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Is “green” the right word?
The “green” cleaning concept has evolved from use of environmentally acceptable chemicals, through to inclusion of environmentally preferable tools and equipment and now incorporates broader sustainability issues. Today a green cleaning programme should encompass social and economic as well as environmental considerations. In practice, environmental stewardship, social progress and economic growth all contribute to sustainability. This is also known as people, planet, profit and the triple bottom line. A more accurate term would therefore be “sustainable cleaning”.
Have the business drivers for sustainable cleaning changed?
The recession has proved that businesses can maintain their operations with reduced costs. Even when the recovery comes this will be an issue because population growth will drive demand for finite resources and put pressure on raw material costs. We will all have to do more with less. And we can only do that by being sustainable.
What constitutes a good sustainable cleaning programme?
The cleaning programme must meet the customer’s business needs. To do this it should support the overriding sustainability policy. Chemicals, tools and equipment must be sustainable and purchasing policies must ensure that the right ones are chosen. But truly sustainable cleaning goes further and must include methods and processes which deliver healthy, high performance cleaning. This will necessarily involve labour, water, energy and waste reduction, consideration of the building and its occupants, waste management, reduced transportation and introduction of new practices such as daylight cleaning. Staff must be well-trained, engaged and informed. Areas such as pollution control, pest management and indoor air quality are also factors. Performance improvement and quality monitoring programmes help deliver improved results and accountability.
What are the desirable attributes of a cleaning product?
First of all, of course, it has to give superior cleaning performance and do the job for which it was designed. It should also be easy to use, safe to handle and support sustainability. The accepted ecological doctrine is “reduce, reuse, recycle”. It is better to reduce the amount of waste packaging, for example, than be primarily concerned with recycling that waste.In general, products should be as concentrated as possible/practicable to reduce manufacturing energy, waste packaging and unnecessary transportation of water. They should also be in the largest practicable container, as long as these are easy to handle, because the proportion of packaging is minimised as are supply chain costs (picking, billing, etc). Finally, they should incorporate dilution control measures to reduce wastage of product and the consequential waste packaging and transportation. Diversey platforms such as SmartDose and Exact meet these criteria very well.
Is there confusion in the marketplace?
Widely used terminologies to promote green cleaning do not always support clarity. Many products are described as biodegradable, but strictly speaking this only applies to organic substances (molecules or ions containing carbon atoms). Most cleaning products include inorganic ingredients which cannot “biodegrade”. Moreover, all surfactants have by law been biodegradable for many years, so any differentiating claims for such products could be misleading. Similarly for “natural” ingredients. There are plenty of natural substances which we all want to avoid, such as asbestos or uranium. Seemingly innocent ingredients can also be problematic.
The use of lemon juice is widely promoted but is planting and growing millions of trees to fulfil demand a good use of natural resources? Is the alternative of synthesising the active ingredient citric acid in a factory better or worse? It is always possible to find a “greener” or cheaper product but at what cost? Is an eco-labelled, natural, non-classified, low price product the most sustainable? What if it resulted in deforestation, unnecessary transportation or child labour was used during manufacturing? What if it’s difficult to use or creates hazards such as manual handling or exposure to allergens?Understanding the impact of products, tools and equipment across the lifecycle - agriculture, raw materials, production, packaging, supply, usage and waste disposal - is a key challenge for our industry. In reality, the most sustainable product is the one that satisfies most of the criteria, most of the time.
Should a “green” cleaning programme necessarily include eco-certified products?
There is a common notion that “green”, “environmentally friendly” or “sustainable” cleaning involves chemicals covered by a valid eco-certification such as the EU Eco-Label (“EU Flower”) and the Nordic Eco-Label (“Nordic Swan”) in Europe, or Green Seal in North America. These are good starting points but they tend to mitigate additional sustainability benefits such as transportation and storage, waste packaging, water and energy savings, productivity, manual handling, and hygiene. Washroom and kitchen disinfectants, for example, tend to be excluded from eco-certification schemes. Switching to concentrates and/or reducing reliance on chemicals can be more sustainable when all factors are taken into account.
