Charting Your Course: “Sustainability” Opportunities Will Explode in the Green Cleaning Category

July 10th, 2013 • BY

If timing, as they say, is everything, there’s no question that NOW is the time to work in the green arena. Until recently, sustainability was an area of growing interest, yes, but an often mislabeled one, too.

According to the sustainability dictionary.com, the word was defined in 1989 at the World Commission on Environment and Development as, “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Now, two decades later, it’s definitely one of THE words of the year. And, thanks to the new administration’s commitment to going green, so is the entire green cleaning category. Talk about a great category in which to build a career!

LIGHTNING SPEED

Much of what’s in the stimulus plan may not trickle down to cleaning per se. However, as a result of investments and upgrades businesses will be making, how you clean will change. And, given the tax credits and bailout package benefits available to building and business owners for a variety of energy upgrades, combined with the administration’s larger push to go green, the clean scene is going to undergo growth—and change–at lightning speed.

Add to that the fact that going forward, topics like going green and sustainability are not only going to be better defined, but they’re going to be less and less of an option, and more and more of a mandate, and it’s clear the opportunities abound for people employed in the cleaning green and sustainability categories.

EDUCATION IS KEY

At the same time, however, education–ranging from basic certification to graduate degrees in specialties that are still evolving—will become part and parcel of determining the success of green initiatives and of the people and businesses supporting (or not supporting) them.

Every commercial property, cleaning, and educational group out there is trying to wrap its collective arm around prioritizing and advancing new educational initiatives.

No matter what your position within the cleaning category, this means terrific growth opportunities for you. But, do your homework and stay up to date on what the next step in your ongoing education should be. At Cleaning Green Media, we’ll be looking into this, as well, so that we can keep you abreast of the latest developments and educational options.

Whether you hold a green master of business administration and manage sustainability in a large institution or are a high school graduate heading a small business’ janitorial services, the Sierra Club has a message for all of us. “In the future, employers won’t be looking to just hire sustainability managers; they’ll want every manager to understand sustainability.”