Anne Hancock, Author at Green Seal

3M Easy Trap Sweep and Dust Sheets – Innovation Criteria

Posted on May 17, 2021Apr 4, 2022 by Anne Hancock

Update: The public comment period for 3M has ended. Green Seal accepted public comments between May 17, 2021 and June 18, 2021. Learn more about 3M and its product certification status on Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Registry page.

3M has modified the claims associated with their application for Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation certification for their Easy Trap Sweep and Dust Sheets. The company’s proposed innovation claims are summarized below, and the full proposed criteria for this product can be reviewed on Green Seal’s website. Green Seal welcomes comments on the proposed criteria until June 18, 2021.

Innovation Claims: An Environmentally Preferable Single-Use Dust Sheet

According to 3M, this product differs from others on the market by incorporating at least 90% post-consumer recycled content polyethylene terephthalate (PET), while also achieving reductions in manufacturing water and energy use, air emissions, and waste. Manufacturing a single-use product with 90% post-consumer recycled content PET is estimated to deliver a 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions associated with the resource extraction, resin production, and manufacturing lifecycle phases.

Download Proposed Criteria

Call for Comments

Green Seal is seeking input on 3M’s Easy Trap Sweep and Dust Sheets proposed revised criteria for Environmental Innovation certification from all stakeholders and the public. This public comment period will close on June 18, 2021 at 11:59PM ET.

Next Steps in the Environmental Innovation Process

Green Seal will review comments and address any substantive suggestions or objections to the proposed criteria before finalizing them. 3M will submit documented proof of compliance with these criteria for Green Seal’s third-party review of these claims. 3M’s Easy Trap Sweep and Dust Sheet will achieve Green Seal Certification for Environmental Innovation if all criteria are met.

About 3M’s Easy Trap Sweep and Dust Sheets

When used as intended, the 3M Easy Trap Sweep and Dust Sheets provide commercial surface clearing to remove dust, dirt, and debris from floors and surfaces (e.g., out-of-reach surfaces such as fans, wall corners, and light fixtures) in order to prepare surfaces for disinfection and cleaning in commercial spaces.

About Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Standard

Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Program is designed for manufacturers striving to advance product innovation for environmental good. The program allows manufacturers pioneering the integration of leading-edge design and performance aspects into their products to earn recognition for their innovations through a rigorous 3rd party certification. Find Innovation Certified products and learn more about the Environmental Innovation Program here.   

Green Seal’s Innovation Program Process: Validation of the Innovation Claim

Green Seal has not yet validated this innovation claim. Once Green Seal finalizes the proposed criteria after this public comment period, 3M will submit documented proof of compliance with the criteria for Green Seal’s third-party review of these claims.

Earning certification under the GS-20 Standard demonstrates that Green Seal, an independent third party, has verified the environmentally innovative aspect(s) of a product. The certification includes verification that the product innovation results in a significant reduction of human health and environmental impacts compared to products of the same functional class.

View Innovation Registry

Expanding the Impact of our Environmental Innovation Program

Posted on May 4, 2021Jan 29, 2022 by Anne Hancock

Green Seal has finalized key updates to our Environmental Innovation Standard to expand the program’s ability to promote market transformation and ensure measurable health and environmental impact reductions.

About Environmental Innovation

Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Standard (GS-20) is designed for manufacturers striving to advance product innovation for environmental good. The Environmental Innovation program allows manufacturers pioneering the integration of leading-edge design and performance aspects into their products to earn recognition for their innovations through a rigorous third-party certification.

Earning certification under this standard demonstrates that a product’s innovation significantly reduces health or environmental impacts compared to products of the same functional class. 

Recognizing Innovators

The updated Environmental Innovation Standard expands certification eligibility to products that have not yet earned certification under an applicable Green Seal product category standard – provided the product innovation reduces impacts above the applicable standard and is the first innovation of its kind in the North American market. This approach is designed to encourage advances in industry research that could inform revisions to our product category standards.

The Environmental Innovation Standard updates also expand opportunities for earning certification to products that employ innovations that were new to the market at product launch, even if others later also employed the same innovation. This eliminates the requirement that a product is the only one in the market with the innovation at the time of certification, and rewards producers who are the first to raise the bar for environmental innovation in their product categories, even if others followed. This also provides greater value to existing participants by opening the door to longer certification terms. 

Quantifying Impacts

Green Seal now requires all applicants to quantify the health and/or environmental impact reductions of their product innovations, including those that achieve impact reductions through improved functional performance.

Previously, product innovations that achieved impact reductions through improved functional performance demonstrated this through a quantification of the performance improvement, not the health and/or environmental impact reduction.

Requiring that applicants quantify the environmental and human health impact reductions associated with improved functional performance ensures manufacturers will identify the meaningful health and environmental improvements achieved by the innovation in order to earn market recognition for them.

Thermal Intelligence’s BASECAMP – Innovation Criteria

Posted on Apr 23, 2021Apr 4, 2022 by Anne Hancock

Update: The public comment period for Thermal Intelligence has ended. Green Seal accepted public comments between April 23, 2021 and May 24, 2021. Learn more about Thermal Intelligence and its product certification status on Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Registry page.

Thermal Intelligence has applied for Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation certification for BASECAMP, their line of industrial temporary heating, power generation, and lighting products. The company’s proposed innovation claims are summarized below, and the full proposed criteria for this product can be reviewed on Green Seal’s website. Green Seal welcomes comments on the proposed criteria until May 24, 2021.

Innovation Claims:

Thermal Intelligence’s innovation claims are the following: This product has been designed to be more energy efficient compared to other portable medium powered generators or generator-heater combinations fueled by diesel gasoline. The product claims to achieve a 50-66 percent reduction in operating fuel use, which saves an estimated 209 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, calculated when used at full capacity for 180 days of use.

