Eco Strata & Common Area Cleaning

Who needs eco strata cleaning

Strata schemes span residential apartment towers, mixed-use developments, retirement and assisted-living complexes, commercial office strata and industrial unit estates. What they share is a set of common areas that no single occupant controls but everyone uses. Owners corporations and their strata managers carry the duty to keep those spaces clean, safe and presentable, and increasingly to show that the way they are cleaned does not create its own hazards.

The people cleaning these spaces are exposed to conventional products far more than any resident. The evidence here is hard to ignore. The ECRHS study by Svanes et al. (2018) found lung-function decline in regular cleaners comparable to around 20 pack-years of smoking. The AIHW attributes 9 to 15 per cent of adult-onset asthma to occupational exposure and names cleaning as a high-risk occupation. Deloitte Access Economics puts the cost of asthma to Australian employers at 526.7 million dollars a year. For a strata scheme, reducing chemical exposure protects the cleaning workforce, residents with respiratory sensitivity, and children and older people who spend the most time in shared corridors and amenities.

What a low-tox strata program covers

A well-designed program treats each common area on its own terms rather than applying one product everywhere.

• Lobbies and entrances: glass, stone and metal detailing cleaned to a streak-free finish without solvent haze.
• Lifts: frequent-touch buttons, handrails and doors, where dwell time matters more than product strength.
• Corridors and stairwells: hard-floor and carpet maintenance on disciplined schedules.
• Amenities and shared bathrooms: disinfection-critical work handled with TGA-listed products where required.
• Car parks and bin rooms: odour and grime control without pouring hazardous run-off toward drains.
• Gyms, pools and communal kitchens: high-touch, high-moisture zones where surface residue is a genuine health concern.

Colour-coded microfibre keeps bathroom cloths away from kitchen and lobby surfaces, and defined dwell times ensure disinfection actually works rather than being wiped off too early.

Method-by-method fit

We match method to task rather than defaulting to a single chemical.

Electrolysed water (HOCl) is generated on site from water and a trace of salt, then reverts to salt water as it breaks down. It is GECA-certified and TGA-listed, which makes it well suited to frequent cleaning of handrails, lift interiors, benches and door hardware where you want genuine cleaning and sanitising without leaving synthetic residue behind.

Stabilised aqueous ozone reverts to oxygen and water. It works well for general surface cleaning, odour control in bin rooms and car parks, and routine floor work, cutting the number of packaged products stored on site.

Dry steam uses low-moisture thermal decontamination for grout, tiled amenities, gym equipment and upholstered common furniture. Because it introduces very little water, it suits humid coastal buildings where added moisture would feed mould pressure.

TGA-listed disinfectants are retained for genuinely disinfection-critical tasks. Going low-tox does not mean abandoning proven disinfection where it is warranted; it means not using harsh chemistry everywhere by default.

We describe this work honestly. The program means no added synthetic chemicals on routine surfaces and no hazardous residue in shared spaces. It is not, and we will never call it, chemical-free.

The compliance and ratings angle

Work health and safety law places elimination at the top of the hierarchy of controls: removing a hazard beats managing it with gloves and ventilation. From 1 December 2026, enforceable Workplace Exposure Limits replace the current Workplace Exposure Standards across roughly 700 reviewed chemicals. Strata schemes that rely on contractors using conventional products should understand what those contractors are exposing people to, and where switching to lower-hazard methods reduces the compliance burden entirely.

For schemes pursuing building ratings, the method matters. GECA-certified products are deemed-to-satisfy for the Green Star Green Cleaning credit. The WELL Cleaning Products and Protocol feature targets hazardous-chemical reduction. NABERS Indoor Environment tests VOCs and formaldehyde, both of which conventional cleaning chemistry can drive upward. Mixed-use and commercial strata chasing these ratings gain a documented, defensible cleaning approach.

What it costs

On standard strata scopes, an eco program is priced at parity with conventional cleaning. There is no green premium for ordinary common-area maintenance. A surcharge of 10 to 15 per cent applies only on health-critical or rating-critical sites, for example schemes with assisted-living residents or those pursuing a formal rating, where documentation, product certification and protocol discipline add real work. The site walkthrough and quote are free, so you can see the scope-specific number before committing.

How to evaluate a provider: buyers' checklist

• Certification you can verify: ask for GECA certification and TGA listing numbers, not vague eco claims.
• Claims discipline: a credible provider says no added synthetic chemicals and no hazardous residue, never chemical-free. Loose language signals loose practice.
• Method-to-task logic: they should explain why a given surface gets HOCl, aqueous ozone, dry steam or a TGA-listed disinfectant, and retain disinfection where it is genuinely needed.
• Dwell-time and colour-coding discipline: ask how they prevent cross-contamination between bathrooms and shared kitchens.
• Compliance readiness: they should be able to speak to the 2026 WEL changes and the WHS hierarchy of controls.
• Documentation: for rating-critical sites, they should provide the paperwork Green Star, WELL or NABERS assessors will expect.
• Local coverage: consistent standards across your portfolio, whether that is Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.

GreenClean Commercial operates Australia-wide through an accredited partner network, so a scheme with buildings in several states can hold one standard across the lot. You can see our full method range on the services overview or start with your nearest city page.

Book a free site walkthrough

The most useful next step is a walkthrough of your common areas. We will map each zone, match methods to surfaces, flag any disinfection-critical tasks, and give you a scope-specific quote with no obligation. Book a free walkthrough and we will show you exactly what a low-tox program looks like in your building.