Formaldehyde has been linked to many respiratory illnesses and is a known carcinogen, yet it’s commonly used in many furnishings and is used as an additive in many adhesives that are used in flooring materials, carpets, furniture, and wall coverings. Conventional paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which can cause respiratory irritation.

The EPA reports that air cleaners may help remove particles of some pollutants, such as humidity or smoke, but they’re not effective against many airborne gases, such as radon, which can seep into buildings. Radon, a chemical naturally emitted from the earth when uranium breaks down in certain geographic areas, is not visible and has no odor. But it is a leading cause of lung cancer, with estimates from 7,000 to 30,000 related cases per year in the United States. The EPA advises business owners to install radon detectors in all buildings. You can find radon detectors at most hardware stores to place in your business. In the event of a high concentration of radon, professionals can work to seal the building to prevent its continued infiltration.

Using an indoor air cleaner or filter can help to eliminate toxic chemicals from your workplace, but the EPA does not recommend the popular ozone air cleaners because ozone is harmful to our health and can combine with other chemicals in the environment to create even more toxic chemicals.

In your office space, increase ventilation with fans and open windows to help move airborne toxins out of the area, but remember that materials in the environment may cause some toxins to continue to off-gas and cause problems.

There are multiple options available if you choose to conduct an indoor air quality test. You can conduct a “do it yourself” test for under $200.00 using a kit such as the Enviro Check Home Test Kit. According to the manufacturer, this test is suitable for smaller spaces and tests for mold, bacteria, yeast, fungus, and various harmful gasses.

If you do not want to conduct the test yourself, consider hiring a consulting firm to test your indoor air quality. Research indoor air quality specialists in your area to find the organization that best fits your needs. But beware that sometimes conducting toxicological tests on indoor air can be expensive and inconclusive.

Hazard

One method some testing companies apply is to take samples from materials in the environment, such as fabrics or flooring, and contain them separately in a closed jar. After a period of time, they expose a test mouse to the air in the jar. If the mouse exhibits respiratory distress, motor difficulties, or dies, toxicity is suspected. Many people—especially those concerned about the environment and protection of nature—oppose this type of testing on the basis of animal cruelty. A better alternative would be to learn which materials contain potentially toxic substances and remove them from the environment to prevent toxic exposure.

Many biological contaminants, such as mold, mildew, cockroaches, mites, and pollens, can present problems in your indoor environment. However, these are natural potential toxins, and if you’ve been dusting and cleaning regularly and avoiding or repairing moisture damage, your environment will be safer. You can best deal with pollens by using effective air-conditioning filters—allergists recommend electrostatic high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. You can avoid vermin by keeping food and water sources unavailable to them. You can also find exterminators who specialize in nontoxic and natural pest control methods. Because synthetic pesticides can be extremely toxic, always avoid using them if possible.

Another concern comes from furnaces and stoves, including those powered by gas, kerosene, or wood. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a potentially fatal yet odorless gas that can be emitted from fuel combustion, so place sensors near the floor in buildings with stoves or furnaces. Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) is also a colorless, odorless byproduct of combustion. Burning materials can release dangerous miniscule particles into the air that can cause lung disease and cancer. The EPA advises using fuel-burning furnaces and stoves in well-ventilated areas and conducting regular maintenance checks on such equipment to avoid these potentially dangerous emissions.

Although these dangers are familiar and need to be considered, we are more concerned here with the potential toxicity of synthetic materials used to furnish and decorate your office, retail, or manufacturing space. So let’s review some of the materials and products you may want to replace or avoid and which items you’ll want to select instead.

