Since it's Earth Day...what is your company doing to "go green" this year?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

There is a huge push on Green efforts. Everyone...seems to be going green. Environmental awareness is on everyone's mind. What is your company doing to go green?

Beth :groovy3:

[Tegrey 121]

Beth,

We started years ago when it wasn't popular. Trouble with us, we don't have enough suppliers who are pushing anything green. We switched some of our paint to PPG. They have more products then most. We rebuilt our home and made many changes. More windows, less light. Bamboo floors. Low VOC paints. Low volume water. Etc. If we live it, we bring it to work with us. Oh, we have had a non smoking company for 10+ years also. Thank You.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

There is a huge push on Green efforts. Everyone...seems to be going green. Environmental awareness is on everyone's mind. What is your company doing to go green?

Without going into details of how much push or effort involved I can tell ya that grape juice or some vitamins can get ya to go purple... :)

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Gee thanks Kevin,

I knew I could count on you, to give a professional, well thought out response... :lol:

Next!

Beth

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

There are issues that impact us regarding the Clean Water Act, there are things folk are doing in light of various severe weather (not just drought) condition that are "green", there are the expanding VOC restrictions, by expanding I mean many states have acted others will follow. There are new products designed to reduce the footprint. What is your company doing?

Beth

[Celeste 341]

One stance we're taking - moreso now than before the drought - is that performing proper cleaning as well as regular maintenance IS being greener since cleaning impervious surfaces regularly helps keep storm run-off cleaner.

You can't be green if you're not clean!

[Chappy 138]

I drove around and wasted some $4.15/gallon diesel.

I'm sorry but I'm sick of earth day. I'm sick of the rediculous promotions that go with it. Granted we need to conserve and clean up our waters, but the U.S. (us) have made major strides in cleaning up the environment and continue to make strides. Something the rest of the world can not even hope to match.

This "green" bandwagon that everyone is jumping on is causing this country to make Fuel of Food. People around the world are going to starve to Death- Thats STARVE TO DEATH because of this 'Green' garbage!

And I for one am sick of it.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

So if your customer asks you about environmentally friendly methods or products, how will you approach that?

Beth

[D_Tagr 14]

I started going green right from startup.

My very first purchase was my pressure washer and I specifically specced it for a low flow rate. I know this sounds odd to a lot of you, but for graffiti removal at most I'm only cleaning a couple hundred square ft. Most jobs the run time of the machine is under 15 minutes.

I run 3.0 GPM. Hot water to maximize my chemical efficiency. Compared to a 5.5 GPM machine I am preventing approximately 37.5 gallons of water being used and 37.5 gallons of contaminated runoff from potentially entering the storm system during a typical job.

I haven't yet worked out a feasible (cheap) reclaim system yet. Any advice, please PM.

As for chemicals, wherever possible I use the corn and soybean based strippers. I have recently begun to investigate the possibility of manufacturing my own chemicals and milk based paints.

Of course I use recycled paper in the home office.

[jetstream1 18]

I drove around and wasted some $4.15/gallon diesel.

I'm sorry but I'm sick of earth day. I'm sick of the rediculous promotions that go with it. Granted we need to conserve and clean up our waters, but the U.S. (us) have made major strides in cleaning up the environment and continue to make strides. Something the rest of the world can not even hope to match.

This "green" bandwagon that everyone is jumping on is causing this country to make Fuel of Food. People around the world are going to starve to Death- Thats STARVE TO DEATH because of this 'Green' garbage!

And I for one am sick of it.

.......right on....you go

[plainpainter 217]

The think I see about going 'green' is that decisions one makes that at first glance seem to be better for the environment - may have the total opposite effect. For instance, using a lower VOC product, may force you to stain twice as often as the more 'pollutant' product. But what was really gained?

[FCPWLLC 233]

Most of the time "green" really isn't so green. In my cleaning business, we have tried several "Green " products only to find that they don't work. Require too much "green elbow grease" Might as well just leave the cleaner on the shelf and use only the elbow grease. The ones that do work are more expensive and cost gets passed to customer. In an industry where folks already think our labor is worthless, it's hard to pass on material expenses to keep labor up. Just won't work for the minimum wages. Won't pay my workers low either. Green is just another gimick in my opinion. With suppliers leading the pack.

[RPetry 564]

This "green" bandwagon that everyone is jumping on is causing this country to make Fuel of Food.

Good point, Jon. Much of this "Go green" hoopla is marketing nonsense. Corn to ethanol is Big Ag's way of keeping the industrial farms profitable.

We have used citric acid brighteners/neutralizers for the past 7 yrs. as opposed to oxalic acid. Is that "green"? Did it originally for helper and foliage health concerns, but have to admit I use the enviro friendly pitch when selling.

Can't say we're doing anything different this season. Tend to shout "GO GREEN!" at Phila. Eagles games while enjoying numerous "greenies". Guess that does not count.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Ok I admit I went green by using some Omax Tahoe on a deck. Well it was sorta olive green and interesting to say the least.. :)

Actually I am in process of trying some "green" marketed stain that is made from 65% recycled materials.

[5 Star Johnny 14]

While I don't buy into the "go green" credo that is pushed so heavily by the left wing liberals, I believe there's an advantage to using it in your marketing. Not they we pollute unneccesarily, but won't go out of our way to buy more expensive "green" product or equipment that doesn't add to my bottom line, or serve the customer as well.

However, I think working in a line like "we'll un-green your property" (get rid of fungus) might get attention in an ad. Or simply "save some green" discount promotion. Either way, because everyone's so whacked out on going green, just mentioning "green" will get attention.

