Floor Care: University of Washington Moves Ahead with Green

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For 145 years, the University of Washington has shown its purple and gold pride in recognition
of the official colors of the Washington Huskies. But in 2003, in keeping with the culture of the
Northwest and its state name—the Evergreen State, the University added green to its traditional
purple and gold, a color that also reflects the University’s long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship.

“UW recognizes the importance of being a positive force for our local and global environment. We even have a University-wide policy on environmental stewardship that states our commitment to being an environmentally, economically, and socially responsible institution. The policy covers every aspect of the University—from how we conduct research to how to we clean our floors,” said Gene Woodard, director of facility services for the Custodial Division at UW’s Seattle campus.

Sattia Sear and Scott Spencer, assistant directors of facility services for the Custodial Division, are responsible for writing UW’s green cleaning policy—a policy that impacts 175 buildings with 10 million cleanable square feet of flooring on the Seattle campus alone. “We have always been strong advocates for using products that enhance safety for our 60,000+ population of students, faculty, staff, visitors, our 320 full-time maintenance employees, and the environment,” Sear said. “This green cleaning policy puts our commitment to sustainable cleaning in writing and supports the University’s overall policy on environmental stewardship.”

And with one LEED Silver-certified building already on campus—a building whose certification UW’s Custodial Division helped secure—and all future construction being built to LEED Silver standards, it is more important than ever that UW have a clearly defined green cleaning policy in place.

According to Sear, UW’s green cleaning policy is expanded at every opportunity. Currently, among other initiatives, it includes the use of cleaning equipment that reduces chemical and water usage and that increases productivity—equipment such as the Tennant T3 Walk Behind and T7 Micro-Rider Automatic Scrubbers with FaST™, the Tennant 1610 Dual Technology Carpet Cleaner with ReadySpace®, and nearly 15 other pieces of Tennant floor care equipment.

Tennant’s FaST is a patented floor care system that is NFSI (National Floor Safety Institute) certified for increasing floor traction up to 21% and delivering just-scrubbed floors that are immediately clean, quickly dry, and ready for traffic. FaST uses 70 percent less water than traditional auto-scrubbers. Tennant’s ReadySpace is a patented carpet care technology that leaves carpets clean, dry and ready for traffic in less than 30 minutes. ReadySpace uses 80 percent less water than traditional extractors.

“Both FaST and ReadySpace clearly support our green cleaning efforts. They use less water and chemical, they leave floors and carpet virtually dry after cleaning, they improve overall safety for all of our many constituents, and they improve productivity immeasurably,” said Sear.

In fact, thanks to the Tennant 7100 Micro-Rider with FaST in particular, Woodard has diverted the equivalent of 10 full-time employees from mopping corridors and maintaining hallways in the Health Sciences building to more detailed cleaning within the class rooms, labs, and lecture halls. “The reliability and durability of auto-scrubbers has improved dramatically in the past six or seven years, and Tennant’s equipment is by far among the most durable of all,” he said. “That durability, combined with the ease-of-use of Tennant’s equipment and its FaST technology, allows us to be economically responsible while we are also being environmentally responsible.”

“Tennant is an invaluable part of UW’s green cleaning policy,” said Sear. “As our policy continues to grow and evolve, I imagine Tennant’s role in the policy will do the same.”