Children spend nearly half their lives — an average of 180 days every year — in school. The classroom is intended as a haven for instruction and development. But to be truly effective, a school environment needs to be as healthy as the people who attend and run it.
School maintenance involves cleaning, typically handled by custodial staff. Many janitorial employees use commercial-grade cleaners and methods that cause harm to the environment. Often this is because school administrators don’t feel can afford green cleaning initiatives. This is a common misconception.
An eco-friendly commercial cleaning service can benefit schools in several ways that can have immediate and long-lasting effects — not just on the students’ and environments’ health, but on tight budgets as well. Here are some of the ways an eco-friendly commercial cleaning initiative can help make the learning experience better.
Saving money
Green cleaning products are becoming more affordable. This hasn’t always been the case, but with the increased popularity of specialized green cleaners, manufacturers now seek to meet the demand by making them more efficient and less expensive.
Also, the agents in green cleaning products are usually more concentrated than those in non-green brands. Cleaners therefore use less green product than cleaners with harmful chemicals. When you need less volume and energy to finish a cleaning job, you save more money on supplies and effort. That frees up your school’s budget to spend directly on what your students need.
Making students and staff healthier
Many students and faculty members suffer from health issues related to air quality. Keeping their environment as pollutant-free as possible helps them breathe more easily, which in turn helps them thrive in the classroom and physical exercise. The products green commercial cleaners use contain none of the irritating and dangerous chemicals that can cause asthma attacks or respiratory issues.
Your custodial staff benefits from green cleaning as well. Exposure to harmful chemicals causes 6% of all school custodians to suffer job-related injuries every year. Their constant exposure to toxic cleaning agents puts them at serious risk. Green cleaning helps cut down on the presence of those harmful elements.
Improving student performance
Research shows that students miss 14,000,000 school days due to asthmatic problems in a single year. Asthma attacks are often triggered by poor air quality, which can result from the use of unsafe cleaning products.
Green cleaners can’t eradicate all the things that make kids sick. They can help make school environments more livable and endurable for children with the most sensitive respiratory problems. That leads to better attendance, better concentration, and better learning.
Protecting the environment
Decades of using hazardous chemicals have wreaked havoc on the environment and the life it supports. Cleaning solutions of the past are partially responsible for depleting the ozone layer, producing smog, poisoning aquatic life, and generating the production of greenhouse gases.
Eco-friendly commercial cleaning companies use products and methods that counteract these negative effects. Green products are non-toxic, biodegradable, and made with sustainable methods and packaging. Commercial green cleaners also use methods that require less energy consumption, an approach that also supports environmental health.
Feeling more secure
Commercial cleaners and the products they use go through rigorous evaluations to ensure they meet all the standards that designate a “green” business. These tests aren’t easy — they’re exhaustive and address more steps and practices than non-green industries. When a school uses a certified green commercial cleaner, they can be more confident and assured about the safety they’re providing students and staff.
Green cleaning solutions for your school
RJC Commercial Janitorial & Cleanroom Solutions uses green-certified products and methods that are effective, reasonably priced, and safe for the environment and those living in it. Contact us today to find out how we can help your school be a clean, safe, and responsible place to learn.
