# Presentation: 666456

## Sustainable Custodial Products

## Benefits

**Benefits**

**Maximize worker protection**
**Protect the environment**
**Save time by reducing cleaning products from an average of 33 to 7 per custodial station**
**Save time by reducing chemical inventory**
**Reduce waste handling, shipping, disposal costs**
**Lower purchasing cost**

## First Steps

**Pull together team: custodians, EPP coordinator, industrial hygiene, liquid effluents, waste management, environmental releases, and contract specialists**
**Identify present products not meeting requirements (designated biobased and recycled content products) **
**Evaluate the more environmental alternatives that meet the Green Seal Industrial & Institutional Standards GS-37 (Cleaners) and GS-40 (Floor Care) **
**Test products**
**Train staff on different cleaning process**

## GS-37 Standard CriteriaMandatory – Pass/Fail

**No regulated ingredients**
**No compounds requiring reporting per Superfund Act**
**No aerosol cans**
**No alkyl phenol ethoxylates**
**No priority pollutants**
**No ingredients classified as carcinogens, mutagens, teratogens**
**No ozone depleting compounds**
**No volatile organic compounds**

## Mandatory SpecsNo Regulated Ingredients

**Superfund Act = **
**Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act =**
**SARA Title III, Section 313, 40 CFR 372.45, Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Chemicals**
**Alkyl phenol ethoxylates are hormone mimickers**
**Priority pollutants defined in Clean Water Act**
**Mutagen – agent, such as ultraviolet light, that can increase the frequency of a mutation in an organism**
**Teratogen – agent, such as a virus or drug, that causes malformation of an embryo or fetus**

## GS-37 Standard CriteriaRelative Ranking

**Price**
**Aquatic toxicity**
**Skin and eye irritation**
**Dilution range, mixing and application methods**
**Returnable/reusable containers, recycled content, screen printed labeling**
**Product compatibility with other products**
**Product testing, demonstration, and staff training**
**Delivery time**
**Separate cleaners and disinfectants**
**Dyes**
**Fragrances**

## To Consider in Request for Proposal

**Need to allow much more than standard response time to Request for Proposal and evaluation time**
**Use non-disclosure agreements to assist in obtaining proprietary information**
**Hold teleconference for vendors prior to their submittals to discuss information needed**
**Need to establish and train custodial staff on cleaning protocol (Example: disinfectants)**
**Need to ensure specifications meet your state’s definition of what is regulated, sewerable, and how certain materials may be diluted and dispensed**

## Challenges

**Changing our paradigm of what is “clean and healthy” (Example:  deodorizers and disinfectants)**
**Learning new cleaning procedures**
**Limited number of floor products and disinfectants without regulated ingredients**
**Manufacturers’ reluctance to share proprietary information**

## Website for Cleaners & Floor Care Products that Meet Green Seal Standards http://www.greenseal.org/findaproduct/index.cfm#cleaners

**Website for Cleaners & Floor Care Products that Meet ****Green Seal Standards ****http://www.greenseal.org/findaproduct/index.cfm#cleaners**