Cleaning is not just about moving a wet mop along the floor. There are many things involved in the maintenance of buildings, houses and other structures that actually involve training and certification. There are organizations out there that dedicate themselves specifically to this task and with new technology and more infrastructure, these organizations will become even more important.
So what exactly is ‘cleaning science’? Cleaning is simply thought of as the removal of unwanted things from the surroundings, usually away from where people can see them. On a broad level, however, it includes all the things we do to maintain human health, environmental health, aesthetics and anything else related to where humans live. There are organizations, like the American Cleaning Institute, that come up with standards to measure the effectiveness of different tools and techniques in maintaining a clean environment.
One big area in cleaning science is the use of different chemicals (in the kitchen, for example) and their measure of safety. In a related manner, there are devices that measure the level of different pollutants in the environment and can be used to make cleaning more efficient. One of the challenges that cleaning science faces is how to implement these different measurement techniques when most cleaning professionals just want to get the job done.
But cleaning science is increasingly being seen as important to human health. The science of cleaning is based largely on environmental science and its main goal is to maintain, manage and restore (when needed) human environments. All the products we use in the house, the millions who are involved in the activity worldwide and the history of cleaning our environments that we as humans share are all constant reminders of the benefits of this practice.