Step 5: Share the Responsibility

Cleanliness, health and safety are not the sole responsibility of the custodians. Everyone who uses the building, including the students, teachers, administrators, the union and outside contractors must play a role in maintaining a healthy environment. Schools’ experiences implementing Green Cleaning programs throughout the United States show that promoting stewardship and increasing institutional commitment are critical to both short- and long-term success and is a good way to demonstrate the concept of thinking globally and acting locally.

Promoting Stewardship

The idea of shared responsibility for building cleanliness is a foreign concept in most schools. Custodians tend to take the brunt of criticism for environmental problems. It is important to communicate with administrators, staff, teachers, students, visitors and vendors about Green Cleaning and educate them about their role in maintaining environmental improvements and preventing future problems. The goal is to promote environmental stewardship across the school community, so that each stakeholder takes personal responsibility not just for the school environment but for the global environment. recycling and buying recycled paper and plastic, conserving water and energy, using environmentally preferable (green) cleaning chemicals, among the many opportunities a school can do.

If all parties understand the impact of the green cleaning program on the triple bottom line it is much easier to appreciate the changes a sustainable cleaning program can bring about. Like a three legged stool, which needs three stable legs to function, balancing these three bottom lines, can make your program more effective. The three bottom lines are:

Economic: The economic impacts of a green cleaning program come about in many ways including reducing actual product cost, using more durable products that last longer reducing costs over the products useful life, energy and water savings, fewer incidents of accidents from chemical and ergonomic injury, healthier students and staff which can result in reduced absenteeism, and improvements in attracting and retaining students, teachers and staff.

Environmental: In the United States, commercial and institutional cleaning consumes approximately 8 billion pounds of chemicals, 4.5 billion pounds of janitorial paper and uses a billion pounds of tools and equipment and other supplies. The extraction of raw materials and manufacturing of these products have significant environmental impacts, as does their transportation, use, and disposal. Many of the raw materials are limited and nonrenewable, which means that once depleted, they are no longer available to future generations for their use.

Social: For any program to be sustainable, it must take care of its people. After all how can a school function if students and staff are always sick or don’t want to be there because the building is unhealthy. Furthermore, this component of the Triple Bottom Line also helps us appreciate the role that schools play as part of a larger community and the important interaction that affects the health and success of all. Click here to read more about schools and sustainability.

In the Classroom

Teachers play an important role in promoting and maintaining classroom cleanliness. Steps teachers can take to help in creating a healthy school environment are:

Minimizing clutter so the classrooms can be cleaned thoroughly and efficiently
Work with custodian in obtaining green cleaning products rather than brining products from home into the classroom
Encouraging children to wash their hands
Encouraging proper cough hygiene, tissue use and disposal.
Assist with sanitizing between classes on high touch points such as on computer key boards. Alternatively, provide barriers to some of the high frequency touch points
Sending sick children or children with open wounds to the health office

Avoid bringing products from the home: Teachers often want to help out by bringing their own cleaning products from home. However, to ensure a healthy indoor enviornment, schools should establish a policy to provide teachers with appropriate products distributed by the maintenance staff. This ensures that safer products are being used and that the maintenance staff has appropriate documentation of all products being used in the school.
Getting kids involved: While we believe that want kids cleaning bathrooms or stripping floors, they can be an important part of of a green cleaning program. Students can help stack chairs on desks and pick up papers to make it easier for custodians to clean floors and desktops.

Increasing Institutional Commitment

Developing widespread and formal institutional commitment to Green Cleaning is another way to ensure the long-term success of your Green Cleaning Program. Creating a Green Team, developing and implementing a green cleaning implementation plan, adopting a Green Cleaning policy and evaluating results are important steps for developing a long-term commitment to Green Cleaning in your school. For more information and step-by-step guidance, see Long-term Success. Also check out Resources and Tools for helpful information.

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