Green Cleaning and Personal Care Products Project
How often do you stop to read the labels of your glass cleaner or hand lotion? And on that rare occasion, do you find yourself stumbling over words you either can’t pronounce or haven’t seen since high school chemistry?
Chances are, the Environmental Protection Agency hasn’t heard of them either. Each year, the EPA grants approval to 90% of all new chemicals without restrictions - and they’ve tested the toxicity of only 25% of the 82,000 chemicals used in the US. (David E. Duncan, The Pollution Within, National Geographic, October 2006, 122.) Some benign, but many harmful, these chemicals pervade every aspect of our modern life styles. They are in the food we eat and the cars we drive, the fabrics we wear and the products with which we clean.
As consumers, we have a choice beyond the cost and quality of a product - a choice to purchase items made from safe and healthy materials. In the Fall of 2005, Middlebury College’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Office of Facilities Services began to take a closer look at the products and practices the custodial staff uses in their work. We also partnered with INFORM, a national non-profit organization with a long history of working successfully with industry to eliminate and reduce toxic pollution.
The goals of the Green Cleaning and Personal Care Products Project are to:
* reduce the risk of exposure to unhealthy products by the
custodial staff and the occupants of the buildings they
maintain;
* raise awareness of students, faculty and staff about the
chemicals used in personal care products and to provide
information about alternative choices and their costs and
benefits;
* share information about the project with others.
INFORM worked with Middlebury’s custodial staff to conduct an assessment of the products they use and provided information about their toxicity. They gave recommendations about alternative practices and products that would lower the health risks associated with frequent use and exposure of cleaning products. Over the following year, the custodial staff tested a number of alternative products and rated their performance in terms of ease of use, cleaning results, and cost effectiveness. Based on these trials several new green cleaning products have been made part of the college’s inventory. The custodial staff has also made much greater use of micro-fiber cloths which they find to work very well in cleaning glass and mirrored surfaces with water instead of glass cleaners.
These initial successes were a good start in terms of shifting our purchasing practices toward greener, safer products. In order to keep the momenturm building, the project participants decided to conduct a number of campus wide events in the Fall of 2006. These events were co-sponsored by the Department of Environmental Affairs, Facilities Services, Staff Council, Human Resources, and the Office of Health and Well-Being. They organized a meeting between the custodial team leaders and INFORM staff to assess progress, identify issues and questions the custodial teams had regarding the products they were using, new alternatives that had come onto the market, and what other institutions were doing.
This session was used to develop a subsequent seminar for the entire custodial staff to provide new information and dialogue about greening the cleaning. It was also decided that we should increase efforts to raise awareness about personal care products, particularly among students. As one custodian pointed out: “As we improve the air quality in the residence halls with greener cleaning products, we want to be sure the students are doing their part by using personal care products that are safe and non-toxic.” A survey of students was also conducted to gauge their degree of awareness and knowledge about the toxicity of personal care products and safer alternatives.
On October 19th, 2006 Middlebury staff, faculty, and students had the opportunity to learn about the choices they have in regard to cleaning and personal care products on an individual as well as institutional level. The event kicked off the next phase of the effort to boost the College’s leadership in sustainability and environmental stewardship by encouraging broader use of environmentally sound and healthy cleaning products and by working towards the development of green purchasing policies and practices.
The day began with a seminar for custodial staff on green cleaning products. Carol Westinghouse, a representative from INFORM, presented "Cleaning for Health" - about the shift towards green products in the chemical industry, costs and benefits of the products, and the industry’s future directions. She also discussed the current use of green cleaning products on the Middlebury campus. Members of the custodial staff from Newport Union High School and South Burlington High School presented on their experiences in switching from traditional to green product use and a representative from White River Supply talked about the industry perspective on current and “in the pipeline” green cleaning products.
Following the seminar, Laurie Rich of INFORM gave a presentation at the lunch time Howard E. Woodin Colloquium Series in Bicentennial Hall on: “Is the Smell of Clean Making You Sick? Environmentally Preferable Purchasing: Why What You Buy Is Important.”
Following these events a Green Cleaning and Personal Care Products Health Fair was held for students, staff and faculty. The open house provided the opportunity to talk to experts about the ways in which cleaning products can harm human health, learn about alternatives to these products, hear what the college is doing to address such issues, and share personal concerns and ideas on how tokeep our homes, offices, and dorm rooms clean and healthy. The event also included a “story studio” for people to share stories on videotape which was conducted by a crew from Seventh Generation as part of an educational video they are producing in partnership with INFORM.
For more information contact Jack Byrne, Campus Sustainability Coordinator, email: jmbyrne@middlebury;edu, tel: 802-443-5043.