Formaldehyde can cause lung and eye irritation, a burning sensation in the throat, and nausea. The chemical, which is commonly used in adhesives, building materials, and paints, can trigger asthma attacks and cause cancer in animals. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has recognized it as a human carcinogen, and the EPA calls it a probable carcinogen. The EPA reports that some people may develop sensitivity to formaldehyde from increased exposure. Formaldehyde is colorless but does emit a pungent odor and is found to off-gas when it’s new, with emissions decreasing over time. Heat and humidity can increase the rate of emission. Healthy interior specialist Debra Lynn Dadd suggests “baking out” chemicals by closing the building and raising the thermostat for a day, then airing out the space with fresh air ventilation. This excessive heat will help release toxic gases from carpets, paints, furnishing, and building materials more rapidly than would naturally occur over time.

Although formaldehyde is approved for use in many applications in the United States, the European Union, which adopted REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) in 2007, has banned the use of formaldehyde. The European Chemicals Agency (http://echa.europa.eu/home_en.asp) provides a database of chemicals subject to regulation under REACH, requiring much stiffer safety testing and regulation of synthetic chemicals. The regulation is based on the Precautionary Principle, a statement adopted by an international group of scientists and diplomats from 32 countries who developed the Wingspread Statement. This statement deals with the introduction of products into commerce before safety has been established. The group developed a standard that products should not be approved until they can be proven safe to consumers and society, which is in opposition to the method of approval currently accepted in the United States, which allows products on the market until they prove to be toxic or unsafe.

Hazard

For more information on the toxicity of formaldehyde, call the EPA Toxic Substance Controls Act (TSCA) office at 202-554-1404, or go to www.osha.gov/SLTC/formaldehyde/.

The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration suggests limiting employee exposure to formaldehyde as much as possible by using respirators, personal protective equipment, and adequate ventilation when formaldehyde is in use.

Synthetic fabrics for curtains and upholstery are often made with petrochemical-based plastics—you should avoid these in your home or office. Another fabric should also be of concern. We often think of cotton as being a healthy, natural fabric—the fabric of choice for the neo-hippies and generations that followed. However, cotton turns out to be one of the most heavily pesticide-sprayed crops in the field. Specifically because farmers don’t need to worry about consumers ingesting the product, they’ve liberally dosed poisons on the plants to keep bugs at bay.

Also beware of the dyes used to color the fabrics. Many dyes are made with petrochemicals and can emit toxic gases, thus being harmful to the puppy or visiting child who decides to taste the stuff.

When selecting paints for your office interior, store walls, or manufacturing facilities, look for paints that have no VOCs. Most paint companies offer a line of no-VOC paints with a wide color selection to choose from. Although these products may cost slightly more than conventional paints, you’ll notice the difference immediately in the mild odor. And though you may not physically feel the difference, everyone who comes into your office will certainly benefit from this alternative.

Hazard

“No VOC” is not the same as “low VOC” or “no odor” when it comes to labeling paints and fabrics. Low-VOC and no-odor products still contain volatile organic compounds—they’re just reduced or covered up with synthetic fragrances, another potential hazard. Choose no-VOC products for the healthiest product.

If cotton is your fabric of choice for curtains and furnishings, look for organic cotton to reduce your and your colleagues’ exposure to pesticides. Many other healthy fabrics are on the market today, too, including hemp, which has gained in popularity because it is a fast-growing, inexpensive crop that can be grown successfully without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Hemp has many uses, from paper and fabrics to fuel and even health foods. Even though it’s in the same family, hemp is not the well-known cannabis and is not a drug, although that’s a common misconception.

Because of its relationship to the drug plant, hemp is banned from industrial production in the United States, but the United States is the biggest importer of the material in the world, and that’s legal. It’s a bit of an absurdity that we have found so many eco-friendly uses for this plant but aren’t allowed to grow it in the United States, although its cultivation could be very profitable and help to reduce our dependence on forest products. Address this issue through your legislators. In the meantime, when you choose hemp, remember to factor in transportation considerations—using materials that must travel a long distance to get to you just burns more fuel and causes more greenhouse gas emissions.

If you do select conventional carpet and are concerned about off-gassing formaldehyde, ask the installer to open the carpet roll outside or in the warehouse to air it out for a day or two before installation. Also ask the installer to use a low-emitting adhesive or tacking strip instead of a formaldehyde-emitting adhesive. You’ll want to open doors and windows for a few days after installation so any fumes can be carried outside.

