The growing interest in "green cleaning" for schools is the result of recent scientific findings regarding the unique vulnerability of children and the role environmental toxins play in disrupting normal development and exacerbating childhood illness. The fundamental concepts are:

• Children are more vulnerable to environmental toxins than adults
• Children's behavior patterns increase their exposure and risk
• Repeated exposures to low levels of toxins are more harmful than previously believed

While the concept of green cleaning in schools is now almost universally accepted, creating an effective policy can be tricky. There is no legal definition of "green," and the term is used loosely by industry. Groundbreaking legislation in New York and other states has been hamstrung by industry resistance, and by efforts to employ less-restrictive, outdated adult standards. Attempts to revise the standards to make them suitable for children have not yet been successful.

Meanwhile, some manufacturers have seized the opportunity and created new cleaning products that are effective, economical and completely safe for children. See a list of safe products.

School boards and administrators, when establishing a green cleaning policy, must seek out the most protective criteria for children, recognizing that these requirements will necessarily be more stringent than those developed for adults.

Resources:

The National Educational Association is producing an online training program for green cleaning expected to be available soon.

Grassroots Environmental Education has developed a Q&A Sheet with information on green cleaning for parents, teachers, administrators and staff.

View a sample Green Cleaning Policy