Steve Ashkin Answers Questions about Green Cleaning

This interview was conducted in 2016. While most items are still relevant, a few things have changed.

You’ve been in the cleaning industry for the past 36 years. What inspired you to evangelize green cleaning?

I grew up in the professional cleaning industry. Our family owned a chemical manufacturing company that manufactured, among other things, cleaning solutions.

In the early 1990s, I met Dr. Michael Berry, who then worked for the Environmental Protection Agency. Berry went on to write one of the most important books for the professional cleaning industry, Protecting the Built Environment: Cleaning for Health. That book was a game changer for me and for our industry. While it did not advocate the use of Green Cleaning solutions, it was the first book ever written that closely tied cleaning with protecting human health.

It is from that book that the expression “cleaning for health” evolved.

However, I also realized that many of the ingredients in those cleaning solutions could be very detrimental to human health. And the more I investigated these ingredients, the more alarmed I became. By the 1990s, I decided that this had to be changed and the only way to do it was to let the industry know.

Chemical manufacturers were not intentionally using ingredients that could harm human health. It’s just that at that time, it was all they had. But I know with time and technology, safer cleaning ingredients could be developed.  

Having been an active part of the cleaning industry, how aware and enthusiastic do you think end users and facilities are when it comes green cleaning?

Interestingly, a couple of years ago, I gave a seminar, and to my surprise, a number of the facility managers attending were still not sure what Green Cleaning was all about. I was surprised at this because overall, Green Cleaning and the use of environmentally preferable cleaning products and procedures, is now very well understood (or at least I thought) and has become status quo in this country and many other parts of the world.

Building managers endorse it because they know their tenants are now calling for it. Further, invariably it implies the facility is better managed and maintained when a Green Cleaning strategy is in place.

As for building service contractors, virtually all of the large and most of the not so large contractors have jumped on the Green Cleaning bandwagon. They had to. Their customers wanted it.

While it has taken several years, overall, I would say the use of environmentally preferable cleaning products and strategies is now enthusiastically endorsed by building managers and all segments of the cleaning industry.  

What, in your opinion, does Green Cleaning entail – is it just the chemicals and equipment used – or does it go beyond that?

Green cleaning is the use of Green-certified cleaning solutions.

Green Cleaning involves employing approved Green cleaning procedures and “best practices” such as those developed by GreenSeal and the CIMS program at ISSA.

And Green cleaning now plays a role in sustainability. Green cleaning and sustainability are not the same things. But they are related. Green cleaning does require the use of products that use few, if any, natural resources, one of the pillars of sustainability.

What would you say is your biggest takeaway from the workshops that you conduct?

That certainly has evolved over the years. Many years ago, I certainly was met with considerable resistance. This happens whenever someone steps in and says change is necessary.

Chemical manufacturers have based their entire business operations on producing traditional cleaning chemicals and they have served us well. For me to advocate we need something new that is safer and less harmful to health and the environment, did not sit well with many manufacturers.

However, today, things are entirely different. Manufacturers, distributors, and cleaning contractors want to know all they can about Green Cleaning. And this is evolving. They now want to understand more about sustainability and how it can help their businesses.  

• Having worked with industry leaders, government agencies, schools, NGOs, etc. where do you think lies the sweet spot when it comes to awareness and application of eco-friendliness and sustainability?

Well, I’ll be frank with you. When it comes to sustainability, I certainly do see the ears perk up as soon as I start discussing the cost savings that can result from sustainability initiatives. A company that has a sustainability program in place is, very simply a leaner, Greener, more efficient operation. So, I guess when they start hearing how their cash register can go “ka-ching” as a result of sustainability initiatives, I guess that’s where we find their “sweet spot.”