contribute to environmentally friendly practices.”

Reflecting this effort, ISSA launched a new, comprehensive online resource cov­ering the topic of green cleaning for both product and service providers. The infor­mation, available at www.issa.com/green, is one of many initiatives stemming from ISSA’s long-range, strategic plan to provide the industry, and the public at large, with valuable information regarding the connec­tions between science, cleaning, and health.

“Interest in this will be sustained,” said Topher Buck, senior project manager of

CleanGredients, an online resource for green formulation. “It’s not a flash in the Services pan. It means better chemistry for the marketplace.”

Though the industry seems ready for knowledge, green cleaning, with manufacturers promoting their environment-friendly formu­las, and service providers looking to ensure the health and safety

of their employees, there are still some questions about how you exhibit clean qual­ities, said Buck.

“When you expand the definition of a quality cleaning product, it still has to work well,” he said.

With their professional expertise, building services contractors are look­ing for equipment and accessories that allow them to be more efficient and effec­tive, agreed Darren Watts, director of sales for CleanMaster, maker of CRI-approved carpet and floor cleaning equip­ment. “There’s an awareness of the need to remove more soil and improve hy­giene.”

“Performance is paramount in green cleaning,” agreed Roger McFadden, chief science officer with Corporate Express, a supplier of office and cleaning supplies which was recently purchased by Staples Inc. Formulator of the Sustainable Earth line of cleaning products, McFadden said, “No product can be totally risk free. Green chemistry is about reducing the hazard.”

Taking that one step further, Rochelle Davis, founding executive director of the Healthy Schools Campaign, a non-profit adered a definition of green cleaning?

“Green cleaning is cleaning to protect health without harming the environment,” Davis said in announcing at the convention the release of the second edition of the Quick & Easy Guide to Green Cleaning in Schools.

Improved and expanded, the new release includes new sections on sustainability, green cleaning for food service, integrated pest management, and other new technolo­gies. It follows the distribution of more than 70,000 copies of the original Guide.

“It’s been remarkable to see how much green cleaning in schools has grown in the two years since we released the first guide,” said Davis, who is also executive editor of the guide. “There is a growing awareness of the way that cleaning can affect the health of everyone in the building, from stu­dents to the custodial staff working closely with the chemicals.”

“In that way, a cleaning program affects student performance, staff attendance and the overall climate of a school,” she said.

The Guide includes a handbook that out­lines five simple steps for establishing a green cleaning program, such as switching new procedures, introducing green paper and plastic products. It includes an en­hanced purchasing directory with more than 500 products that meet the HSC’s environ­mental standards for schools.

Davis said there are four reasons for green cleaning:

• It helps students stay healthy and clean;

• It protects custodians;

• It increases the lifetime of a facility; and

• It preserves the environment.

For years, ISSA was a distributor orga­nization, but has been opened to end users in recent years, to remain viable within a consolidated industry. In a nod toward the ISSA’s roots and member dynamic, HSC also guides end users on how to choose a distributor that will help them get the most out of their green cleaning program.

“Distributors are really important,” Davis said, adding the HSC can help end users get the most out of their bids.

Steve Askin, author of the guide and president of The Ashkin Group LLC, was also active at the conference, and explained that the guide’s strength comes from the di­verse coalition involved in its development and distribution.

involvement it has garnered from both edu­cation leaders and corporate leaders in the cleaning industry,” he said. “The informa­tion is practical for schools and practical for the companies providing products to schools. It illustrates how green cleaning is a win-win for education and for industry, and how much sense it makes to take steps to­ward protecting health and our environment with a green cleaning program.”

Still, manufacturers have to help the end-user save money. “Green has raised the bar so high,” said Tom Lyons, public relations manager for SCA Tissue, which was ranked at the top of the World Wildlife Fund’s 2007 assessment of companies within the paper industry and their work with sustainability issues.

Offering attendees an environmental footprint evaluator tool at its booth, Lyons said, “The differentiator is sustainability and profitability. How do you help end users save money?” By controlled usage and improved hygiene, he said. “Buying cheap c-fold towels is not a money saver.”

JohnsonDiversey Inc. used the conven­tion to announce that it has been accepted in the World Wildlife Fund’s Climate Savers program, and pledged to slash its green­house gas emissions by up to 25 percent by 2013. The company made the announce­ment at its exhibit booth, with Chairman Curt Johnson pledging a $19 million in­vestment over the next five years to meet the “ambitious, voluntary target.”

“Sustainability is the purpose of our be­ing,” he said. “It’s the cornerstone of our foundation.”

He said that by 2010, JDI and the 16 other members of the program will cut car­bon emissions by 14 million tons annually, the equivalent of taking three million cars off the road.

Johnson said he expects the $19 million investment to generate savings of $31 mil­lion and help “preserve our fragile planet.”

Matt Banks, senior program officer of the Climate Savers program, called it a “cut­ting edge strategy that will give Johnson-Diversey leverage to compete in the global marketplace,” adding that “changes in cor­porate business practices are essential.”

“By joining Climate Savers, JohnsonDi­versey is demonstrating that the world’s leading companies will find even greater success competing in the global market­place when they operate in an environmen­tally responsible way,” said Banks.

To achieve its target, the company said its actions will include improving the fuel efficiency of its worldwide auto and truck fleet by switching to vehicles with the best fuel efficiency in their class and to alternative-energy vehicles; upgrading the energy efficiency of its buildings, manufacturing plants and operations in major sites around the world; and installing on-site alternative energy sources such as fuel cells or wind turbines.

ISSA Executive Director John Garfinkle was present for JohnsonDiversey’s an­nouncement. He noted the 65th anniversary of JohnsonDiversey’s membership in the ISSA, and called the action an example for the industry to follow.

“I can’t be partial to any one company,” he said, “but I can be partial to JohnsonDiversey’s efforts for the environment.”

JohnsonDiversy CEO Ed Lonergan said the company would get $3 back for every dollar it invested in green cleaning. “There’s a difference between saying green and being green,” he said, adding that there’s no better place than ISSA/Interclean to make the announcement. ❑