Rhode Island Proposes Green Cleaning Mandates

The Rhode Island General Assembly is proposing legislation that would mandate green cleaning in all public and private K-12 schools. The bill would require school cleaning programs to use green equipment, paper products and chemicals, including glass cleaners, restroom cleaners, carpet cleaners and general-purpose cleaners. Products will need to be certified by Green Seal, EcoLogo, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Design for Environment (DfE) program or other similar third-party certifiers.

Schools would have the opportunity to use existing supplies before being required to purchase green products.