With the swine and regular flu bugs threatening the workplace this winter, can companies still cleanse and disinfect their workplaces in an eco-friendly way?

The quick answer is yes, but it also depends on what you’re hoping to clean and what you’re planning to use to do it.

A review of kitchen cleaning products in The Washington Post points out that one way to kill off food-borne bugs is to look for products that have been registered with EPA as “disinfectants” or “sanitizers.”

These products have been through tough pesticide and insecticide review procedures to verify the killing power of the active ingredients. These materials are industrial strength pesticides and insecticides, which aren’t considered very green by the environmental community. These materials are acutely toxic because these chemicals do kill the bugs quickly.

But they’re also considered by environmentalists and others as toxic to humans because low-level exposures to these things can cause cancer and other chronic health effects 20 or 30 years after exposure. Their best use is on counter tops, floors, behind cabinets and sinks, and other places where bugs and germs like to congregate.

But, as the Washington Post’s Nina Shen Rastogi also points out, it’s not necessary to use such high powered products when it comes to personal hygiene. Hot soap and water, alcohol-based cleaners and antibacterial soaps are usually powerful enough to handle bugs and germs.

Big name consumer product companies, such as Seventh Generation and Clorox, offer cleaning products that contain disinfectants or sanitizers that are registered with EPA. Whether they’re green can depend on your point of view.

If you’re looking for alternative cleaning products, you can check third-party certifications organizations such as:

• Green America, which features 10 ways to clean green
• EcoLogo, and
• Green Seal.

Tags: EcoLogo, Green America, green cleaning, Green Seal