Best Practices

Require suppliers to provide documentation demonstrating that the products comply. This can come in the form of a website that clearly identifies how individual products meet one or more of the sustainability criteria, or it may be product literature that manufacturers provide on their website.

Post the audit results in the building to help occupants understand the impact of their actions. Consider publicizing information about typical recycling rates in your region to show how your building compares. Communicate a plan for a follow-up audit to gauge the building’s improvement over time.

Work with the housekeeping staff to make sure they understand how to collect the materials to be sorted. Housekeeping staff should know to keep the recycling streams separate from the general garbage. They also should store the sample materials in a place where they will not be disposed of and should not throw out any of the materials collected during the sample period. 

If you choose a hauler to run your audit, it is critical to oversee the audit to make sure it meets LEED specifications. If you use separate haulers for waste and recycling, they’ll each have to do their own audit.

Some waste haulers offer waste-sorting services, and many are willing to conduct an audit. If you decide that conducting the audit onsite is infeasible due to space constraints, off-site sorting at the hauler’s facility may be your solution.

To do all of these evaluations, you will need to take stock of your current practices by working with the managers responsible for the individual components of the policy and creating written inventories. In some cases, cleaning policies may already be in written form, and just need to be collected. In some cases you or another team member may know how something works, and just need to write it down. In other cases, you may need to do some investigation to learn about systems. This process alone often results in improvements.

The building management team should review all practices and products before renewing contracts with cleaning service providers (typically annually) to identify opportunities for improvement and expansion of environmentally-friendly practices. 

If developing a single comprehensive policy and program document, consider incorporating the following to cover all of your bases and meet the requirements for IEQc3.1:

• green cleaning staffing plan;
• training regimen for maintenance personnel (specifically related to hazards, use, maintenance, disposal and recycling of cleaning chemicals, dispensing and packaging); 
• and a storage system for cleaning supplies and equipment.

The green cleaning policy must include all green cleaning materials that are within the scope of the building and site management. If tenants are responsible for cleaning their own spaces, they are not required to comply with your green cleaning policy. If possible, consider providing green cleaning guidelines to any tenants responsible for cleaning in their spaces to encourage environmental best practices.

In some buildings, one staff member is in charge of purchasing, while another oversees the cleaning maintenance crew. Depending on the size and scale of the building, there may be either one or multiple responsible parties.