Bringing together representatives of key institutional markets, including education, healthcare, industrial facilities, and contract cleaners, the first “Green Cleaning Products and Services Workshops” to be held in Mexico City provided crucial information on greening the Mexican cleaning industry. The program was sponsored by ISSA and other key players and attracted representatives from more than 100 prominent organizations.

Conducted on November 29, the green cleaning workshop was co-sponsored by ISSA Mexico, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and SEMARNAT, the Federal Minister of environmental affairs in Mexico. The program featured Stephen Ashkin, The Ashkin Group, and Jack Geibig, Director of the Center for Clean Products at the University of Tennessee.

“We are thrilled with the attendance and the level of interest in green cleaning demonstrated at the Workshop,’ said Mauricio Chico, President, Lavatap, and President of the ISSA Mexico Board of Directors.

“In fact, we are planning the next series of green cleaning workshops that will be held in conjunction with ISSA / INTERCLEAN Latin America at the Centro Banamex Convention Center in Mexico City on March 5-7, 2008,” said Chico.

The Mexico green cleaning program was the outgrowth of a cooperative effort between ISSA Mexico, SEMARNAT, and the The Ashkin Group. All three groups have worked diligently over the last year to establish green cleaning product procurement criteria to be used by the Mexican government to help “green” building operations. .

The Green Cleaning Products and Services Workshop provided a platform by which the experiences in greening the U.S. cleaning industry were shared with the Mexican marketplace and helped whet the appetite and demand for green products and services within key institutional sectors in Mexico.

“Our strategy is to stimulate the marketplace to drive health and environmental improvements in Mexico by simultaneously working with both end-users and suppliers”, stated Stephen Ashkin president of The Ashkin Group. “The workshop was used to develop a common language and the appropriate expectations based on the current state of the Mexican cleaning industry. As a result of the workshop we will develop a number of ‘pilot projects’ that can be reported on during the upcoming ISSA / INTERCLEAN Latin America scheduled for March 2008 with an ultimate goal of helping the Mexican cleaning industry become a world-class supplier of green cleaning products and services.”

About ISSA
With more than 5,500 member companies, ISSA is the leading international trade association for the cleaning industry. ISSA offers the industry’s largest cleaning shows, educational products, technology, legislative and regulatory services, and periodicals that specifically focus on cleaning and maintenance.

About ISSA / INTERCLEAN
ISSA and its tradeshow partner, Amsterdam RAI, produce the leading tradeshows for the global cleaning community under the name ISSA/INTERCLEAN at venues around the world, in addition to the annual event in North America. Upcoming ISSA/INTERCLEAN shows will be held in the following locations:

• ISSA/INTERCLEAN Latin America, March 5-7, 2008, Mexico City, Mexico
• ISSA/INTERCLEAN Amsterdam, May 6-9, 2008, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• ISSA/INTERCLEAN North America, September 8-11, 2008, Las Vegas, NV, USA
• ISSA/INTERCLEAN China, November 4-6, 2008, Macau, China
• ISSA/INTERCLEAN Central & Eastern Europe, May 13-15, 2009, Warsaw, Poland

About CEC
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is an international organization created by Canada, Mexico and the United States under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation. The CEC was established to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts, and to promote the effective enforcement of environmental law. The Agreement complements the environmental provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

About The Ashkin Group
The Ashkin Group is an internationally recognized consulting firm working to green the cleaning industry. Their expertise is utilized by governments, legislators & policy makers, advocates, building owners & property management companies, labor unions, trade & professional associations, manufactures, service providers, and janitorial product distributors to develop more sustainable cleaning practices around the world.

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