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Northbrook, Ill. — ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, recently signed agreements with Energy Star and SmartWay, two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs.
As an Energy Star Partner, ISSA will encourage its members to:
• Measure and track the energy performance of their facilities where possible by using tools such as those offered through Energy Star.
• Develop and implement plans consistent with the Energy Star Energy Management Guidelines to achieve energy savings.
• Promote the importance of energy efficiency to their staff and their communities.
Thanks to a similar but separate agreement, ISSA is also now a SmartWay Affiliate. As such, ISSA will educate its members about how SmartWay can help them reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution associated with freight transport and overall transportation functions by improving efficiency, streamlining freight supply chain operations, and achieving economic and environmental savings in the process.
"ISSA's new connections with Energy Star and SmartWay offer members many opportunities to develop more sustainable and environmentally conscious practices and systems," said ISSA Executive Director John Barrett. "These partnerships will also be good for members from a financial point; cutting energy consumption saves money, and today, many customers are eager to do business with companies that are socially responsible."
Steve Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group and founder of the Green Cleaning Network, who was a driving force behind the partnership, agreed. “Based on what we’ve learned from EPA’s Energy Star, SmartWay Transport, and other programs," he said, "ISSA’s distributor members can save $42 million annually on energy, fuel, and other operating expenses. Plus, from an environmental perspective, these savings equate to removing 34,000 cars from the road or planting 4 million trees."
Energy Star is a voluntary program that helps businesses and individuals save money and protect the climate through superior energy efficiency. Created under the Clean Air Act and now in its 23rd year, the program has boosted the adoption of energy efficient products, practices, and services through valuable partnerships, objective measurement tools, and consumer education.
The SmartWay program is a public-private initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution created by freight transportation in corporate supply chains. The program is designed to help companies that ship and carry goods improve efficiencies by measuring, benchmarking, and streamlining freight supply chain operations. It also aims to accelerate the availability, adoption, and market penetration of advanced freight fuel-efficient technologies and operational practices while helping companies save fuel, lower costs, and reduce adverse environmental impacts.
The leading trade association for the cleaning industry worldwide, ISSA includes more than 7,000 distributor, manufacturer, manufacturer representative, building service contractor, in-house service provider, and associated service members. The association is headquartered in Northbrook, Ill., with regional offices in Mainz, Germany, and Shanghai, China. For more information, visit www.issa.com.