Many healthier options are available for your flooring needs, and you may wish to consider these because formaldehyde can take years to dissipate from glues and fabrics. Instead of conventional flooring laminates, you might choose a new, greener version of engineered wood flooring such as that created by Goodwin Heartpine, a lumber and flooring company that specializes in River Recovered wood, lumber that tumbled off river barges decades ago and was rescued from river bottoms for use today. Goodwin Heart Pine Company also salvages wood from demolition sites and recycles wood from centuries-old buildings. Either of these wood flooring options provides sustainability as well as beautiful, durable wood floors taken from trees felled more than a century ago instead of today from dwindling forests. Goodwin’s engineered wood is different from other laminates in that the wear layer is equivalent to a solid wood floor from these age-old trees, sawn and applied with low formaldehyde-glues to low formaldehyde plywood. The final product has all the beauty and glamour of a heart pine wood floor at only a fraction of the cost and without the emission concerns of conventional laminates. See Appendix B for more information about healthy wood flooring options.

That’s not the only way that Goodwin is green. The husband-and-wife team is working to turn their small business into a sustainable business. “All of our wood products are produced sustainably and our business practices are healthy for the environment,” says company co-owner Carol Goodwin. A board member of the Florida Green Building Coalition, she devotes her time to helping homeowners, builders, and other businesses learn how they can be green, too. The Florida Green Building Coalition has certified 1,700 homes in the state of Florida since 2003. Many similar organizations exist around the country. You may wish to explore your area for such an organization that can help you find green building alternatives for your business.

“It’s so exciting that the balance of our lives has tipped toward green building,” says Carol Goodwin. “It is the intelligent choice—the only choice.”

Logs often fell from barges as they traveled from forest to lumber mill. Today those logs are recovered and used for sustainable, high-quality wood products.

(Courtesy Goodwin Heart Pine Company)

A major concern with carpeting—beyond its potential for toxicity and for accumulating dirt, dust, and toxic substances that track in from outdoors—is the disposal issue. Carpet generally lasts 10 to 12 years and then needs to be replaced because of wear, tear, and ground-in dirt. Installers rip out and roll up the old rugs, but where does that used carpet go? Most of the time, it goes straight to the dump, where it takes up space and releases all the toxic chemicals that are in it to the surrounding air and soil. Our landfills are filling far too rapidly, and part of creating a sustainable environment means reducing or eliminating our need to cast off waste products for no further purpose or gain to the cycle.

As we mentioned in Chapter 1, Interface Inc. is working to reduce its use of energy and water in the production of carpeting and to reduce toxic emissions in the process. The company creates carpet tiles that are simpler to replace than whole floor coverings, and they take back used carpets and tiles, recycling them into new products for the marketplace instead of adding them to the landfills.

Other carpeting manufacturers are working to create a more sustainable product, too. The Carpet America Recover Effort (CARE; www.carpetrecovery.org) works to help industry representatives divert carpet from landfills to recycling programs.

Milliken and Company was the first carpet company in the United States to replace chlorinated solvents with organic alternatives in 1990 and began using PVC carpet in 1986. Milliken, a founding member of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), operates a zero-waste business and offsets its carbon emissions through investments in forestry and alternative energy.

When it’s time for you to consider new flooring for your business, you may wish to look into carpet tiles, recycled wood floors, or other sustainable flooring choices from companies that are working to reduce their environmental impact and waste production. By choosing a sustainable flooring option, you reduce your office space exposure to toxic chemicals and reduce your other environmental impacts, such as energy use, water use, and waste. Ask your flooring professional if they can recycle your old flooring instead of just sending it to the landfill. Although these flooring options should not cost much more than conventional floorings, any extra expense should be recognized as an investment in a healthier future for your business as well as the planet.

