answer that age-old customer question: “Great, itʼs green! But does it work?” Now — thanks to the International Executive Housekeepers Association Inc.ʼs (IEHA) new High-performance Cleaning Product (HPCP) testing program — weʼll be able to answer that question with an inde-pendent, third-party, research-backed effort. What HPCP Is And Isn’t Developed in conjunction with the University of Massachusetts Lowellʼs Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI), HPCP is the first and the only program from a cleaning industry association designed to focus solely on green cleaning product per-formance, starting with hard surface clean-ing products. HPCP is not a certification or a standard; itʼs a testing program aimed toward raising the environmental bar by encouraging manufacturers to produce products that are not only less toxic and safer, but that also offer optimal results in specific cleaning applications. HPCP is designed to show that a green product has been tested on real-life soils and found to work — and work well. High-performance Sales Besides raising the bar for manufacturers, HPCP is a powerful tool that can help savvy professionals raise their bottom lines. Consider just a few of the advantages of using green, validated high-performance products: Health and safety: In addition to being safer for the environment, build-ing occupants and cleaning workers, green products tested for high per-formance in the TURI program have been tested on real-life soils and proven to produce superior cleaning results; by excelling at removing soil — especially organics — they reduce the spread of disease. Productivity: Several studies show employees work faster, better and experience fewer sick days in green-er, healthier environments. Moreover, products proven to be effective require less labor and allow workers to perform cleaning tasks with greater efficiency. In addition, products that are performance-tested can be pre-selected as appropriate for the job, eliminating the time wasted experi-menting with different products until one is found that works. Cost reduction: Although green products have long been accused of costing more, many forget the cost savings associated with a cleaner, healthier workplace, such as lower health care premiums, fewer sick days, reduced workersʼ compensation claims — even fewer environmental and health-related lawsuits. In addi-tion, a product that has been tested on real-life soils and proven to work requires less product and less labor. This translates into better health for workers and building inhabitants at a reduced cost. Validation: By identifying the most effective green cleaners by category, the HPCP testing program removes the guesswork from the buying process and validates the buyerʼs choice of product. With HPCP, the testing has already been done. These are just a few of the advantages afforded by the new HPCP program. Letʼs consider some of these advantages in a real-world setting. How does the service providerʼs product perform? What makes it different from com-petitorsʼ products? Thanks to HPCP, you can answer these questions with confidence. Backed by HPCP data, you can assure your customers that what makes your service and green product selections different — and what makes them stand out from the competition — is superior performance. Under this program, the product has been tested and proven to excel at remov-ing dirt, which keeps staff and facility occu-pants healthier and more productive, reduces labor and, ultimately, saves money. In other words, HPCP-tested products are proven to help meet real day-to-day challenges. Why TURI? The University of Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute has been evaluat-ing cleaning product performance for 17 years, originally doing so for manufacturing plants seeking less toxic alternatives for industrial parts cleaning. In recent years, TURI developed tests to determine the efficacy of hard surface green cleaning or janitorial products and, in many cases, has performed such tests for companies seeking to meet the basic performance criteria of green certification groups such as Green Seal or Ecologo. Most recently, the TURI laboratory recognized that the knowledge and expertise it had gained over two decades of cleaning product performance testing in a variety of settings could be used to raise the performance bar higher — to assist the cleaning industry in taking the performance of its green cleaning products to the next level. The IEHA/TURI High-performance Cleaning Product testing program was born out of this realization and through discus-sions with representatives of the International Executive Housekeepers Association. For more information about test protocols and to submit your products for testing, please contact Allen Rathey at [email protected]. CM HPCP In Action Suppose you are trying to win or keep a government or school account in New York, Maryland, Illinois, Hawaii, Nevada or any of the host of other states that have recently passed — or are considering adopting — a green products procurement policy regard-ing the purchase of environmentally prefer-able cleaning products. For this growing sector of accounts, using green cleaning products is not a question — itʼs the law. However, ask the management of these facilities what matters to them when it comes to cleaning, and along with “safer and less toxic,” youʼll hear phrases associated with more traditional, non-green products, such as “gets the surface really clean,” “reduces labor” and — especially in the current economy — “saves money.” In short, their concerns will be less about ingredients and more about results. www.cmmonline.com 19
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