Ready for green boom?
April 1st 2007 By Mark Armitage, ISSA Director of European Services Almost every day we see or hear a news report warning us of the environmental pressures we face and the action we need to take to deal with the growing problem of climate change. From the sheer volume of media attention surrounding this topic it is not difficult to see the magnitude of this issue. As businesses across the world turn their attention to the green agenda, I am pleased to say that the cleaning industry is responding positively to the environmental challenge. Green cleaning is an area where our industry is raising its game in response to customer demand and as with previous shows, I fully expect green cleaning to be a key theme at the ISSA/Interclean Central and Eastern Europe event we are running with the Polish Cleaning Association in Warsaw this June. It is certainly still early days for this trend but it is encouraging to see that organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental impact of cleaning whether it be energy consumption, recyclable materials or environmentally safe materials. I have noticed there have been a number of products launched recently in response to green cleaning trends and it would appear that buyers are becoming more Ready for green boom? concerned with the sustainability issue when it comes to new chemicals. Low toxicity and minimum environmental impact are now important factors to consider in any purchase. I have also been impressed by those manufacturers that are changing their products to minimise packaging waste. From my experience at recent shows, buyers are expressing a great deal of interest in green products and systems, which is why I expect there to be a continued increase in the number of environmentally-friendly products available on the market. ISSA is at the forefront in encouraging the growth of green cleaning and we have a number of resources available. Our special edition book, Green Cleaning for Dummies explains how to implement a green cleaning programme for commercial or institutional cleaning operations and provides other useful information on switching to green cleaning. The recently launched ISSA EcoSmart green cleaning cost evaluator tool is an excellent example of how technology is being used to help us to become smarter and greener. Check it out at www.infoclean. com/ecosmart.html. We also have a useful educational green cleaning video clip available on our website as part of our range dealing with important business issues facing the cleaning industry. ISSA members can find more resources at www.issa.com or they can contact me directly for advice. www.issaeurope.com mark@issa.com More articles from ISSA Interclean: | 
