Green Cleaning and Infection Control: An Expert Roundtable Discusses the Issues

Sheldon: There is a tremendous amount of misinformation that flies around the world regarding the use of disinfectants and whether or not they contribute to the formation of resistant pathogenic organisms. To date we are not aware of any published scientific evidence that conclusively proves the use of surface disinfectants present any such risk.

Tricozzi: One misconception I would like to address is the belief that green cleaning involves just cleaning chemicals. Healthcare administrators should view green cleaning as the spokes on an old carriage wheel. As long as all the spokes are strong and sturdy, the wheel works fine. But when one is missing or is not performing correctly, the integrity of the entire wheel may be in jeopardy. And one of the spokes often overlooked is high-performance matting systems. More than 80 percent of the soil entering a facility essentially walks in on shoe bottoms. An effective matting system captures, traps, and stores these soils so that they do not contaminate the facility. “Storing” means that the high-performance matting system keeps the soil in place, allowing it to be removed later by vacuuming or cleaning with minimum impact on the building. This is often accomplished because the matting is bi-level. Soils and contaminants fall beneath the surface of the mat so that they cannot be tracked into the facility. And the less soil entering, the less chemical and related cleaning products are needed, minimizing cleaning’s impact on the environment. Additionally, this can help reduce airborne contaminants and volatile organic contaminants (VOCs), often found in cleaning chemicals, which can mar the facility’s indoor air quality. In fact, so important is matting’s role that the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program awards one point (of the necessary 32) to those facilities that have an effective, high-performing matting system in place.