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The Green Movement is alive and well in the maintenance supplies industry. However, there are still a lot of complex and emerging issues that need to be addressed and solved. Industry regulations and legislation are helping drive solutions, inform consumers and reduce costs.

Achieving consensus is not easy. In some cases, science has not caught up with the issues, and more research is needed. In addition, since much of the ground being covered is unchartered territory, manufacturer's agendas sometimes get in the way. Here is a rundown of some of the important Green issues being looked at today.
GS-37 standard

At the end of May, Green Seal announced that its Draft Final Revised GS-37 standard was narrowly rejected by a majority of the ballots cast in the latest round of voting. GS-37 is Green Seal's comprehensive environmental standard for institutional and industrial cleaning products. The scope of the products covered include: general purpose, bathroom, glass and carpet cleaners.

Largely because of issues that have arisen since New York state's adoption of GS-37 for schools in 2006, Green Seal decided to update GS-37 to improve its environmental, safety and health criteria. Some of these issues revolve around the adequacy of GS-37 in protecting the health of sensitive populations such as school-age children.

"There have been many technical advances since the first GS-37 came out," says Christine Chase, environmental scientist with Green Seal. "We are trying to reflect those changes in the updated standard and protect children that might be vulnerable."

Since there was "sustained opposition" on some key aspects of the draft revisions to the environmental standard, Green Seal must now work with stakeholders to resolve these issues before it can finalize the standards. Some of the objections related to ingredients that cause asthma, closed dilution-control systems and concentrates VOC content.

"Asthmagens are a very contentious issue," says Steve Ashkin, president of the Ashkin Group and executive director of the Green Cleaning Network. "There is disagreement between industry and advocates and the public health industry. However, these disagreements are common, especially in emerging issues."

A significant number of comments objected to Green Seal's reliance on the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics' (AOEC) list of asthmagens as the basis for prohibiting their use in cleaning product formulations. They argue that the AOEC list is part of an epidemiology tool for developing a database for occupational exposures, not as a list of known agents that cause asthma.