Furniture Polish

Industrial Consumer

Required

Suggested

Limited

Prohibited

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Info on this product category: Furniture Polish

Why Go Green

Green cleaners on this site:

  • Have safer ingredients. Cleaning products often contain a variety of hazardous ingredients, including quaternary ammonium compounds, alkylphenol ethoxylates, 2-butoxyethanol, glycol ethers, and ethanolamine. These pose health hazards to workers and building occupants, as well as environmental hazards downstream.
  • Reduce waste, by emphasizing recycled and/or recyclable packaging.
  • Are sold as concentrates whenever possible, which means that shipping weight is 1/64 – 1/256 that of ready to use products - dramatically reducing fuel requirements for shipping.
  • Often use dilution systems to prevent exposure to concentrated products.
  • Cost roughly equivalent to conventional products (see our report).

Criteria for Furniture Polish

Criteria for Required products:

Furniture/wood cleaners/polishes must be currently certified by one of the following:

  • Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold level or higher, version 3.1 or later
  • Green Seal
  • UL ECOLOGO
  • US EPA Safer Choice Program

Concentrated cleaners must be in a spill-resistant package that prevents access to the undiluted chemical (e.g., automatic dilution systems like ready-to-dispense (RTD), wall-mounted ones).

Last updated

Last updated: 
January 21, 2021

Reports

The Real Cost of Institutional Green Cleaning (2009). Report by SF Environment that includes a cost survey of conventional vs. green cleaning products. Costs were roughly equivalent for most product categories.  Costs of ready-to-use products averaged 15 times higher than concentrates; aerosols averaged 27 times higher.

Guide for City Staff

City Custodians:

  1. Are required to buy these cleaners (if needed):
  2. Post the City department green cleaning checklist/poster.
  3. Post tips (for microfibers, disinfecting, dusting, polishing, floor care, kitchens, restrooms) and watch custodial green cleaning training videos in English, Cantonese, and Spanish made by SF Environment. 
  4. Disinfectants are only important for surfaces like doorknobs.
  5. Switch to microfiber mops and cloths, which can prevent injuries because there's no need for heavy mop buckets.
  6. Install closed-loop dilution systems (if possible) to prevent employee exposure to hazardous concentrates.

Non-custodial City Staff:

Recycling Instructions

It's illegal to trash cleaners (and other chemicals, electronics, lighting, metal, paints). So do one of the following:

  • Use what you already have. 
  • Give them to someone who needs them.
  • Legally and safely dispose them. Post this recycling poster above each trash bin. Then get a pick up.

Guide for Small Businesses & Homes

  • Try microfiber mops and cloths, which can get rid of 99% of bacteria with plain water.
  • Make your own cleaners from common materials like baking soda, castille soap, or lemon juice.
  • See consumer products on GoodGuide.
  • Use disinfectants sparingly. The most important surfaces are doorknobs.
  • Choose ready-to-use, peroxide- or citric acid-based disinfectants.  Avoid disinfectants that list hypochlorites or quaternary ammonium compounds as ingredients (e.g., ammonium chloride).
  • Small businesses can save money by switching to industrial/institutional cleaners.  Ready-to-use products are 15 times more expensive than concentrates.
  • Custodial companies that are SF Green Businesses should watch custodial green cleaning training videos in English, Cantonese, and Spanish and consider posting Custodial Green Cleaning Tips (available in Spanish and Chinese) by SF Environment.
  • Legally and safely dispose of cleaners (and other chemicals, electronics, lighting, metal, paints) in the San Francisco Bay Area or rest of the U.S. 

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