Using natural materials such as stone, tile, and terrazzo is a more direct way to reduce toxic exposure. The concerns to watch out for with these materials are how far the material must travel to reach your business—energy costs associated with shipping tile or stone from far away can negate the environmental benefit of using these materials. Also confirm that the adhesives used to apply stone or tile are nontoxic.

Recent news has brought into question the safety of using granite for flooring and countertops because it has sometimes been found to emit radon and/or radiation, which can be carcinogenic at certain levels. The stone is mined from geological areas rich in uranium, and it has absorbed some of the radiation produced when uranium breaks down—a natural, though toxic, process. If granite is your choice product, be sure to inquire about the origin of the stone and ask that radon tests be conducted on the stone before it comes into your place of business.

Another thing to remember is that stone is procured through a mining process that often takes place in developing countries around the world, where fair labor practices may not apply.

Terrazzo is a product of ground rock with concrete, applied and polished to a durable and beautiful finish. Popular in the 1950s, the technique has seen a resurgence in the past decade, and newer finishes include products made with recycled glass, which creates a beautiful nontoxic flooring or countertop that endures for decades.

When you’re purchasing new office equipment, look for furnishings made from natural, sustainable materials, such as metal and whole wood. Don’t rule out shopping for used office furnishings—desks, chairs, shelving, and filing cabinets made before synthetic chemicals became popular are much healthier and more durable products. They’re also much less expensive than many modern choices, especially those made with natural materials. For sustainable furnishing options, visit www.sustainablefurnishingscouncil.com.

When developing a sustainable workplace, the best route is to use natural materials in construction and decorating choices, including furnishings and equipment. Provide adequate ventilation to ensure that fresh air flows throughout the work environment, carrying away toxic airborne substances and bringing in fresh air and oxygen. But don’t think blowing the toxic chemicals out of your way is the best solution to establishing a sustainable workplace. Preventing exposure to contamination instead of mitigating it is far more preferable.

Going Green

Call the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for information on obtaining a health hazard evaluation of your office (1-800-35NIOSH), or contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration: 202-219-8151.

The EPA has created “An Office Building Occupant’s Guide to Indoor Air Quality” to help businesses determine the health quality of the workplace (see Appendix B).

Incorporating windows into the workspace can benefit both your bottom line and the moods of workers and customers. Try to locate workplaces in areas with windows or skylights to capitalize on the reduced need for electric lighting as well as the increased human potentials that can translate into productivity and sales for your business.

The Green Meeting Industry says daylight actually improves sales by up to 40 percent. Not only does daylight help create a more aesthetically pleasing environment, but it also stimulates the human body to beneficial aspects, according to a study conducted by the Lighting Research Center at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2003 (see Appendix B).

Thin-film coatings on glass windows can help deflect solar radiation and heat that contribute to your energy costs. Be certain your windows can offer the benefit of lighting without the added cost caused by unwanted heat that will cause your air conditioning system to work overtime.

A simple way to reduce the expenditure on energy for lighting and heating is to invest in motion-detecting sensors that shut HVAC and lighting systems down automatically when no one occupies a room and switch on again when triggered by body heat. If your business includes rooms that aren’t constantly occupied, it may be beneficial to invest in automatic temperature sensors.

Finding ways to cut your energy costs with the equipment you need to run your business will make a noticeable difference to your bottom line. As many experts are telling us, finding ways to conserve energy—by using your equipment more efficiently—can have a dramatic impact on your energy usage and emission output. So review your office and production processes carefully to determine ways that you can use electric equipment for fewer hours each day.

When you shop for equipment, seek machinery vetted by the Energy Star office of the EPA to ensure that the equipment uses the least amount of energy in the most efficient ways possible. See Appendix B for contact info for the EPA Energy Star office.

Another sustainable approach to increasing efficiency is by considering the possibility of forming cooperative relationships with other businesses in your district. Might you and a neighbor share equipment instead of maintaining duplicate operations? Ask your landlord or join a local business group to see whether cooperative arrangements might be available.

