King County Procurement Bulletin #42:
Janitorial Cleaners Project

PLEASE NOTE:  These bulletins, published since 1997, are historical.  The content is not updated.

• Introduction
• Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project (JP4)
• For More Information
• Environmental Purchasing Program

Introduction

Many jurisdictions are trying to figure out how to buy environmentally preferable cleaners. There have been several pilot projects with many successes. Currently there is a large collaborative effort being conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area regarding janitorial cleaning products, that is adding to our growing collection of real world experiences. This bulletin focuses on this project called the Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project, or JP4.

The JP4 project is sponsored by US EPA, State of California, Santa Clara County, the City of Richmond, and the Local Government Commission.

This project is actually the sum of two projects. The first project, which is taking place in the City of Richmond, is focusing upon the needs of small organizations - individual custodians, small janitorial contractors, and neighborhood businesses. The second project is in the County of Santa Clara, which is emphasizing large organizations - government agencies, schools, manufacturing firms, hotels, and large janitorial contractors.

The purpose of these projects is to interview janitors and study workers' compensation data; review specific chemicals and specifications; and develop fact sheets and workshops, to advise users on the health, safety, and environmental consequences of their janitorial products and where to go from here.

The JP4 website offers many resources, such as tools, fact sheets and a workshop outline. Project results will be posted here in late November, 1999. Here's a summary of some of the information currently available on their website:

Workshop

Part of this project involved creating a workshop entitled "HOW TO SELECT AND USE SAFE JANITORIAL PRODUCTS" This 4-hour outreach workshop was held in Santa Clara County earlier this year. It was attended by 60 janitorial contractors, facility managers, environmental staff, vendors, and agency representatives. All of the details about this workshop are included on their website.

Tools

They have made available documents on-line that can aid in evaluating the hazards of janitorial products. For example:

Cleaning Product Risk Evaluation - Ingredient Data Information on risks associated with nearly 100 ingredients commonly found in janitorial products.

Finding Chemical Data Pages you can visit to find information about ingredients found in janitorial products.

High Risk Products Use this checklist to see if you are using common high-risk products.

Product Risk Evaluation Form A simple form you can use to note what you find out about a product as you read its MSDS and other literature.

Product Test Evaluation Form Use this form to get feedback on new products that your janitors are trying out.

Risk Evaluation Criteria Screening criteria you can use to evaluate risks to human health and the environment.

Site Survey Form Questions you can ask to find out what janitorial products a site uses, and how aware people are of the risks involved.

Fact sheets

A series of fact sheets on environmental, health, and safety issues. These fact sheets are meant for individual janitorial workers, supervisors, and EH&S staff:

Toilet Cleaning

Hard Floor Care

Carpet Care

Restroom Cleaning

Glass Cleaning

Metal Cleaning

Disinfectants

Permission is granted to freely copy, distribute, and use these materials provided that JP4 and the authors are credited.

Here are the contacts for this comprehensive project:

EPA Project Manager

John Katz

Pollution Prevention Coordinator

US EPA Region 9

75 Hawthorne Street, WST-1-1

San Francisco, CA 94105

(415) 744-2150 (ph)

 

Santa Clara County Project Manager

Carol Sanzone Berg

Environmental Management Analyst

SCC Pollution Prevention Program

1735 North First Street, Suite 275

San Jose, CA 95112

(408) 441-1195 (ph)

(408) 441-0365 (fx)

 

Project Lead Consultant

Thomas S. Barron

Business & Engineering Consultant

3351 Beechwood Drive

Lafayette, CA 94549

(925) 283-8121 (ph)

(925) 283-6746 (fx)

 

Project Consultant

Linda Bookman

Environmental Consultant

936 Schiele Avenue

San Jose, CA 95126

(408) 275-0141 (ph)

(408) 295-9917 (fx)

Special thanks to Thomas Barron, who brought this project to our attention.

An earlier EP bulletin (#22) highlighted "Environmentally Preferable Cleaners" with a list of internet resources and vendors. You can find this bulletin on our website.

Environmental Purchasing Program

The King County Environmental Purchasing Program assists County agencies in implementation of King County Executive Policy CON-7-1-2, which requires agencies to use recycled and other environmentally preferable products wherever practicable.

The program assembles information about these products and makes it available to specific agency users who can evaluate them and develop applications in County projects.

These environmental purchasing bulletins contain information about the results of product evaluations and other accomplishments of County agencies. We hope this information will help you find ways to use recycled materials in the work of your agency and that you will contact us if we can help you with further information or if you have suggestions.

Environmental Purchasing Program

King County Procurement & Contract Services

E-mail

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Updated: November 8, 1999