Scores of environmentally preferable cleaning products have recently become available in the janitorial marketplace. In fact, just about every type of cleaning product used on a regular basis, including glass cleaners, floor care strippers, sealers and finishes, carpet care spotters, odor eliminators, toilet bowl and urinal cleaners, and many more products now have “green” certified equivalents. Users find that many of these products not only work as well — if not better — than conventional products, but are usually very cost-effective to boot.
However, things get a bit more complicated when it comes to disinfectants, which are products designed to destroy disease-causing microorganisms. In the United States, there are no such products that truly can be considered green. This is because the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prohibits manufacturers or distributors from promoting, labeling or marketing disinfectants as “green certified” to U.S. customers. Although some disinfectants manufactured in the U.S. and Canada and sold in Canada may bear a green certification label from, the same product can not be sold in this country with that particular labeling.
The EPA has determined that Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) registration is sufficient assurance of a product’s safety and effectiveness and that any additional claims may be misleading. However, while registration by FIFRA guarantees that a product has met the EPA’s environmental and health guidelines and standards, it does not necessarily mean that additional steps have been taken that would qualify the product as green. These steps include such things as:
• using ingredients that reduce the product’s impact on the environment
• packaging the product in recyclable materials and reducing packaging volume
• ensuring that the product meets additional performance, efficacy, human health and safety, and environmental requirements
Obviously, the lack of a green alternative for standard disinfectants can cause problems for those facilities that are trying to Green their cleaning operations. Most administrators view going green as a “total package,” not a piecemeal program. To use the old cliché, they believe they are only as green as the weakest link in their “green chain.” But for now, facility administrators and cleaning professionals have no choice but to use only EPA-registered disinfectants. As more scientific evidence emerges regarding the effectiveness and safety of environmentally preferable disinfectants, the EPA is said to be revisiting this issue.