PPD - PPD News Green Cleaning at Building Services

PEDER WINKEL AND HIS SON PEDER WINKEL HONORED AT HSC

Peder Winkel and his son, Peder Winkel were both honored at the HSC Service Pen ceremony. MORE>>

LACY C RABON JR CHILLED WATER PLANT DEDICATION

Friends and family of Lacy Rabon gathered at Building 473 on the UF Campus on May 23rd to dedicate Heat Plant #2 as the Lacy C. Rabon, Jr. Chilled Water Plant. Dave O’Brien welcomed Lacy’s widow, Jenny Rabon, and their two daughters, Lynn Patton and Gayle Kozinski to share in the occasion. In his opening remarks, O’Brien gave a little history about Rabon. He started working at PPD in 1962 and spent 45 years working in and leading the Building Steam, HVAC, Chilled Water Plants, Steam Distribution and Controls & Alarms shops. MORE>>

XERISCAPING

Physical Plant's Grounds Department is constantly searching for ways to reduce the amount of water necessary to irrigate the thousands of plants on campus. To that end, Grounds employs a strategy called xeriscaping to help cut down on water usage. MORE>>

RECYCLEMANIA COMPETITION

The University of Florida, along with more than 400 other institutions of higher learning across the nation, is participating in the 2008 RecycleMania competition. RecycleMania is a yearly competition which began in 2001, and aims to provide “friendly competition among college and university recycling programs in the United States that provides the campus community with a fun, proactive activity in waste reduction”, according to their website. UF’s involvement in the competition is being spearheaded by the UF Office of Sustainability, in partnership with Physical Plant’s Solid Waste Management Office, the O’Connell Center, Gator Dining, Inter-Residence Hall Association, and other campus organizations. MORE>>

GREEN CLEANING AT BUILDING SERVICES

As part of Physical Plant's continuing commitment to the University of Florida and President Bernie Machen's vision of a sustainable campus, PPD Building Services has established environmentally-friendly policies for their cleaning products and services. The new initiative is called Green Cleaning, and it is beneficial both to the environment and to the customers which Building Services serves.

"The name and definition of Green Cleaning comes from United States Presidential Executive Order 13101, "explained PPD Assistant Director Derrick Bacon. "It states: 'Green Cleaning involves using products and services which reduce health and environmental impacts, compared to similar products and services used for the same purpose.'"

Bacon added, "Our main motivation for pursuing Green Cleaning was to support the Office of Sustainability's goals of procurement policies for products and services which are environmentally and socially responsible, of ensuring a healthy working environment for faculty, students, staff and visitors, of minimizing energy consumption, and of reducing waste streams and promoting recycling."

Building Services first began designing its Green Cleaning initiative in the fall of 2005. The department was already using some environmentally friendly chemicals for cleaning at that time, but there was no formal program in place to focus employees' awareness and participation on increasing the University's sustainability. Over the next two years, the program was progressively implemented and is now in full swing.

"Green Cleaning has been a gradual shift for us, but it's an ongoing process that involves employee training, testing of green products and equipment, and a communications program to help get the 'Green Word' out to our employees,"said Bacon. "We've been working with the Office of Sustainability, as well as our product vendors, to see where we can tweak our training and procedures to be more environmentally friendly. Actually, many of the chemical and equipment brands that we were already using were certified by independent third party organizations, such as Green Seal, Green Label and the EPA, but it just wasn't common knowledge within our department."

Some of the newer products involved in Building Services' Green Cleaning initiative include: bathroom paper products which are Green Seal-approved and made from 100% recycled material; Green Seal-approved chemical cleaners; trash can liners made from Super Hexene resins, which are thinner and stronger than conventional plastic trash bags, and can reduce the total amount of plastic sent to landfills; ergonomic tools for employees (such as double bucket mopping systems), building matting (to reduce soil, moisture and pollutants entering the building), and vacuum cleaners which are Green Label-approved by the Carpet and Rug Institute. Other products currently being tested include a Green Seal-certified floor wax and floor stripper, an eco-safe rust removing solution, and a water-based (instead of oil) stainless steel cleaner.

Along with new products and policies, the department is revamping its training procedures for employees to include discussions on green chemicals and procedures, energy conservation, recycling, and ergonomics. "I want our front line supervisors and custodians, who interact with hundreds of customers on a daily basis, to be knowledgeable about our Green program so that they can communicate and explain our efforts to others,"explained Assistant Director Bacon. "Along with our training, we've invited guests from the Office of Sustainability, as well as several of our vendors, to come in and meet with our custodial supervisors to help get the message out about sustainability and green cleaning. We also encourage our employees to use sustainable initiatives, such as recycling and using natural cleaning products, at home as well as at work. What we're really trying to do is implement a gradual departmental culture shift towards sustainability as a focus, not just on the job, but in our private lives as well, and we feel that will pay dividends for the University, and the environment as a whole, in the years to come."

LOWE GARDEN

The former site of Johnson Hall, which burned to the ground in 1987, is now home to a beautiful outdoor garden space named the Lowe Family Garden. The garden, located directly west of Dauer Hall, is the result of a PPD Architecture and Engineering project, and was funded by donations from its namesake, the Lowe family of Gainesville. MORE>>

PPD R.E.A.C.T. AWARD WINNERS

The R.E.A.C.T. award, created as part of PPD's Employee Recognition program, seeks to recognize employees who "Recognize an Event and Act to Correct in a Timely manner".