Page 22 - College Planning & Management, November 2017

Facilities CAMPUS SPACES
Routine Cleaning vs. Sustainability
Can cleaning help colleges and universities be more sustainable? You bet!
BY RON SEGURA
WITH ALL THE HATS that college and university administrators must wear, it is likely that they have not been able to pay much attention to the
evolution occurring in the professional cleaning industry. What is happening is that the impact of cleaning on people and the envi- ronment has been markedly reduced in the past few years.
The industry is also promoting sustainability in several ways, which is helping colleges and universities reduce their environmen- tal footprint. (Here, the use of the words “sustainable” and “sustain- ability” references a reduction in the use of natural resources from the ingredients used to make the product to the way it is packaged, delivered and disposed of.) This is all part of a journey which started in the professional cleaning industry a good 20 years ago, with the introduction of green cleaning products and strategies.
Possibly a good place to start our discussion of how these green
products are also promoting sustainability is with what was for- merly called “chemical-free” cleaning. Today, chemical-free clean- ing is known by different names such as cleaning with “engineered water,” “on-site/on-demand engineered water,” “enhanced” or “activated water” cleaning. Whatever the name, it essentially means the same thing: no chemicals, traditional or otherwise, are used in the cleaning process.
Understanding Engineered Water Cleaning
In 2013, administrators at Boston’s Logan International Airport notified their cleaning service provider that they wanted them to use the most environmentally preferable and sustainable cleaning products possible. They were looking for something new; a step beyond green cleaning products.
Because floor care was such a major part of the upkeep of the
22 COLLEGE PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / NOVEMBER 2017
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