We've been a completely "smoking allowed" company since our inception. But....we never leave a butt behind!

[Jeff 232]

Green is alright. I am no environmentalist. Maybe the movement helped. I know in Boston Harbor you can now see seals that weren't there for decades, I see birds of prey in areas where they were extinct for decades.

Theres a lot of areas that were trashed and now are clean. Great! I think the movement helped, keep it going, everything evens out and in the USA its helped. I'm not for saving every owl or insect that may be endangered, but if it can be avoided with and Extra scrubber here or filtration there its a good thing. I feel large industries that would pollute the most should have stricter rules just because they are so large theres more pollution and it should be kept in check

Hell I made great money in the 80's & early 90's when they were adding scrubbers etc to power plants cleaning up the emissions. A lot of people made money and it helped clean up things

Is going GREEN really that big, I really havent heard that much about it except around Earth Day

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Going green is huge.

Look at the following....

• builders talking about green solutions - bamboo flooring etc
  
• renewable energy or resources is a term you near more
  
• look at lowes and hd's ads....focused on environmentally friendly things for the home
  
• cars - alternate energy
  
• reduced VOC paints and stains
  
• using good made from recycled materials
  
• Walmart just launched a HUGE green save the earth campaign aimed at reducing landfills and air pollution
  

Now tell me, if all of these things are being done, and all these companies see the value in it, how can it be anything but good business to be a part of the trend?

Beth

[HotShot 34]

Without going into details of how much push or effort involved I can tell ya that grape juice or some vitamins can get ya to go purple... :)

I know if I drink too much grape juice, I make a lot of brown :D Prunes work well too.

Actually, I'm with Jon Chapman and I think most of the whole "green thing" is a crock of crap. All you have to do is follow the money to see that. In the kitchen exhaust cleaning industry I think we do have a major responsibility to stay compliant on what we do with our greasy waste water though. I was recently given an endorsement from a local Lake Manager while cleaning an exhaust system. He came over to the restaurant with the intention of shutting me down, but when he saw how I was handling my waste water, he gave me an endorsement and said to put it in any advertising material that I have.

We do need to be aware and we do need to be good stewards, but going over board really ticks me off.

Oh yeah, D-Tagr, I admire your efforts, but in my opinion, you are totally wrong in your assessment. With a higher GPM machine, you would more than likely get the job done in half the time. For 3 1/2 years I ran a 2.0 gpm machine to clean hoods, I've since changed to a 5.5 gpm machine and I'm saving soooooo much time and the water is about the same. Do whatever works for you, I'm not trying to discourage you, but I just think that you are wrong about that. Also another thing to think about is the fuel consumption....if it takes half the time and half the gas then........

[HotShot 34]

Sorry for the double post, but I had to say something else about going overboard.

Where I live is about 30 miles from a military base. It provides lots of jobs to my little town. The state was redoing the road to this base and the tree huggers made them put a 2 foot tall fence the entire 30 miles to prevent desert tortoise's from getting killed on the road. They had a big community meeting about the whole thing with some gov't officials present answering questions. One guy gave them statistics about how many turtles are killed by car vs how many by Ravens and crows. There was no comparison. The gov't dudes had no answers except for , "well, we can't do anything about nature taking it's course and the predator birds killing them, but we can do something about cars killing them"..that's when some young, conservative, good looking stud (:)) yelled out "let us kill the birds!!!" Ravens are a "protected" bird here in the lovely state of California and they are destroying lots of crops and other things because there are so many of them.

When common sense flies out the window is when either side goes over the edge. A 2 foot tall fence is completely stupid, a major waste of money and every chance I get, I run over it with my Grizzly. Now if you'll excuse me, I think a big black bird just landing on my 2 1/2 acres, I got some bird hunting to do!

[slightmold 64]

I've noticed alot of recycled plastic decks being built this spring...I would think they would be easily cleaned with out the harsh cemicals....Hmmmm

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Somethings I don't really consider at all as being related to "green" as green implies wasting non renewables and being friendly to enviro. Talk of saving this or that, like water for instance is silly. Water doesn't disappear it just isn't everywhere as much as another.. that's drout..When it comes down to it I believe in partaking of what was given long as enviro is healthy.

Jeff, yea some waterway animals surely showed benefit from less polution at commercial level but don't that credit mainly go to earlier fed efforts and putting an end to certain agricultural use of poisons years ago?

Let's be serious..the whole current green movement is way overcredited. It's been normal people seeing effects on animals , or on their skin, or on their respiritory systems that inspires safer buying decissions of the homemaker not the "green' movement. I mean they can only ignore things so long before seeing truth. Is no different then when woman had to learn and except that smoking or doing drugs during pregnancy is not a good thing. They didn't need an organized party of nutjobs to exagerate to them. Just became common understanding and that was that. This "green" thing is a business now pushing exagerations if not outright lies down everyones throats.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

How are they lying if they have scientific data to back what they say?

Beth

[Chappy 138]

You mean like the scientific data that 'proves' global warming? The scientists that have data showing opposite data are marginalized and ignored- but we have a 'consensus' on global warming.

Good stewardship of the land is our Biblical responsibility. But this Green stuff is agenda driven. And the agenda is going to lead to more taxes, higher costs and bankrupcies for many.

[Chappy 138]

Heres what Im going to do to prove Im Green.

I am going to reduce my carbon footprint by not exhaling for the next hour.

[Chappy 138]

Sorry that didnt work. I'll try again later after I've picked myself up from the floor and the blue tint is gone from my skin.