issues affecting the health of the people in that building.

We are in a major transition period that requires us to move from the standard practices of the past to the better practices that come from Green Awareness. It seems to be more than an American issue since every country knows that we must preserve and conserve our precious resources. It seems to be only a question of whether each of us will make the change voluntarily or by government regulation.

About the Author:

Locate a great janitorial service for your company and achieve a GCI Green Building status. Green Janitor offers a unique janitorial service program to enable your company to ean a Green Building program that really works.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.