Eco-Friendly Janitorial Services: 10 Things You Should Know
Did you know that common cleaning ingredients can cause health problems, from mild sickness to cancer?
Most cleaning services must employ harsh chemicals to do their cleaning. These chemicals may kill bacteria and keep spaces clean, but they come at an environmental and health cost. The problem is most commercial janitorial services use these chemicals regularly everywhere they clean.
Green janitorial services are the answer you're looking for. But they have far more benefits than avoiding toxic chemicals. They reduce your impact on the environment and save you money.
Keep reading as we discuss the ten things you should know about eco-friendly janitorial services.
1. Eco-friendly janitorial services are better for your health
As we mentioned earlier, most cleaning ingredients are harsh.
Bleach is one of many examples. It can burn skin, irritate eyes and skin, and combine with other chemicals to form harmful gases. Bleach might smell great, but it poses a risk to your health.
An eco-friendly janitorial service dispenses these chemicals in favor of natural ingredients. These natural ingredients don't cause harm to the skin, eyes, or lungs. Since these ingredients don't come in artificial, concentrated amounts, they don't pose the same risk.
And best of all, these products are clean like their chemical counterparts.
2. They preserve the environment
Harsh chemicals don't just harm you; they harm the environment. In most cases, these chemicals go down the drain or the toilet.
Those chemicals then make it into rivers and groundwater. This kills local species, harming vital biodiversity. Local populations suffer, reducing our planet's ability to rebound from the effects of climate change.
Green products are natural, meaning they don't significantly affect the environment. They biodegrade, and local organisms absorb or consume them. It's a win-win for you and the planet.
3. Everything lasts longer
Harsh chemicals harm your health and hurt the environment. But they have another side effect: they degrade the surfaces that you clean.
Metal, wood, and synthetic surfaces experience significant wear and tear from chemical products. These products can strip microscopic layers off the surface with each cleaning. Over time this wears out furniture, floors, and fixtures.
Green cleaning, being less harsh, is gentle on surfaces. Your cleaning janitorial services won't force you to replace things earlier than planned.
4. They use touch-free solutions
Green cleaners are all about innovation. Cleaning can just as easily contaminate an office as the cleaners go about their work. Your green commercial janitorial service may employ electrostatic disinfection to avoid this.
This disinfection process is low-waste and doesn't require PPE to administer it. It only takes a few minutes to dry before employees can return to the workspace.
5. They minimize waste
Regular janitorial services companies use a lot of waste in the average cleaning job. They use a lot of water, a lot of cleaning products, and a lot of disposable wipes.
Over time, this can add up to mountains of waste. With these cleaning companies, the object is to clean no matter the cost. Dousing your entire establishment in an all-purpose cleaner is acceptable to them despite the risk of harsh chemicals present.
Eco-friendly commercial janitorial services minimize waste. They use cleaning materials for as long as possible before tossing them. They go with bio-degradable options that won't sit in the environment for hundreds of years.
This reduces your water bills and how much waste you send out for disposal.
6. They are affordable
It's easy to look at green cleaners and wonder how much they will cost. After all, green solutions such as green energy don't tend to be cheap. So why wouldn't green cleaning be the same?
The truth is green cleaning is just as affordable as regular cleaning, if not more. Using natural products means there's no need to purchase chemicals that take an entire industry to manufacture. Processing results in chemicals like bleach being significantly more expensive, whereas vinegar is not.
They try to use concentrated products over ready-made bottles and cleaners. This saves on shipping and packaging costs that can add up over time.
Since they reduce waste, that saves them money as well. They don't need to buy reams and reams of paper towels just to wipe down a bathroom. They reduce and reuse and pass those savings on to you.
Many people are skeptical about switching to green services for this very reason. You can rest assured that your commercial janitorial services won't take a dent out of your profits.
7. They help you to save the planet without significant changes
Saving the planet from the effects of climate change often involves making significant lifestyle changes. You need to eat less meat, bike more often, and install solar panels. When you expand this to a work environment, it becomes a far more challenging affair.
Eco-friendly options for businesses can often cost far more than their competitors. Until the market picks up, the most economical option might be to choose standard commercial janitorial services.
There are a few ways of saving the planet without a burdensome cost to you. While people should make those sacrifices, businesses have their bottom lines to care for first. And that's why green cleaning is an excellent way for companies to do their part with minimal effort.
Green cleaning just means changing your contracted cleaners, and that's it. And since it's competitive with standard cleaners, you don't have to spend any extra money.
However, you can and should vet the company you intend to hire beforehand. Many companies might slap the green label on their business, knowing that people will turn to them. Unless they make genuine efforts to be green in all their operations, that label doesn't mean much.
8. They minimize the environmental footprint
None of this would mean much if your green cleaners didn't try to be green elsewhere. green cleaning is a philosophy that should extend to all areas of the business.
For example, you can minimize wasted gas by choosing efficient driving routes. Likewise, cleaners can save a lot of gas — money and the environment — by planning routes in advance.
They can find ways to source their cleaning products ethically. This means they choose manufacturers that keep the environment in mind. These manufacturers use processes that cause less harm to the environment than other processes.
That includes purchasing products that come in eco-friendly, biodegradable packaging. Cleaners save their bottles and reuse them multiple times, rather than disposing of bottles after a single use. They avoid single-use plastics as much as possible.
As mentioned earlier, the products they use should minimize environmental impact. Products that, when dumped down the drain or in landfills, shouldn't contaminate the environment.
9. They can prepare your office for re-opening
Now that the pandemic is on the way out the door, many offices are returning to work. The CDC has guidelines about the standards businesses should use when cleaning.
Buildings accumulate a lot of dust and germs when not in use. A building that hasn't been aerated in a while can contain bacteria and toxins harmful to you and the environment. After many long months shut down during the pandemic, these buildings are not fit for a sudden return of the workforce.
Further, you may have left the building without proper cleaning. This gives bacteria time to grow and spread. You don't want to risk an outbreak during the first-week employees return.
A deep clean ensures a building is ready even after reduced operations, such as minimal on-site staff. In reduced operation states, employees only use small portions of the facility. It may appear that no cleaning is needed, but this isn't the case.
10. Green cleaners perform periodic facility maintenance, too.
Green cleaners aren’t limited to average everyday facility cleaning. They can handle maintenance tasks such as floor deep cleaning, pressure washing, and services like day porter.
They can clean your windows with pure-water systems that clean them quickly and effectively. They can take care of soft surface cleanings such as carpets and rugs. They can swap out lightbulbs regularly as they go out.
Even if you need a task like repainting, eco-friendly services can take care of this for you. They will use non-toxic paints when repainting an area, which reduces how many hazardous chemicals make it into the workspace.
They can do predictive and preventive maintenance to keep your facility in tip-top shape. Your commercial janitorial service can step up, going above and beyond for special tasks.
Hire green cleaners today
Janitorial services have proven how important they are during the pandemic when the spread of disease was rampant. However, standard cleaning services employ harsh chemicals and have procedures that cause significant harm to the environment. Green cleaners are an affordable option to do your part for climate change and keep your employees in better health.
Green Cleanr wants to give you a fresh start. Contact them today and get a free quote for your business.