A beautiful alternative to plastic (Formica and Corian) or granite countertops are the stunning new terrazzos being made with recycled glass. Vetrazzo is a California-based company that creates 9′×5′ panels of recycled glass terrazzo without using petroleum binders sometimes used in terrazzo mixtures. Your local dealer will help you find a fabricator who can cut the panels to fit your needs and install them. The company is a member of the USGBC, uses only U.S.-based raw materials, and pays its workforce a fair living wage. They apply many sustainable practices at their factory, including using daylight, reducing dust from processing, and recycling water. If you’re applying for a LEED certification from the USGBC, you’ll earn points by using this product.

See Chapter 14 for more ideas on finding and applying sustainable equipment, materials, and practices in your office, manufacturing facility, or retail space.

Begin addressing your restroom by finding ways to reduce your water use and waste output. Flushing waste away with clean, treated water seems ludicrous when viewed through the lens of sustainability. However, saving water in the restroom is a responsible way to contribute to saving the planet’s water supply.

Choose low-flow toilets that operate with miniscule amounts of water compared to their counterparts of the past 50 or more years. Waterless urinals can save up to 3 gallons per flush. If you need some plumbing work done, it would be a good idea to inquire about the possibility of routing greywater from sinks into the toilets for flushing. For more information, see Appendix B.

You’ll also want to use low-flow faucets, which provide aeration to take the place of the missing water but create a full-force flow of water. Faucets that turn off automatically can help save water—and money—lost from faucets that aren’t properly closed after use or which develop drips.

If you’ve managed to increase energy efficiency and established a renewable energy supply through solar, photovoltaic, or wind supplies, electric hand blowers are a good choice for hand drying in the bathroom. Hand towels are another option if traffic is limited and a laundry facility or a laundry service is available. The last choice on the sustainability scale is to offer recycled paper toweling in restrooms. You don’t need electric towel dispensers—hand-operated equipment saves energy.

Replacing conventional soap products with nontoxic alternatives is an important yet often overlooked way to decrease your company’s contribution to synthetic chemical exposure, both to immediate users and to the water supply. Soaps with anti-bacterial properties usually have triclosan as an ingredient, a synthetic petrochemical that’s known as an endocrine disrupter and not something you want to be exposed to. Shop for a nonhazardous, nontoxic, biodegradable soap alternative that won’t be irritating to users and won’t send toxic chemicals into the air or wastewater stream.

An interesting nontoxic natural soap that’s been on the market for decades is Dr. Bronner’s natural and organic castile soap. Choose organic soaps with tea tree oil, a natural antibacterial, to replace the synthetic antibacterial soaps. Offered in liquid form or bars, the soaps have distinctive labels that can be fun to read (see Appendix B).

We’ve been so misguided on this room freshening issue. We want our workplaces and homes to smell pleasant and inviting; however, instead of the scent of whatever we’re working on—whether it’s hot presses and reams of paper or soups and pies—we’ve been led to believe we should eradicate natural smells and replace them with unnatural odors made from synthetic petrochemicals that are supposed to smell like flowers, fruit, or sea breezes. The problem is that the real things smell much better, and the fake smells are made with endocrine-disrupting chemicals that could cause havoc on our hormonal and immune systems. These also are sometimes designed to numb our olfactory senses (and our sense of taste) so we can’t detect offensive odors. They’re messing with our heads, and we don’t need that.

If the air in your workplace smells stale, throw open the windows and doors and flip on a fan or two to replace the used air with fresh oxygen from outside. If the air smells musty, check for water leaks around the building that could be causing mold and mildew problems. Bring in fresh flowers or use a few drops of essential oils in diffusers to help spread a more pleasant and safe natural scent around the space.

As suggested earlier, cleaning with essential oils is an effective way to combat bacterial problems and to infuse the atmosphere with genuine fresh, healthy scents. Using commercial anti-bacterial products can introduce unwanted toxic chemicals into your indoor atmosphere.