tackling trouble areas Don’t Throw Away EPA-compliant trashcan liners provide additional benefits beyond peace of mind. LEED Points By: David Rives E Even the best recycling programs cannot completely eliminate trash. But, with environmentally-friendly trash-can liners, you can still gain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points on what has to be thrown away. LEED points can be earned by pur-chasing sustainable cleaning products and materials including disposable plas-tic trashcan liners that meet the speci-fications outlined as a part of the LEED Environmental Quality (EQ) credit 3.4 to 3.6, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Comprehensive Procurement Guideline (CPG) program. Sounds like an easy choice for facility managers: Use recommended liners to help you earn one LEED point and reduce a build-ing’s environmental impact while increasing goodwill for the company in the process. But, how do you know what liners qualify — and what about the cost and functional-ity of these bags? Let’s consider those points one at a time. What Makes A Worthy Liner? A LEED point can be earned in part by purchasing trashcan liners that meet the EPA’s CPG for the recommended post-consumer recycled content level of the liners — 10 to 100 percent. After being recycled from other applications, post-consumer resin is easily transformed into recycled trashcan liners. 40 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • May 2011
CMM – Archives May 2011: 40
