over 17 years serving the Tri-State areawith two locations20 1/2 Low Avenue      12 Windsor Hwy.Middletown, NY      New Windsor, NYMOUNTAIN RESTAURANT SUPPLY& COOKING ACADEMY

Our Green Products are of the US Green Building Council. This non-profit group is made up of people throughout the building industry whose mission it is to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places. The Council has a formal program called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

The USGBC supports education and research, including at the local level through the 70 chapters within the United States.  Founded in 1993, this organization today has over 10,000 member companies and organizations. The members include building owners and end-users, real estate developers, facility managers, architects, designers, engineers, general contractors, manufacturers, government agencies and nonprofits. The resources that are available through the USGBC provides us a wealth of information that allows us to stay up to date with many topics.

re that knowledge and help educate our customers on how they can participate in supporting and promoting green cleaning and the use of environmentally friendly  products.

GREEN CLEANING

Green cleaning encompasses a broad scope of concerns including products, processes, and the safety and health of building occupants and cleaning professionals. In recent years, the market demand for green cleaning has grown at an accelerated rate. You may have heard that ‘green cleaning' is just a fad or something for environmentalists. You may also have heard that ‘green cleaning' is not cost effective. Not true.

It's important to note that green cleaning has become easy to implement.  We provide an understanding of this program with a variety of Green Seal and/or EPA approved, Environmental Choice certified, and environmentally responsible products.  We are here to help assist our customers with achieving LEED certification credits along with USGBC recognition and compliance to the best of our ability.

More importantly, we provide you with quality, performance tested products that reduce the health and environmental impacts, provide industry knowledge, and support that will improve the quality of your working environment, improve your bottom-line, and most of all protect the natural environment in which we live.

Green Cleaning and environmental responsibility aren't just buzzwords any longer. Twenty years ago it seemed the environmental movement was just a fad, reached its peak, and then disappeared. Unfortunately, increasingly poor indoor environmental quality has had a major impact on business, education, and our daily lives. Increases in childhood asthma, falling test scores, student absenteeism, employee sick time, and lower productivity all have some basis in poor indoor environmental quality. The choices we make in cleaning products, equipment, systems and procedures affect our economy and our very lives.

As cleaning professionals, you are well aware of the impact poor cleaning has on the life cycle of surfaces such as carpet, tile, walls, and fixtures, resulting in premature replacement and additional costs. You may not be aware of the impact poor cleaning has on occupant productivity, health, morale, and objective measures such as student test scores or attendance.

Green Cleaning is not about replacing your current product with a milder cleaner. Green Cleaning is simply defined as ‘cleaning to protect health without harming the environment.' It is about examining your entire process of cleaning, identifying the areas that can be improved, developing a plan and the procedures to implement that plan, and finally measuring the results of the executed plan. A properly designed and implemented plan will have positive impact on the cleanliness of your facility, the health of its occupants and your return on investment. Mountain Restaurant Supply, in accordance with the LEED-EB program and the USGBC will help guide you develop and implement the right Green Cleaning program for your facility.

LEED

The USGBC and its members developed the LEED system (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) in November 2000 as a guideline for designing, constructing, and certifying sustainable buildings. LEED is a voluntary standard that emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water consumption, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. With its unique approach, the LEED system has become the national benchmark for GREEN buildings. This comprehensive system offering proven standards, training, technical assistance, and professional accreditation is an effective means of driving return on investment over time.

There are three LEED programs currently in place. The first is LEED-NC, which, deals with new building construction and major renovations. The second, LEED-EB, concentrates on existing building operation upgrades and maintenance (including cleaning). The third, LEED-CI, completes the scope with a focus on commercial interior renovations and tenant improvements. Within each of these categories, a building can achieve a LEED certification level of Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum based on accumulation of points earned by meeting certain criteria. Preliminary results from LEED-EB's two-year pilot program have revealed several benefits for those that have chosen to go GREEN. The program was comprised of more than 51 buildings whose owners control more than 400 million square feet nationally. Benefits of the implementation of the LEED-EB program included lower operational cost, increase in market value of the facilities, improved employee productivity and satisfaction, improved air quality, enhanced occupant comfort and health, and an overall improvement in building aesthetics. Environmentally, studies have revealed an increase in the protection of natural habitats, improved air and water quality, a reduction in waste, conservation of natural resources, and decreased greenhouse gas emissions. Undeniably, the USGBC's LEED program has and will continue to create a win-win situation for buildings, their owners and occupants, and the environment.

The LEED Rating System

To evaluate a green building under the LEED rating system, points are awarded for achievements in each of following six categories.

- Sustainable Sites
- Water Efficiency
- Energy and Atmosphere
- Material and Resources
- Indoor Environmental Quality
- Innovation and Design Process

LEED–EB Levels of Recognition

Certified ……32-39 points
Silver ………40-47 points
Gold …………48-63 points
Platinum ……64-85 points

Recap of Green Benefits

- Promotes a healthier working environment by improving indoor air quality
- Enhances safety for janitorial workers
- Improves employee retention
- Reduces liability, legal costs and insurance
- Increases productivity 2 – 16%
- Helps organizations meet green purchasing mandates
- Reduces cleaning and product cost
- Decreases an organizations environmental and health impacts
- Improves test scores in schools up to 20%