Executive Housekeeping Today - April 2008 - (Page 3)

Green Certification Issues Recently, there has been a rapid expansion of the Green movement within the cleaning industry—a movement that started about a decade ago, but has grown dramatically over the past year. As exciting as this news is, there is likely to be some confusion as facilities move from conventional to Green products, and one of the first mysteries to unravel is which products really are Green and which ones are not. Before respected Green certification organizations existed, such as EcoLogo or Green Seal, some early manufacturers of environmentally-friendly products simply “self-declared” their products to be Green, with little or no evidence to back up their claims. Many did so genuinely, believing their claims to be true, while many others did it for marketing reasons, to take advantage of a “hot, new trend,” such as the one the cleaning industry is experiencing today. Unfortunately, many of the selfdeclared Green claims are false and misleading; and when Green claims are misleading, it creates confusion among customers and undermines the entire Green movement. Consumers might assume all environmental claims are misleading and, as a result, the truly Green products suffer as a result of the backlash. r by Scot Case published in the report The Six A product may have some Green Sins of Greenwashing, revealed attributes, but the manufacturer is that 99 percent of the tested prod- hiding or “trading off” other aspects ucts were guilty of one or more sins of the product that are not helpful to the environment. For instance, of “greenwashing.” The six categories, or sins,2/21/08 4:22 PM Page 1 of some energy-efficient products GEE 1207-15 GreenTeamAd-EHT contain hazardous materials that greenwashing include: (continued on next page) • Sin of the Hidden Tradeoff: Meet the Oldest Member of Your Green Team. Geerpres started to assemble its first green team of products in 1935. We just weren’t calling it “green” back then. For over seventy years, Geerpres wringers, carts and buckets have been manufactured using 100% recyclable materials to minimize the consumption of natural resources. Today, Geerpres continues to use sustainable manufacturing processes to provide longlasting equipment that both eliminates the need for premature replacement and is environmentallyfriendly. It’s time to learn more about why Geerpres should be the oldest (and newest) member of your green team. To learn more about why Geerpres products are the equipment of choice for cleaning professionals committed to environmental sustainability, call or visit www.geerpres.com Green or Greenwashed? © 2008, Geerpres, Inc. All rights reserved. In order to help companies and consumers select products that are truly helpful to the environment and be able to decipher through the maze of product claims, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing recently conducted a study of 1,018 so-called “environmentally-friendly” common consumer products—from toothpaste to printers—to understand the truth about these claims. The findings, 800.253.0373 ® The Equipment of Choice E n v i r o n m e n t a l l y S u s t a i n a b l e • 1 0 0 % R e c y cl a b l e April 2008/Executive Housekeeping Today 3 http://www.geerpres.com http://www.geerpres.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Executive Housekeeping Today - April 2008

Executive Housekeeping Today - April 2008 Contents Executive Corner Green Certification Issues The Green Benefit from the Roof Down Frugal Housekeeper LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance Greening with Mats A Greener Approach to Laundry Feature Article 2008 Candidate Information The Green Scene 2008 Convention Information Get Into the "O-Zone" Product Highlights CEH/REH Members New Members Joint IEHA/ISSA Members Advertisers' Index Calendar of Events Inside I.E.H.A. What I.E.H.A. Has Done For Me

Executive Housekeeping Today - April 2008

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