SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Dial Corp. unveiled a program to promote green cleaning products geared toward healthcare facility managers. The products will meet or exceed various green cleaning criteria, such as formulas that are biodegradable, hypoallergenic or non-irritating.

Is your office cluttered with books, papers and teetering piles of business cards? Does your house sometimes feel more like a storage facility than a home? If so, I wish you could have joined me the other day for The Beauty of Being Organized, an event sponsored by Herman Miller, the furniture company, which featured a talk by a funny and insightful “professional organizer” named Peter Walsh.

CHICAGO, Ill. -- The National Restaurant Association unveiled the "Conserve: Solutions for Sustainability" initiative at its annual trade show Monday, the same day PepsiCo Foodservice entered a partnership with the Green Restaurant Association (GRA) to help customers become more sustainable. A Chicago culinary school also said Monday it would incorporate sustainability education into its curriculum.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Ecolab will reportedly introduce a new environmental initiative to certify carwash operators and help them market their services to green-minded consumers.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Henkel, a Germany-based corporation that makes products such as Soft Scrub and Dial soaps, made a three-year commitment to work with the university's Global Institute of Sustainability to measure product environmental impacts from cradle to grave.

RACINE, -- The Greenlist logo, which will adorn product labels beginning this month, is based on a patented process that rates 95 percent of the raw materials used in SC Johnson's products. Greenlist products contain fewer volatile organic compounds.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A partnership between Evergreen Energy and Enterprise Information Management has used IBM technology to develop the GreenCert greenhouse gas meter, which can make monitoring, reporting and trading carbon emissions an affordable, automated and efficient process.

CHICAGO, Ill. -- At the U.S. Green Building Council's Greenbuild Expo, the nonprofit Green Cleaning Network joined with eco-consultants the Leonardo Academy to unveil a plan to help the industrial and institutional cleaning industry reduce and offset its emissions.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Together with Health Care Without Harm, the Center for Health Design and 10 health care providers, Kaiser launched yesterday the Global Health and Safety Initiative, a voluntary partnership designed to make the industry cleaner and safer for patients, workers and the planet.

FRESNO -- The online database for the hospitality industry helps associates locate green items, such as paper towels, biodegradable food containers, napkins and bathroom tissues.

Because it is so often low-hanging fruit for facility managers, green cleaning is an easy, early effort that is taking off in popularity.

CHICAGO, Ill. -- Illinois is now the second state in the U.S. to make green cleaning rules mandatory for schools.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Janitorial product manufacturers, distributors and service providers for educational institutions are invited to enter the first Green Cleaning Award for Schools and Universities.

The risks -- and even the potential risks -- of toxic chemicals in products that we encounter every day has quickly become one of the biggest, most complex and controversial issues facing businesses today.

HOUSTON, Texas -- The company's acquisition of LampTracker will allow it to dramatically expand its capability to recycle mercury-containing compact fluorescent lights, as well as batteries, electronics and other recyclable wastes.