Santa Monica was one of the first cities to require the reduction of toxicity of janitorial products. In 1993 the city implemented a Toxics Use Reduction Program, which included the trial of less-toxic or non-toxic alternative custodial products. The results of the pilot contributed to the development of bid specifications for the evaluation of bids from custodial product vendors. The specifications include environmental and public health criteria as well as performance and cost criteria.
From the Santa Monica website:
The City of Santa Monica has adopted a Sustainable City program which is a comprehensive long-term environmental protection strategy for the community. Informal/formal bids detail the product and performance specifications for paper products, cleaning supplies, etc. to ensure that they are consistent with the Sustainable City Program’s goals and objectives. For example, paper products criteria include analysis of recyclability, percentage of post-consumer recycled content, manufacturing impacts, local economic benefits and cost effectiveness. Cleaning product manufacturers are required to provide chemical analysis, identify impacts on human health and potential impacts on the environment and to demonstrate compliance with existing State and Federal regulations.
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