The Virtues of "Green Cleaning"

With Earth Day, April 22, right around the corner, the words green, environmentally friendly and sustainable are sure to be used in conversation in the near future. But while people may be talking about recycling their garbage, changing their appliances to energy efficient ones and buying hybrid automobiles, how many people will be talking about green cleaning? According to Jerry Thomas, Founder and CEO of EnviroClean USA, the answer is that they all should be, because green cleaning promotes healthier and safer environments. In fact, green cleaning of any facility has the greatest impact on indoor air quality, and it has been proven that good air quality can lead to substantial and measurable improvements in life expectancy, according to a
study by Brigham Young University and Harvard School of Public Health.

With more than a decade of experience in the service industry, Thomas sought to bring consistency and sustainability to the commercial cleaning industry after working for two of the largest international commercial cleaning franchise chains in the business. A combination of his own environmentally friendly practices around the home and his desire to make Atlanta companies healthier and safer for their employees, customers and visitors led Thomas to open EnviroClean USA in October of 2007. Since inception, the company has maintained a client retention rate of 100%, and Thomas feels now is the time he should be bringing the message of green cleaning to far more companies, particularly in light of the Obama administration's current focus on greening public buildings by making them more efficient, lowering operation costs and retrofitting them. Thomas says soon the private sector will begin to do the same, retrofitting older buildings to make them more appealing with LEED-EBOM (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance) certification. Now that green cleaning has become a pre-requisite (requirement) for LEED-EBOM certification, EnviroClean USA can contribute up to eight points, or 30% of the total points, needed for this certification.

But Thomas says that even companies that are not seeking LEED certification should consider green cleaning. There are major tax and marketing advantages by having a green building, and choosing EnviroClean USA's services is the easiest and most inexpensive way for its customers to initiate sustainable practices. And while green cleaning services can be 10 to 20% more costly than traditional cleaning services, they have many hard and soft benefits that outweigh the initial investment. For example, the service lowers operating costs by saving the customer up to 80% of its water consumption for cleaning, saving up to 40% of its electricity consumption and providing additional savings associated with waste removal via recycling programs (landfill diversion). Some of the hard benefits are higher occupancy levels, increase in value of property and a reduction in maintenance costs. In addition, Thomas cites the soft benefits of his green cleaning service as enhanced productivity by his customers' employees, higher attendance rates and lower health care costs. The combined hard and soft benefits ultimately translate to a greater bottom line for a company.

Thomas's approach differentiates itself from all other competitors who are "green washing", which is simply making minor changes like recycling paper and then labeling the company green or sustainable. For its customers, EnviroClean USA uses only Green Seal approved chemicals, micro-fiber towels and mopping systems, Hepa filtration systems and low moisture extractors. The company also employs a consistent daily, weekly and once-a-month cleaning check-list to ensure that the work environment is healthier, from disinfecting telephone receivers and elevator buttons to sanitizing bathroom walls and janitors' closets. And, from utilizing a virtual office and paperless invoices to printing marketing materials on recycled paper and routing cleaning schedules to reduce carbon footprint, EnviroClean USA itself sets the standard for its industry.

EnviroClean USA's website is evolving into a live/work/play website teaching people how to live environmentally friendly lifestyles and providing green news and updates. To learn more about "going green" or for more information on EnviroClean USA's services, visit www.envirocleanusa.org