Page 18 - The Edge - Winter 2021

AASBO 2020 VIRTUAL ANNUAL
CONFERENCE WRAP-UP
BY DON HARRIS
Josh Brown
Green Cleaning Becomes More Important in Pandemic

If anything good has come from the COVID pandemic,
Josh Brown, who calls himself Dr. Green Clean, has He focused on six product categories that figure into
the answer. green cleaning – paper towels, toilet tissue, trash bags,
hand care, chemicals and equipment. He recommended
In a breakout session during the AASBO Virtual moving from a full towel roll to a touch-free system.
Annual Conference, Brown pointed out that more “With COVID concerns for hygiene, touch-free
people are washing their hands more often and because restrooms will be in the forefront,” Brown said. “You
the virus is airborne there is more concern about air can reduce consumption of 25 to 30 percent.” And
quality. And because COVID is playing havoc with don’t use any leftover paper towels for cleaning.
school budgets, prices and costs are more important
than ever before, Brown said. Small household rolls of toilet tissue should be
replaced with larger rolls of about 1,000 feet. That
means fewer cores to dispose of and less waste.

“Hand care couldn’t be more in right now, with the
heightened awareness,” Brown said, referring to
COVID. What’s more, antibacterial and germicidal
soaps are unnecessary. If you wash your hands with a
rich lather for 20 seconds, it doesn’t matter what kind
of soap you use, he said.

Trash bags need to fit cans properly. “How much
overlap is the liner?” he asked. “You want the right
size bag for the right can.” In addition, with some
schools serving lunch in classrooms, bags designed
for paper products aren’t strong enough to hold food
and liquids so you don’t have to double-bag.

When it comes to chemicals, Brown said schools
should look for ways to consolidate – do more with
less. No more than two to four chemicals are needed
for cleaning tasks today. “Two things to remove from
your vocabulary and your buildings are bleach and
ammonia,” Brown said, adding that inadvertent mixes
can cause toxic fumes or even fire.

Equipment used for cleaning can be expensive and
can have an impact on the productivity of janitorial

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18 THE EDGE WINTER 2021