Even that grand old institute of tradition, the U.S. Navy, has wised up to the use  of organic institute products. Those big battleships? They're cleaned with a certified toxin-free product. Being an institution that uses organic and eco-friendly products should mean much more to you than having furnishings made from recycled wood or metal materials. Or containers and utensils made from recycled paper or plastics.

Not even the process of recycling your institutional waste products fully qualifies you as an organic institute. Institutional products also include the solutions or soaps used to clean the floors and windows. When your staff or custodial service dusts the furniture, or polishes the equipment, or sanitizes the bathrooms? How about the window cleaning solution they use?

Custodial staff or services routinely use non-organic institute products to do their jobs. Products designed to get the job done in the shortest amount of time, but not necessarily the safest way. Excuse the pun, but you may not be fully aware of what's going on just below the surface.

Green institute cleaning products--also commonly called organic institute cleaning products--should play an important part of your role in institutional management. Not only concerning daily operations, but in maintenance of your facility and the health and safety of your staff and visitors.

For instance, if I were to advise your institute's staff or cleaning service on how to clean windows organically, there are specific window cleaning products available that are very effective and safe--and certified 100% carcinogen-free.

 For you and the environment. A truly organic institute product briefly means the product must be biodegradable, has no toxic ingredients, emits no toxic fumes, leaves no harmful residue, and has no negative environmental impact. Let me emphasize that: Zero negative environmental impact. Nada. Zilch. Zip.

With the United States economy in a serious recession, these are times of cost controls and frugality. Going green with an organic institutional cleaning product is cheaper in the long run than buying most any of the "off-the-shelf" products that are available.

In general, most commercially-produced institute cleaning and soap products contain at least one synthetic chemical that may have been toxically connected by scientists and researchers to a disease. Often a life-threatening disease. And those products leave a residue that continues to pollute the air you breathe--long after the cleaning crew is gone. The one chemical that pops up in so many name-brand institute cleaning products as a bleaching agent is dichloro-isocyanurate (easy for you to say). This chemical agent often forms a toxic gas, called nitrogen-trichloride. This gas is, in fact, known to be a threat to human health.

The use of synthetic chemicals in so many of the non- organic institute products on the market today is common practice, and begs corporate accountability. And the list of those chemicals is very long and getting longer every day. Such as cancer. So, in the long run, how much do their non- organic products really cost?

But It's Not On The Label

A good case can be made against various products' labels, and the lack of pertinent information. The kinds of information you need to make an informed decision.

Take commercially-manufactured institutional furniture, for example. Most materials and fabrics used on desks, chairs and sofas, and in window coverings such as drapes, contain a flame retardant known as PBDE. Flame retardants are a safety requirement made by OSHA and other like-minded government agencies, and widely enforced.

You are exposed to these potentially toxic furnishings and decor each and every time you walk in the front door at work.

"A growing body of research in laboratory animals has linked PBDE exposure to an array of adverse health effects including thyroid hormone disruption, permanent learning and memory impairment, behavioral changes, hearing deficits, delayed puberty onset, decreased sperm count, fetal malformations and, possibly, cancer." (Reference: The Enviromental Working Group - "Bodyburden: Flame Retardants")

There are measures you--as an institute--can take to protect your own and your employees' and your visitors' health almost immediately. Require your institute's custodial staff or your contract cleaning service to buy and use organic institute products only, such as organic floor, window and equipment cleaning solutions and polishes (see the link below).

Many manufacturers are becoming environmentally aware, and are finally discontinuing the use of PBDE in their production processes. A case of too little, too late. That means you can now take steps to insure that all your furnishings and decor are--or will be--free of PBDE, a chemical for which there are environmentally-safe alternatives.

Even something as innocuous as a carpet cleaning solution requires your attention. Is it leaving an invisible toxic cloud throughout your work environment? Organic institute products such as alternative carpet cleaning solutions are those that can be disposed of in a safe fashion. No toxic ingredients, no harmful residues or fumes, no environmental impact whatsoever. Again, zero impact.

Your family, your employees, your custodial staff or service--your visitors--will all thank you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon. (Thanks, Bogey!)


Click to read up on:

Organic School Products

Organic Library Products