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Green Cleaning Advocate Ashkin Reflects on Brazilian Cleaning Industry

Stephen Ashkin, the jansan industries advocate for sustainability, has just returned from speaking at the largest professional cleaning trade show in South America, hosted by Abralimp, the Brazilian cleaning industry trade association.

Held at the Expo Center Norte in Sao Paulo, Brazil, more than 12,000 people attended the event, making it comparable, at least in attendance, to ISSA trade shows in North America.

Ashkin's presentation focused on Green Cleaning and the growing opportunity for sustainability - protecting the environment; economic sustainability; and social equity - within the jansan industry in Brazil, a country of over 200 million people.

"What struck me most is how much the people attending my presentation were [so] eager to learn," says Ashkin. "The people I met in the Brazilian cleaning industry are smart, very focused on moving their industry forward, and I look forward to working with them over the coming years."

Among of the items Ashkin discussed in his presentation were the following:

• Defining Green Cleaning and the importance of consistent messaging, along with the need to prevent greenwashing
• The importance of Green certification; "purchasers must have confidence that the products selected for Green Cleaning are verified to have a reduced impact on users and the environment; this helps both suppliers and purchasers"
•  The key components of Greening cleaning such as chemicals, paper products, liners, floor pads, powered equipment, and other materials needed to create healthy buildings
•  Staying up-to-date regarding innovations changing the U.S. cleaning industry and how it might impact them
• Ways to use Green Cleaning as a differentiator when it comes to marketing their businesses

"I also encouraged attendees to 'find their passion,'" says Ashkin. "Whether that passion is for children's health, the environment, or another reason."

To accomplish this, Ashkin concluded his presentation with the following quote from Pope Francis in this predominantly Catholic country: "All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements, and talents."

Green Cleaning is one way to be that instrument.

More From 8/30/2017 on FacilitiesNet