Photo by Zachary Siebert / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

St. Joseph School District maintenance employee Donna Kaelin mops the floor of the Central High School music room. Every summer, the school district administers a deep clean to all of the district’s buildings. Starting with the 2009-10 school year, all of the cleaning products will meet environmentally friendly guidelines due to recent state legislation.

New York led the way in this environmentally friendly initiative.

Then came Illinois.

Followed by Missouri.

That’s right. Missouri, not Oregon or Washington or some other state with a green reputation, is a national leader when it comes to going green.

A new state law requires the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to draft annual recommendations for green cleaning in schools beginning with the 2009-10 year.

The education department will distribute guidelines to school districts with cleaning program and product details.

The law, a result of Senate Bill 1181, attempts to improve the environment and people’s health.

For St. Joseph School District staff, changes would be minimal since they’ve already turned a majority of their cleaning green. The district contracts with St. Joseph’s Hillyard Industries Inc., a distributor of Green Seal certified products.

“I’m happy to say that the St. Joseph School District is basically already positioned there,” Rick Hartigan, the district’s chief operating officer, said of the law.

He said the district has not experienced a difference in cost or quality with the switch to green.

Gary Walker, owner of GT Enterprises, played a key role in bringing the law to Missouri. His company has a commercial cleaning business and retail store in Lee’s Summit, Mo. Mr. Walker knew of New York’s and Illinois’ efforts and encouraged state Rep. Will Kraus, R-Raytown, to propose the bill that became law.

While Mr. Walker does stand to gain financially from the law, he said his motivation was based on what he believes is right for health and the environment. His cleaning company ditched toxic products for more environmentally friendly ones in large part because the old products were causing an employee to cough a lot.

As demand for the green products has increased, he said, costs have fallen and the efficiency of the products has improved to where there’s no difference between the quality of green and non-green cleans.

“We need to be thinking about what we’re using in these schools,” Mr. Walker said. “We’re using toxic chemicals in these schools, and there’s outbreaks of influenza and super-bugs. We need to provide a safer choice.”

He says he’s passionate about getting similar legislation passed in more states.

“I really wanted to light a fire in the middle of the country and let them know that we can make change here,” he said. “We are green here. We just don’t get the credit we deserve.”

Nancy Hull can be reached

at nancyhull@npgco.com.