The universities that indicated that they use, or had used, environmentally friendly cleaners included the University of Buffalo, Colby College, Davidson, and Hamilton College. These institutions used a variety of commercial green cleaners as well as simple vinegar. These universities indicated that, contrary to non-users assumptions, most environmentally friendly cleaners performed at an equal level to that of conventional cleaners. Cleaners that did not perform equally well required additional effort to achieve similar results. The health and safety of custodians was one of the primary reasons that these institutions cited as to why they chose to use environmentally friendly cleaners.
Many cleaners can also pose more serious safety threats.
The odors of most conventional cleaners are noxious and linger for a substantial time after the application of the product. Green cleaners are most often derived from citrus fruit, producing a pleasant odor. This is not true of the odor of vinegar based cleaners, which have a foul smell, but dissipate rapidly. One of the institutions that did not use green cleaners listed odors as their top problem with the conventional cleaners that they used. Economic concerns were a common concern for these institutions.