By Donna Hemmila

Showing off their green cleaning products are (left to right) Patricia Gonzalez, Raul Cordova, Byron Sandoval, Fabiola Gutierrez, Rodolfo Lua, Blanca Garcia and Erazmo Zapien.

Custodians at UC Santa Barbara have found a way to keep their campus gleaming clean and green.

Their efforts to use environmentally friendly cleaning methods were recognized with the Grand Award in a contest American School & University magazine sponsored with the Green Cleaning Network and the Healthy Schools Campaign. The campus will be recognized in the magazine's December edition.

The custodians began exploring environmentally safer cleaning products in 2002 when they went to their product supplier and asked for green-certified alternatives to the harsh chemicals they had been using, said Byron Sandoval, superintendent of custodial services.

"We put the pressure to them to come up with Green Seal certified products," he said.

By 2004, the campus was able to implement its green cleaning program. Not only are green products better for the environment, but they also improve indoor air quality and are better for the workers' health. The products cost roughly the same as the old products, Sandoval said, and are worth the extra effort.

"The green chemicals aren't as strong, so you do have to work a little harder," he said.

When custodians tried the new floor-polishing compound, he said, they were concerned because it didn't leave the floors shiny like the old stuff. They went back to their supplier and asked for shine.

Three months later the supplier came up with a green product with shine. "They said, 'We don't even have a name for it.' And we said, 'How about Verde, that's green in Spanish.'"

Sandoval, a native of Guatemala, started working on campus 21 years ago as a custodian. He worked his way up to various managing jobs and is now superintendent of the custodians. So he appreciates what this award means to his staff.

"Most of our people work at night," he said. "The building occupants don't get a chance to see them. I'm sure they appreciate what they do. Having something like this - being on the news and having the chancellor congratulate us - I pass that on to the custodians. I tell them, 'Look, all your hard work pays off.' That really pulls them up. They're great workers."

Donna Hemmila is editor of Our University.