Home | Events | Site Map | Contact Us


	Home > Program Areas > Green Cleaning >

Green Cleaning in Schools:

Developments in State and Local Policy

Illinois

Citation: Illinois Public Act 095-0084 (Green Cleaning Schools Act)

Effective: August 2007

Available: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=095-0084

Summary: This law requires the state to establish and amend annually guidelines for environmentally-sensitive cleaning and maintenance products for schools. It requires schools to develop a green cleaning policy and to purchase and use such products.

Key Provisions:

Requirements for Using Green Cleaning Products. The law requires all elementary and secondary schoolsto establish a green cleaning policy and to purchase and use environmentally-sensitive cleaning products, pursuant to guidelines and specifications established under the law. The requirement applies to all elementary and secondary public schools and to all elementary and secondary non-public schools with 50 or more students. Schools may deplete existing cleaning and maintenance supplies.
Exceptions. The law provides an exception if it would not be economically feasible for the school district to implement the green cleaning requirements. According to the law, it would not be economically feasible to implement the requirements if that would result in an increase in the school’s cleaning costs. If adopting a green cleaning policy is not economically feasible, the school must provide annual written notification of this determination to the state, on a designated form.
Guidelines and Specifications. The Illinois Green Government Coordinating Council (IGGCC), in consultation with other state agencies and non-governmental stakeholders, must establish and amend annually guidelines and specifications for environmentally-sensitive cleaning and maintenance products for use in school facilities. The law directs the IGGCC to provide multiple avenues by which cleaning products may be determined to be environmentally sensitive under theÂ guidelines.Â The guidelines developed by the IGGCC are available at: http://www.standingupforillinois.org/uploads/GreenCleanFinalGuidelines.pdf
Training/Technical Assistance. Regional offices of education and the IGGCC are required to distribute the state’s green cleaning guidelines to schools and to provide assistance to schools to carry out the law’s requirements.

The Innovation in Governance Programs work to develop inventive approaches to new or entrenched environmental problems and changing technologies and economies. The programs focus on four objectives:

Investigate and promote innovative approaches to managing government agencies and private businesses that will achieve greater environmental protection.
Safeguard and strengthen the safety net of federal environmental law, its enforcement in the courts, and its state implementation through strategic research, education, and outreach.
Improve understanding of environmental governance tools by hosting visiting scholars and international delegations.
Through ELI’s Center for Business Environmental Strategy, provide information, ideas and tools for corporate environmental lawyers and executives to improve environmental management.