Luther College

Facilities Services/Environmental Services

Decorah, Iowa, 52101

At Luther College, the new Sampson Hoffland Laboratories building has been built and will be maintained as a sustainable building. To this end, we have created Luther College’s Green Cleaning Practices. This program is being piloted in Sampson Hoffland with the expectation to expand it to the complete campus. The Green Cleaning

Practices includes the use of green cleaning chemicals, employing cleaning processes that benefit public health and the environment, and purchasing environmentally preferable custodial products.

Purpose

Green cleaning is defined as cleaning to protect health without harming the environment. It has been found that widely used cleaning products can have serious adverse effects on the health of building occupants and custodians. At the same time, these cleaning products are harming the environment. Green cleaning is a widely accepted movement to make cleaning for the health of building occupants andcustodians a primary concern, while minimizing the harm to the environment through better purchasing practices and cleaning processes. Green cleaning means emphasizing the environmental sustainability of cleaning operations and overall building health (i.e. indoor air quality) and not solely evaluating building cleanliness based on appearance.

How does green cleaning work?

Green cleaning is more than just substituting chemicals; it involves choosing cleaning processes that improve the health of a building. Methods include preventing dirt and dust from entering the building and using effective and efficient cleaning methods, such as HEPA filtration vacuums and microfiber cloths. The focus on the process of cleaning means that custodial training is an integral step in the process; in addition, comprehensive training is required to ensure that custodians are using the productsin a safe and efficient manner. Green cleaning also takes into consideration the product’s entire life cycle, favoring concentrated products that are packaged in reduced, refillable, or recyclable packaging.The products used in Luther College’s Green Cleaning program are certified by Green Seal’s GS-37 standard.Green Seal is an independent, non-profit certification program.

Benefits of a green cleaning program

Building occupant health benefits: Most people spend a vast majority of their time indoors, forcing them to be exposed to the chemicals that are used in buildings. The chemicals used in cleaning products have been linked to multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome, allergies, contact dermatitis, headaches, dry eyes, nausea, dizziness, and fatigue. Instituting a green cleaning program helps to improve indoor air quality, which in turn, helps to increase workers’ productivity, decrease absenteeism, and reduce medical andinsurance costs.

Custodial health benefits: Custodians spend their entire day working with harmful chemicals, giving them an increased chance of injury. Cleaning chemicals can cause many health problems for custodians, including: eye damage, skin burns, headaches, asthma, organ damage, reproductive disorders, and cancer. The Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project estimates that the average custodian uses about 23 gallons of chemicals per year, of which 25% are hazardous. Switching to green cleaning products and processes decreases the overall use of chemicals and hazardous products, which decreases risk of injury to custodians.

Environmental benefits: Cleaning products contain many ingredients that produce harmful environmental effects. Two examples include volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that contribute to photochemical smog, tropospheric ozone, and carcinogenic indoor air quality, and phosphates and nitrates that contribute to eutrophication in waterways. Luther College’s Green Cleaning Practices reduces the ecological impact of its products by reducing its overall cleaning chemical use and by purchasing products whose environmental impacts have been tested and proven to be minimal by Green Seal Standard 37.

Custodial products

Luther College has used Baywest Grean Seal Certified paper products for some time. This includes our paper towels and toilet paper. Conventional paper products are often manufactured with virgin pulp, and are bleached with chlorine, which releases dioxin. Dioxin is a known carcinogen that also damages immune systems, reproductive health, and cause countless other serious health problems. In addition, Luther College uses recycled content trash bags across campus. The janitorial staff is also trained to reducethe number of trash liners used when trash bins can be emptied into a larger bin without needing to replace the liner.

Luther College Facilities Services- Environmental Services researched Green Cleaning with our main custodial supplier, Weber Paper Company. During this research, Weber Paper was able to supply Luther College with the proper third party certified green product, based on the product category ( Greenseal, Ecologo, DFE). Weber Paper was also instrumental in setting up the training and providing this training to the custodial workers in Sampson Hoffland Laboratories.

These objectives will be met through the implementation of GS-37 certified cleaning products by Spartan Chemical Company. Additionally, the custodial staff is being trained in “green” procedures and techniques including:

  • Dilution management systems for chemical use to reduce packaging waste
  • Microfiber cleaning products to minimize use of disposable products, and to improve indoor air quality
  • “Green” certified automatic scrubber to minimize water and chemical use
  • Proper “green” product application

Luther College Facilities Services

Luther College Green Cleaning Practices

Statement of Purpose

  • Reduce impact on health of both occupants & custodians
  • Reduce impact on the environment
  • Meet sanitation, appearance and other service considerations
  • Meet budgetary considerations
  • Reduce liability

Luther College Green Cleaning Practices

Approved and Prohibited Chemicals and Practices

Performance Evaluation

I. APPROVED CHEMICALS

Chemicals that are approved for use must be Green Seal (GS) Certified, which means thatthey are in accordance with the GS-37 (Industrial and Institutional Cleaners), GS-09(Paper Products), or GS-40 (Floor Care) performance standards. A list of currentlyapproved products is below. This list is constantly evolving as new products becomecertified under these standards. The approved vendor in conjunction with Luther College Facilities Services will evaluate new products as they become available.

