New Haven Independent

At a meeting of the City Services and Environmental Policy committee Thursday evening at City Hall, aldermen heard testimony that commonly used industrial cleaning chemicals may contribute to health conditions ranging from asthma to certain types of cancer. Sponsors of the resolution argued that a commitment to certified-green cleaning products would protect the health of city employees, and might even save the city money.

Julie Sparer, an industrial hygienist at Yale’s Occupational Medicine Center said she heard many complaints from workers about cleaning agents used in city offices and schools.

“Just today,” she said, “we saw a woman in our clinic who teaches in a school and was experiencing severe asthma attacks. The principal had to call an ambulance several times for her before she learned that when the floor cleaner went by her room after school she had to be gone before that happened.”

In a letter submitted to the committee, resolution sponsors pointed to studies showing that sick days for janitorial staff in buildings that had switched over to green cleaning products had gone down as much as 15 percent in the first year, and Sparer said her own observations showed the benefits of getting rid of dangerous cleaning chemicals.

“For many people, there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence that this has reduced the number of children’s visits to the nurse in schools, for example, and so this is not just about saving the environment, it can be an acute health issue.”

East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar said the city maintained an informal green cleaning policy in some buildings for several years, but that legislation is needed to ensure consistency and continued progress.

“The mayor has, through discussions with the people who hold many of our cleaning contracts, instituted a green cleaning policy,” he said. “But it hasn’t been formalized in any way and it isn’t something that we can expect to transcend the current administration.”

While green cleaning products are currently in use at City Hall, government offices at 200 Orange St. and the police department, Lemar said they are not being used in some other facilities, including senior centers, libraries and fire stations.

Resolution sponsors cited potential cost savings. They said that Santa Monica, Calif., which recently implemented a green cleaning policy, saved 5 percent on cleaning supplies over the first year.

Charles Zhu (near left), a member of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition, testified that the most immediate benefit of an official green cleaning policy would be the clear signal it would send that the city “cares about and knows about this issue.”

“It also sets a good precedent for restaurants or privately owned places to begin using green cleaning, and it’s just good publicity in general,” he said.

Because the Board of Education is not a department of the city, a citywide green cleaning policy would not be able to mandate the use of green products in New Haven public schools. However, Lemar said he is optimistic that the legislation would inspire the schools to form their own policies, despite earlier experiences with some green products that had not performed as well as expected.

“Some of the products that were initially used were not as effective or efficient,” he said, “but that could have been due to the fact that the workers were not trained properly. Hopefully, once we enact our end we can work with the Board of Education to encourage them to try again.”

The Board of Aldermen will vote on the proposed green cleaning legislation March 16.