So it’s not just about products - what about equipment?
Equipment should be manufactured along sustainable lines, of course, but also deliver environmental benefits in use. This should include, but is not limited to, using less product more efficiently, delivering better cleaning performance and reduced energy consumption. An eco-label will signify these attributes. Social benefits include reduced exposure to products and easier use. Economic benefits include improved productivity, reduced chemical use and prolonging the life of floors and other assets.
How does equipment support sustainability?
The main issues are water and energy efficiency. Operators concerned with sustainability look for energy efficiency and reduced water and cleaning product consumption. Various design enhancements, and advances in battery technology, mean that current models are much more energy efficient than previous generation machines. Innovations that match the amount of solution applied with machine speed, such as those available in Diversey floor-care machines, reduce wastage and eliminate the risk of puddles. Systems that support on-demand dilution and insert product directly into delivery lines avoid the need to mix product in the machine’s water tank. This helps promote cleaning consistency and avoids the need to empty or rinse the tank after work which saves time and reduces wastage.
What about water and waste reduction?
Diversey’s super concentrate products use less packaging and reduce the need to transport water through the supply chain. Instead water is added at the point of use, accurately and precisely, using the platform’s built-in mechanism or by using equipment such as our QuattroSelect. This ensures no water, or product, is wasted in the preparation of cleaning solutions. We have similar features such as CSD and JFit on our floor care machines. Water and solution is diluted accurately and fed to the cleaning mechanism at a rate matched to the machine’s speed. There are no puddles and up to 30–50% saving in cleaning solution. This saves money and increases machine productivity but also reduces the risk of slip-fall injuries.
What other factors contribute to sustainability?
Customers understandably focus on products, tools and equipment because they are very visible. But many long term benefits come from areas such as improving processes and changing procedures, preventing dirt from entering premises, investing in staff to be more professional and engaged, and educating customers to understand and embrace sustainability. As an example, moving to daylight cleaning brings savings in overnight heating, lighting and ancillary costs. Occupants see cleaning taking place, are less likely to leave areas dirty and recognise the value and cost to the business. Cleaning staff work at more socially acceptable times which makes it easier to recruit and retain them. All these factors, and more, build into proper sustainability.
Is sustainability itself a sustainable concept?
Green cleaning should be, and is, based on sound sustainability principles, addressing the needs of environmental stewardship, social progress and economic growth. While it may go through further iterations and refinement, the economic and legislative factors alone mean that it will become more prevalent in more sites and more countries. The concept has become formalised through initiatives such as the US Green Building Council’s LEED-EBOM certification, and the ISSA’s CIMS-GB scheme. These will be more widely accepted as they are adapted in Europe and organisations see the economic, social and environmental benefits.
Ideally there should be a consistent or mutually acceptable eco-label system covering products and services. And there must be vigilance to ensure any environmental or sustainability claims that we make or receive from suppliers stand up to scrutiny. But there has to be a degree of variation and flexibility to reflect the needs, capabilities and limitations of the market, customer, site and cleaning provider. Otherwise there is a significant risk that cleaning will become a commodity where the “lowest bid wins”. Further information at www.diversey.com
Sealed Air (www.sealedair.com) is the new global leader in food safety and security, facility hygiene and product protection. With widely recognized and inventive brands such as Bubble Wrap® brand cushioning, Cryovac® brand food packaging solutions and Diversey® brand cleaning and hygiene solutions, Sealed Air offers efficient and sustainable solutions that create business value for customers, enhance the quality of life for consumers and provide a cleaner and healthier environment for future generations. On a pro forma basis, Sealed Air generated revenue of $7.6 billion in 2010 and has approximately 26,000 employees who serve customers in 175 countries.
Diversey (www.diversey.com) is a business unit of Sealed Air Corp., a leader in food and other protective packaging solutions. Sealed Air recently completed its acquisition of Diversey, creating the new global leader in food safety and security, facility hygiene and product protection.