Cleaning Products

Any GS-37 cleaning product is approved for use in the building.

Manufacturer Products

Currently the following products are approved for use in the Sampson Hoffland Laboratories building.

  • Spartan Clean by Peroxy
  • Spartan Biorenewable glass cleaner
  • Spartan Green Solutions All Purpose Cleaner
  • Spartan Green Solutions Industrial Cleaner

Paper Products

  • Green Seal certified and recommended products will be used in the building, however,Green Seal Certified products are preferable to Green Seal Recommended products, or products that merely meet EPA requirements.Unbleached products with a high post consumer waste content are preferred Refer to “Green Seal Choose Green Report: Bathroom Tissue and Paper Towels” available at or contactmanufacturer for more information on products, such as percent of post consumerrecycled content.

Manufacturer Product Green Seal Status

  • Bay West EcoSoft Roll Towels Certified
  • EcoSoft Folded Towels Certified
  • EcoSoft Toilet Tissues Certified
  • EcoSoft Toilet Specialty Products Certified

Floor Care

  • Our floor care at this time uses Boost auto-scrubber by Clarke that allows us to do chemical free stripping. This machine also reduces general water and chemical usage for daily cleaning by 50% to 70%.

Trash Bags and Liners

  • Recycled content trash bags should be used whenever possible. Green Seal does notrecommend products and no set standards exist.

Manufacturer Product

  • Pitt Plastics Hi Density liners will be used.

II. APPROVED PRACTICES

  • Approved practices are ones that limit the amount of dirt entering the building, help toimprove indoor air quality, reduce their impact on the environment, and minimize theamount of cleaning chemicals that are needed and reduce overall waste due to cleaning.
  • Entrance matting systems to prevent soil from entering the building.
  • Microfiber cloths will replace disposable paper towels to minimize waste.
  • Recycled cotton cloths can also replace paper towels to minimize waste.
  • Microfiber dry mops will replace chemically treated dry mops to minimizechemical and water use.
  • HEPA or high-filtration vacuums to improve indoor air quality.
  • Dilution control systems to allow for the use of concentrated products to minimizepackaging and the environmental effects associated with shipping dilutedchemicals.
  • Floor care systems: Unfinished floors are preferable, to eliminate the need to sealor finish the floors. Green Seal certified finishers are recommended if finishing isneeded.
  • Trash liners should only be replaced when necessary; garbage should be dumpedinto the main trash barrel and liners should be left in the receptacle if they areclean.

III. PROHIBITED CHEMICALS

  • The following chemicals are prohibited, in accordance with GS-37 and GS-8 standards.
  • Alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEs)
  • Phthalates
  • Dibutyl phthalate
  • Heavy metals including arsenic, lead, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, mercury,nickel, or selenium
  • Optical brighteners & chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite)
  • Ozone-depleting compounds
  • Ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA)
  • Nitilotriacetic acid (NTA)
  • Petroleum or petrochemical compounds
  • Phenolic compounds and glycol ethers
  • Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) (must be less than 10%)
  • Carcinogens and reproductive toxin

The following ingredients are found in floor care systems and are prohibited (inaddition to the above list):

  • Zinc
  • 2-Butoxy ethanol (EGBE)
  • Aqueous ammonia
  • 2-Methoxyethanol or ethylene glycol monomethyl ether (EGME)
  • 2-Ethoxyethanol or ethylene glycol monoethyl ether (EGEE)

IV. PROHIBITED PRACTICES

  • Non-concentrated products should not be used.
  • Paper towels should not be used for cleaning.
  • Trash liners should not be removed if they are clean.
  • Automatic aerosol deodorizers that contain high levels of VOCs are prohibited.
  • Urinal blocks are prohibited.
  • Chemically treated dust cloths are prohibited.

V. PERFORMANCE AUDIT/CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

  • New employee training will be completed prior to working in SHL.
  • Annual employee training will be completed on existing and new products and procedures.
  • Quarterly audits of procedures will be completed.
  • Annual employee performance appraisals will also include a section that will be devoted to green cleaning procedures and how the employee is performing to guidelines.