Challenges in Going Green
by Jonathan McGaha | 28 March 2011 12:00 am
Facility managers today are eager to reap the environmental and cost benefits of greener buildings. Much has been written about the benefits of sustainable buildings, with cost savings that can run into the millions through smarter use of energy and water resources, more durable materials and high-performance tools that can improve efficiencies while reducing the environmental impact. Greener buildings can also greatly improve occupant health by removing harsh toxins from the environment, protecting workers and reducing employee absenteeism. With all these arguments, one would wonder why anyone would hesitate to jump on the sustainability bandwagon.
However, there remain barriers to going green that facility managers are struggling with today.
Defining What is Green
Establishing green best practices can be confusing, since sustainability can be defined in so many different ways. For instance, adding the word “natural” or “organic” to packaging doesn’t necessarily make a product green or safer. Whether a chemical is derived from nature or is made by man, if there is credible evidence that the chemical poses a threat to environmental health or can harm building occupants, many facility managers believe it should be eliminated from their buildings.
Facility professionals are asking for information to help them make informed choices about the products they allow to be used in their buildings. What comprises a green approach? How they can ensure that their systems, processes and vendors can be properly integrated and certified to support their commitment to an environmentally friendly building?
Lack of Access
Lack of affordable access to comprehensive and credible environmental, health and safety information about products and chemicals has become a barrier to many facility managers. This stems in large part from product manufacturers who refuse or are reluctant to provide disclosure of chemicals in their products. The distributors who represent manufacturers and are suppliers to facility managers get caught in the middle. The supplier doesn’t have access to comprehensive chemical information and the facility manager is asking for that information to help them make an informed decision. Part of the issue is that companies rightfully want to protect their intellectual property, even as consumers are demanding more disclosure.
The balance between building and protecting a strong company brand, and serving the needs of the customer and the environment, can often be at odds. The result is that facility managers suddenly find they need to have a level of chemical and environmental expertise that hasn’t traditionally been associated with the role.
Perception of Cost
One of the biggest industry myths is that green products are too expensive or don’t perform well. While this may have been true 15 years ago, the industry has made enormous advancements resulting in high-performance eco-friendly products that perform as well, if not better, than current products that contain the chemicals of concern. As facility managers look to decrease costs, spending can be further reduced by looking at how products are packaged (i.e., ready-to-use products replaced by more concentrated options that require fewer of the same item), recycling programs and supplier consolidation that can eliminate many incremental costs of going green. However, the perception that embracing sustainability means growing the budget is still a well-entrenched, but inaccurate, belief.
Fear of Complexity
Facility managers sometimes employ workers with language and cultural barriers-which can be obstacles when instituting new methods and processes. They also have developed or inherited a group of vendors that may not be able to support their green initiative and, in an industry built upon strong, local relationships, this contributes to the perception that it’s just too complicated to change vendors and go green.
Perhaps it is a sign of the times that facility management is undergoing a fundamental change that I believe will empower industry professionals to overcome these challenges and take a leadership role in the sustainability movement.
Unlike the past image of the facility manager as strictly related to a maintenance worker, a new breed of facility managers has emerged, bringing their know-how from other disciplines and operational fields-such as science and engineering-to ask the right questions and challenge the status quo for positive change.
These new practitioners are looking at ways to integrate various systems and processes and align them to the overall strategy of their business or organization. They are becoming consultants, working hand-in-hand with construction to recommend materials that can support construction of a more sustainable building based on real-world use and practices. They are also looking at the entire supply chain as a single community that can support green practices while serving the needs of the business.
Facility management is also adopting e-commerce technologies and advances in the mobile Web, making it easier than ever to stay connected. This is helping practitioners to improve communication and efficiency throughout the supply chain and take advantage of technologies, such as e-procurement, to drive automation and support their green initiatives.
Modifying the Process
Empowering facility managers to overcome the challenges of going green requires a shift in how they think about the products and processes they use. However, the facility management industry is maturing and with it comes a savvier, technologically-advanced group of professionals who don’t hesitate to work through the maze of chemistry, regulations, vendor marketing hype and green myths that still persist.
While these challenges will resolve over time, it is also the responsibility of industry suppliers and manufacturers to meet them halfway with better information and support.
This article originally appeared in the November/December 2010 issue of the International Facility Management Association’s
Facility Management Journal. For more information, visit www.fmjonline.com.
Roger McFadden is the vice president and senior scientist of Staples Facility Solutions, the business-to-business division of Staples Inc., Framingham, Mass., that offers a wide assortment of janitorial and cleaning supplies, including its exclusive environmentally preferable cleaners to promote worker safety, health and wellness.
McFadden has served as a consulting chemist and product engineer for several chemical manufacturing companies in both the U.S. and Canada. McFadden is a charter member of the Green Chemistry Commerce Council and currently chairs a committee to advance green chemistry and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Design for the Environment Formulator Initiatives.
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