Green Cleaning Equipment Upgrades
Steve Hanson
If you're thinking about offering green cleaning services in 2008, then one
of the things you must consider is the equipment you use. In last week's article
we gave the example of the type of vacuum cleaners you may be using. If you use
upright vacuum cleaners with a cloth bag, then you're allowing dust to become
airborne because the vacuum doesn't have a filtration system to keep the dust
contained in the machine. Your upright vacuum is not an environmentally friendly
piece of equipment and you should consider switching to another type of vacuum
with a HEPA filtration system.
If you clean commercial buildings you probably use conventional mops and
buckets. However conventional mops tend to spread soil around, whereas
microfiber mop pads do a better job of capturing and removing soil, which helps
to eliminate cross contamination. In addition, microfiber mops are lighter than
the traditional bulky mop, which means they're more ergonomically friendly.
Also, since microfibers need little water, there is no heavy bucket for your
employees to lug around, resulting in fewer injuries.
Hard floor equipment such as high speed burnishers or slow speed machines
should have vacuum attachments that capture the dust generated by the machine.
This prevents the dust from becoming airborne.
You may also want to consider replacing your buffing pads with nylo-grit
brushes. Buffing pads eventually wear out and need to be thrown away. Nylo-grit
brushes however, can last for years so there is much less waste added to land
fills.
When replacing an automatic scrubber, look for a model that minimizes the
amount of water it uses and maximizes the amount of water recovered in the
cleaning process. There are even models available that reduce or eliminate the
need for any cleaning chemicals, which is very environmentally friendly.
When shopping for carpet extractors, choose models that have a high level of
water recovery so carpets will dry faster.
There are many more things you can do to upgrade your cleaning equipment in
order to be more environmentally friendly with your cleaning services. For more
information, check out our new Green Cleaning Ebook featured above.
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