You have to admit that the green building movement has definitely put some pressure on formalizing cleaning programs and forcing some measurement of success. A number of years ago we put in place a tool to help us pull data from our enterprise system and create a report that allows us to help customers measure the success of their green cleaning program. 
Every year, if not more often, we run a “Green Purchase Report” for customers that have to submit reports for various reasons or maybe they just want to set some goals for continuous improvement each year. A number of our higher education clients report to Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) STARS program or our health care clients may be members of Practice Green Health and have a need to report. Some need the information to submit for a LEED or LEED for Existing Buildings project or some of our real ambitious clients are seeking Green Seal (GS-42) certification or Cleaning Industry Management Standard for Green Buildings (CIMS-GB) certification. No matter what the need is, it is one of the measurements to help evaluate your program.
With the release of LEED Version 4.0 nearly two years ago, and every time that LEED goes through a new release, the bar is raised. So the new Version 4.0 standard requires that 75% of the cost of all products in these categories, skin care, cleaning chemicals, laundry chemicals, paper products and trash liners, meet the criteria for green products.
Having just worked on a number of reports for customers for 2016, we want to give a shout out to Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids. Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids has done a very nice job of reducing the number of cleaning products they use making it easier to manage their inventory and to train their employees who do the cleaning of their corporate headquarters as well as their 30+ other facilities including retail stores. Goodwill of Greater Grand Rapids achieved 83% compliance for their Cleaning for Health program in 2016! A big thanks to them for protecting our environment by using products with post-consumer recycled content (closing the loop) and 3rd party certified products that have less of an impact on the environment.
Having a great cleaning program isn’t just about the products you use but this is certainly one of the measurements that you can use to gauge your success.
Currently a Nichols’ customers and want to know how you measure up? Send us an e-mail
Not currently a Nichols’ customer but think this would be a useful tool, or if you have a green building project in your future? Send us a note and we would be glad to assist.