CMM – Archives • Aug 2011 • 20

Renewable Cleaning Technology Schools The final frontier in green, renewable cleaning is the ultimate in sustainability. For O By: Ruben Rives Over the past 10 years, schools have moved to safer cleaning products, practices and equipment. During this time, the institutional cleaning sector has undergone rapid change. Advances in renewable cleaning technology are positioning it to be one of the most eco-sensitive ways to care for public buildings while protecting the health of the users, students and staff. Renewable cleaning is the removal, inactivation and/or proper disposal of dirt, dust, organic mat-ter, chemical residues and pathogenic microbes to protect public heath and maintain indoor envi-ronments. Water is a key medium for renewable cleaning — but not the only one — because it is a univer-sal resource, which is benign, non-polluting and renewable or naturally replenished. Renewable cleaning works like nature does and employs parallel methods. The three technologies described in this article clean, sanitize or disinfect surfaces without using harmful chemicals. Combining these technologies with other infec-tion control strategies such as personal hygiene — handwashing to remove microbes transmitted by contact with surfaces or cough etiquette for microbes transmitted by an airborne route, as examples — disinfectants registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for spe-cific applications and appropriate ventilation can for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search key-word: Renewable Cleaning . For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select SUPPLIER SEARCH from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Green Cleaning . Water, the oldest known cleaning solution, is the basis for renewable cleaning because it is non-toxic and, when manipulated, can effectively remove soils and bacteria from surfaces. 20 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® •฀฀ August 2011 Image courtesy of Cleaning Consultant Services Inc. Ruben Rives, chief executive officer (CEO) of Miami, Florida-based PSS/H2OnlyDisinfection, is a renewable cleaning advocate and founda-tional supporter of the non-profit Process Cleaning for Healthy Schools Consortium (PCHS).