Sustainable Development and Society - GSA

Sustainable Development and Society
The perception among building owners and
managers is that all cleaning activities,
products and services are the same. As a
result, janitorial cleaning services have
become a commodity. And, if all services
are seen as equal and abundant--then the
only thing to negotiate is the cost. Thus,
there is a heavy focus on simply reducing
costs.
But not all services are the same. Over the
past ten years, the cleaning industry has
made enormous strides. Cleaning product
manufacturers have reduced the toxicity of
their products and included renewable
components, both of which benefit health
and the environment. Manufacturers of
backpack vacuums and high-speed floorburnishing
machines have significantly
increased the ability to capture and
eliminate finer particulates, which can
adversely affect occupant health,
computers, and other building equipment.
Other equipment manufacturers have
developed automated floor scrubbers that
significantly reduce water consumption
and, by drying floors faster, reduce the
potential for slips and falls. Paper-towel and
toilet-tissue makers now offer products with
recycled content, bleached without
chlorine, again significantly reducing
environmental burdens. And finally, we
know that bringing all the components
together - products, equipment and people
(including building occupants) can create a
healthy, high performance environment,
while reducing overall health and
environmental impacts.
Not all buildings are the same. The US
Government has an enormous variety of
building types to consider when developing
cleaning programs that protect the asset
itself, the occupants, cleaning personnel,
and the environment - at the most
competitive price. Buildings range from
historical landmarks to new offices, to
military command centers, to laboratory
complexes, to healthcare facilities; from
high occupancy buildings with many
visitors, to those with few occupants and no
visitors; from the dry desert Southwest, to
the hot and humid Southeast; from
buildings housing our aging veterans, to
schools and daycare for the youngest and
most vulnerable children. Each building type
and use impacts cleaning requirements.
One size (or one contract) does NOT fit all.
Another complication is the use of
“performance-based” contracts when there
are no generally accepted performance
metrics. However, sustainable cleaning has
begun with EPA’s Environmentally
Preferable Purchasing Program, which has
developed a model green custodial contract
with GSA’s Public Buildings Service.
The performance-based contract can
provide many opportunities for addressing
sustainability, but it must be clearly
articulated. Many Federal agencies are
assessing the US Green Building Council’s
Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED ® ) Rating System for New
Construction (LEED-NC) and Existing
Buildings (LEED-EB), which offer numerous
credits for sustainable cleaning products
and practices.
Methods
The following ten steps, based on our
programs in over two hundred buildings,
appear to be the common thread in
successful programs that utilize cleaning to
maintain a healthy, high-performance,
sustainable indoor environment. These
steps deliver the best return-on-investment
relative to other cleaning programs; they
provide a proven and easy implementation
process, and identify opportunities for
improvement, with the least expenditure of
resources.
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