The new norm among home cleaning businesses is to be “green,” but really no one knows what “green” includes or how to measure it.
The new norm among home cleaning businesses is to be “green,” but really no one knows what “green” includes or how to measure it.
So let’s start simple. Let’s find out first if the “green” cleaning products or procedure your house cleaning technicians are using make any difference in the carbon footprint of your home…or if some other change makes the difference greater.
The EPA has recently released its Household Carbon Footprint Calculator which can estimate the effect of your household’s energy use and pollution on the natural outdoor environment and suggest action changes that can help you reduce that effect.
The calculator isn’t designed for businesses yet, but there are two programs designed to measure and certify a business’s level of “green” beyond just switching out old style chemicals with something “greener.”
What about
- the energy use and paper consumption at the main office?
- the gas and emissions from traveling to each clients’ home?
- the waste generated in the production process of the chemicals or equipment?
- the waste generated in the disposal of used products?
Did you know that both landfill and recycling create waste that cannot be re-used?
This EPA Household Carbon Footprint Calculator can help a business location make a better educated guess at its impact on the outdoor natural environment, but international green business standards such as the Green Business Challenge and the Cleaning Industry Management Standards for Green Building (CIMS-GB).
In 2009, Castle Keepers became the very first residential (house) cleaning business in the world to achieve the CIMS-Green Building certification, which measured and confirmed that in our North Charleston headquarters, Castle Keepers has effected a measureable reduction in the negative effects of our business on the outdoor natural environment. That’s in addition to our innovative Chemical Free Cleaning procedure which uses no chemicals…only the tap water from your own kitchen or bathroom faucet…in cleaning your home. We’re so pleased to also be able to claim and confirm that the same procedures that earned us our initial CIMS-BG certification and renewal earlier this year also puts us at the top of the Green Building Challenge success list!
You see, in the way that people who are committed to natural and organic foods visit the farms where the crops are grown and the livestock are nurtured to natural maturity, Castle Keepers has walked the lines of every stage of production of the tools we use to clean your home. We know its origin, its creators, we’ve taken it apart and put it back together so we know what’s inside and how it works. We also continue to objectively test how well each new tool meets the claims it makes…or better!
Be sure to keep up with all of the ways Castle Keepers is your local Cleaner, Safer, Greener home cleaning company serving the South Carolina Lowcountry!
