What you have done so far overall relative to greening your facilities?

The Board of Trustees has adopted a policy and a procedure which mandates that our District will pursue LEED certification on all Bond projects – we recently passed two bonds for a combined value of $1,555,000,000 – and any remodels of over 10,000 square feet. One area where you can get LEED points is in the area of green cleaning.

Therefore, we are re-writing our bid documents for cleaning and paper products so they include green products. Steve Ashkin assisted us on writing the language for our bid.

Why did the San Diego Community College District decide to begin a Green Cleaning program?

Well, it is good for the employees because there is reduced likelihood from injury from hazardous chemicals; and good for the environment because the ingredients are generally bio-degradable and less toxic.

Where are you going with the program – anything on tap?

We will be continuing to implement green cleaning products and procedures whenever we can. Our District is becoming more environmentally aware and more sustainability measures are going to be adopted and put into action.

Have you ran into any unexpected hurdles along the way?

Fortunately, the decision to use green products is one that can be made by our department and does not require higher level approval. I am in the enviable position of having excellent supervisors who will always try to do the right thing and the use of green products is the right thing. We have already been using some green cleaning chemicals at our campuses to get the custodians comfortable with there use. The more they learn about the reduced risk to them personally, to the students and staff and to the environment, I'm sure we will be able to get support from most people.

Our District has been moving toward sustainability in all areas – using green products, cutting greenhouse gases, adding PV to our new buildings, started co-mingled recycling , added controls and weather stations to reduce water used for irrigation, added energy management controls to 80% of our HVAC systems.

Do you have any advice to others out there trying to start a similar program?

The resistance you will find is from those who do not believe the green products are just as good. The employees must be given the opportunity to test the products so they can learn for themselves that the products are just as good and can do the same job without the health and environmental hazards.

And finally, that we all ought to be doing anything we can do to support the education of our students. Several studies have shown that students perform better in environments that have fewer VOC out-gassing problems.

 

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