By NANCY HILER
Rather than wait for a new state education law that took effect on Sept. 1, Bellmore-Merrick elementary school districts started cleaning "green" more than a year ago.
All public and private elementary and secondary schools are now required to "procure and use environmentally sensitive cleaning and maintenance products," according to the new law. The goal is to minimize the exposure of children and school staff to the potentially harmful common chemicals in cleaning fluids.
"It's already put in place," North Bellmore Elementary District Facilities Director Chris Milano said. He "started looking into products that have eliminated or lowered concentrations of potentially harmful chemicals," Milano explained, shortly after he joined the district a year and a half ago. The Bellmore, Merrick and North Merrick elementary school districts also gradually began using ³green-cleaning² supplies some time ago. All four districts fully converted this past spring.
At the high-school level, certain "green" products were introduced "slowly, starting about three to four years ago," with the required products fully in place over a year ago, said Jack Dziedzic, the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District's facilities director.
Reducing children's exposure
The new state law came about after environmentalists, parents of children with asthma and other illnesses, health professionals and other child advocates voiced concern in Albany about children's exposure to chemicals found in cleaning and other products used in schools. New York is the sixth state to pass a "green-clean" law for its schools, joining Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington.
"Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental toxins, as are fetuses," said Patti Wood, a founder of Grassroots Environmental Education, a non-profit child environmental health advocacy group in Port Washington. The latter is a big issue among young teachers, who often work in schools while pregnant, Wood said. Nearly 55 million people, close to 20 percent of the U.S. population, spend time daily in elementary and secondary schools, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools initiative.
Children's heightened susceptibility is attributable to several factors, according to the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, including the fact that children's neurological, immunological, digestive and other bodily systems are still developing. A growing body of scientific research indicates that children are at a disproportionate risk for health and developmental problems resulting from exposure to chemical toxins in the environment, the CCHE reports.
Schools throughout the state must use only ³environmentally sensitive² products once the potentially toxic ones on their shelves are depleted. Synonymous with what the EPA calls environmentally preferable, these products "have a lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment when compared to other products and services that serve the same purpose," the law states.
A list of recommended cleaning products approved for use in schools was published in late August by the Office of General Services, the procurement contract wing of the state government. The 350 products on the OGS list are mercury-free and non-toxic, meaning they cannot contain any ingredients that are known to be poisons, carcinogens or toxins that are known to affect a fetus or a woman's reproductive system.
Also under the new law, school districts are expected to explore ways to reduce pollutants and their sources while cleaning buildings. One example is to burnish floors less frequently, since it generates considerable dust and adds to indoor air pollution. Another is to use HEPA-filter vacuums to contain dust particles. Additionally, recyclable and environmentally friendly paper products, including paper towels and toilet tissue, are encouraged.
Bounty of ³green² cleaners
The new ³green² cleaning products used in local schools are water-based, not petrochemical-based, and many contain natural extracts such as citrus. "We use Œorange-clean¹ products for surfaces, bathrooms, windows and so on," explained Merrick Elementary District Facilities Director John Back, "just different amounts of mixtures." Concentrates used in the North Bellmore district contain d-limone, an extract from orange peels, Milano said. In North Merrick, certain products contain pineapple and others tomato, Assistant Superintendent Kevin O'Brien said. In the Central District, one of the ³green² products used is a soy-based cleaner for removing graffiti, Dziedzic said.
The law requires ³green² general cleaners and disinfectants in schools, but not floor finishing, wax or certain specialized products. Environmentalists, including Wood, believe regulations should be expanded to cover these products as well. In local school districts, these are primarily maintenance products used infrequently or only during the summer, such as strippers or waxes, administrators said. Debate continues over just how comprehensive the legislation should be. Wood and other activists are calling for strengthened standards in schools
(see part 2 of this series next week).
"If we have to wait to go all the way, we'll never get the ball rolling," said Kim Rudolfsky, a past Levy-Lakeside PTA president. "As long as we're in the game [of using Œgreen-clean¹ products in the Merrick district], that makes me very happy."
Lessons for custodians
State regulations recommend that custodians be trained properly in the use of environmentally sensitive cleaners. For example, they need to learn about proper mixing in closed dispensers or using sealed containers to avoid contact with concentrates. Generally, products are manufactured as concentrates so they take up less storage space and weigh less to reduce shipping costs. Custodians also need to be taught what products to use for various applications and exactly how to use them. Custodians in all local elementary districts and the high school district were fully trained before they began to use the new products, their respective administrators said.
Custodians in the North Bellmore and Bellmore districts, for example, were shown how to use special sealed containers that automatically calculate and dispense the exact dilution formulas for different cleaning needs in various parts of the school. These include disinfectants for bathrooms and the nurse's office, sanitizers for the cafeteria, and so on. The dispenser "is very user-friendly. There's no guess work," North Bellmore's Milano said.
In North Merrick, custodians are trying cleaning packets, O'Brien said. "We were using product that came in gallons," he explained, "but now we are testing pre-measured packets that are dropped into water." The packets fit precisely into the appropriate containers based on their use, so they are "foolproof -- there's no waste and condensed storage," O¹Brien said.
Does ³green² cleaning work?
"About a decade ago, Œgreen¹ cleaning wasn't an attractive proposition," said Joel Makower, founder of the nonprofit Green Business Network. "The products were often expensive, hard to find, and many didn't even work that well. Today dozens of mainstream companies, from 3M to Johnson Wax, make quality Œgreen-cleaning¹ products, often at costs comparable to their conventional counterparts."
The Bellmore district¹s facilities director, Joe Hendrickson, and North Bellmore's Milano both said the environmentally sensitive products their custodians are using work just as well as traditional cleaners. "They're just as effective," Hendrickson said. "You just need to give them a little more time to work."
³They have a longer dwell time; they have to sit there longer,² said Milano. ³It might take a little more effort to get the same level of clean, but it's worth it.²
Although the new cleaners work fine, according to Merrick's Back, when it comes to pen or pencil marks on desks, "there is a shade of it left," which older cleaners removed.
"It takes a little more time to get the same result," said the Central District's Dziedzic. "A time factor is in there; you need to figure in man-hours."
Cost of going ³green²
For the most part, local facilities directors said that the final cost figures were not in. Most agreed that the start-up costs made ³green² products 5 to 15 percent more expensive, at least initially. "I haven't gotten all the figures yet, but the mandate is forcing companies' pricing to be competitive, so they should fall in line," North Bellmore's Milano said.
At the high school level, "It may be a little bit more expensive, maybe 3 to 5 percent more," Dziedzic said.
Bellmore's Hendrickson said, "We're still analyzing the costs, but it appears that it is not going to be more expensive long-term."
There's a definite benefit in switching to green products, Milano remarked. "You just can't go wrong if it's safer to those using it and those who might be affected by it."
Comments about this story? NHiler@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 234.
Next week: The ongoing debate over ³green² products, as activists call for stronger laws.
