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You are here: Home Building & Home Articles Building & Construction Articles Green Building Certification

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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.
by R.MichaelRichmond


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.

The increased demand for Green Offices, Green Schools, and Green Buildings will continue to drive this concept. Governor Christ of Florida has passed rules that denied state business from any hotel that did not qualify as a Green facility. The impact was felt immediately as all Florida hotels implemented Green practices with haste. Similar rules are coming to other states.

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.

Where governments go, business will follow. Right now, we are seeing city after city planning for a complete Green renovation of all city buildings. On the federal level, Presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush have signed executive orders mandating that all federal agency to Go Green by using Green products and Green practices. Therefore, we see the Green pressure at the federal, state, local, and corporate levels. These obvious trends are why many experts are predicting that all businesses will be going green in the next two to three years.

Beware of Green pretenders, however. Many janitorial services are using token efforts to participate in this new, Green economy. They are adding a few Green products to their janitor cart and they will pick up some HEPA vacuums as the older models wear out. The fact is that you cannot buy Green in a bottle. It is a practice as much as it is the product being used. When all janitorial services have adding in a few Green products, we will reach something called "Green Equalization" where all look alike but none are fully qualified.

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.

Remember that Green is not a substitute word for environmentalism. It directly refers to the health quality of a facility and the health impact on the people who inhabit that building. If your company is planning to "Go Green," the key issues are not energy or water conservation, building materials, or access to public transportation. The whole project is to improve the indoor air quality and the continued good health of all the people in that facility.

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.

About the Author:

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

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