Specifically, BASECAMP and BASECAMP XL’s patent-pending system design produces the same energy output using 57 gallons of diesel fuel for which a comparable generator and heater combination would require 171 gallons of diesel fuel.

Download Proposed Criteria

Next Steps in the Environmental Innovation Process

Green Seal will review comments and address any substantive suggestions or objections to the proposed criteria before finalizing them. Thermal Intelligence will submit documented proof of compliance with these criteria for Green Seal’s third-party review of these claims. Thermal Intelligence’s BASECAMP and BASECAMP XL will achieve Green Seal Certification for Environmental Innovation if all criteria are met.

About the BASECAMP Smart 3-in-1 Heater, Light Tower, and Generator

BASECAMP is designed to provide up to three functions simultaneously: 1) electric power generation, 2) temporary heating, and 3) lighting. The product is typically used in construction, restoration/remediation, and equipment pre-heating/thawing. The efficiencies of BASECAMP are achieved by capturing waste from one process and repurposing it into a simultaneous deliverable, eliminating waste.

BASECAMP is designed on a diesel platform as that is frequently the sole fuel source available in temporary heat/power/lighting applications. Solar-powered generators do exist on the market, however, those products operate at significantly lower kW capacity than BASECAMP and BASECAMP XL and are not yet able to provide the power needed for all three applications.

Download Proposed Criteria

About Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Standard

Green Seal’s Innovation Program Process: Validation of the Innovation Claim

Green Seal has not yet validated this innovation claim. Once Green Seal finalizes the proposed criteria after this public comment period, Thermal Intelligence will submit documented proof of compliance with the criteria for Green Seal’s third-party review of these claims.

Earning certification under the GS-20 Standard demonstrates that Green Seal, an independent third party, has verified the environmentally innovative aspect(s) of a product. The certification includes verification that the product innovation results in a significant reduction of human health or environmental impacts compared to products of the same functional class.

View Innovation Registry

Nyco Products’ Bug Eliminator – Innovation Criteria

Posted on Nov 18, 2020Apr 4, 2022 by Anne Hancock

Update: The public comment period for Nyco Products Company has ended. Green Seal accepted public comments between November 18, 2020 and December 23, 2020. Learn more about Nyco Products Company and its product certification status on Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Registry page.

Nyco Products Company, a family-owned cleaning chemicals manufacturer, has applied for Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation certification for their minimum-risk bug eliminator. Nyco’s proposed innovation claims are summarized below, and the full proposed criteria for this product can be reviewed on Green Seal’s website. Green Seal welcomes comments on the proposed criteria until December 23, 2020.

Innovation Claims: A Healthier Bug Eliminator for Soft-Bodied Insects

Nyco’s innovation claims are the following: This product has been designed to be less hazardous compared to other commercially available bug eliminators sold on the North American market. According to Nyco, this product is not formulated with hazardous ingredients common to this product category. The product ingredients are not classified as reproductive toxins, endocrine disruptors, neuro and systemic toxicants, aspiration toxicants, respiratory sensitizers, skin sensitizers, or fragrance allergens. The product ingredients do not cause skin corrosion, do not bioaccumulate, and the product itself is non-toxic to humans. Other commercially available contact-kill insecticides may pose significant risks to human health during the manufacturing and use life cycle phases.

Next Steps in the Environmental Innovation Process

Green Seal will review input received all stakeholders and the public during the public comment period and address any substantive suggestions or objections to the proposed criteria before finalizing them. Nyco will submit documented proof of compliance with these criteria for Green Seal’s third-party review of these claims. Nyco’s Bug Eliminator will achieve Green Seal Certification for Environmental Innovation if all criteria are met.

About Nyco’s Bug Eliminator

The Nyco bug eliminator is formulated to kill soft-bodied insects that can pose sanitation problems in food-handling settings including restaurants, food-service facilities, food-processing plants, the hospitality industry, warehouses, and manufacturing and industrial facilities. Targeted pests include Argentine ants, German cockroaches, bed bugs, red fruit flies, house flies, house spiders, moth flies, and two-spotted spider mites. This product is classified as a Minimum Risk Pesticide (EPA).

About Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Standard

Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Program challenges product manufacturers to explore health and environmental impacts , engage in transformative product innovation, and achieve global recognition to the newest sustainability standard.

Green Seal’s Innovation Program Process: Validation of the Innovation Claim

Green Seal has not yet validated this innovation claim. Once Green Seal finalizes the proposed criteria after this public comment period, Nyco will submit documented proof of compliance with the criteria for Green Seal’s third-party review of these claims.

Kaivac Univac and AutoVac Stretch – Innovation Criteria

Posted on Jul 6, 2020Apr 4, 2022 by Anne Hancock

The public comment period for Kaivac has ended. Please see the final issued criteria here.

Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Program allows product manufacturers to explore environmental and health impacts, engage in transformative product innovation, and achieve global recognition to the newest sustainability standard.

Kaivac, Inc is a member of the initial cohort of beta program participants who are pursuing certification of their products under the Environmental Innovation Standard (GS-20, Edition 2.0). They submitted two products for the GS-20 Review: Univac^TM and AutoVac^TM Stretch^TM with the same primary innovation claim: A significant reduction in the use of both water and cleaning solutions due to a high-flow fluid extraction method, debris filters, and the reuse of grey (recycled) water based cleaning solutions.

According to Kaivac, these products are able to reduce the use-phase impacts of powered floor maintenance equipment by 66% for water and 70% for cleaning solutions compared to other powered floor cleaning equipment in the North American market.

UnivacTM and AutoVacTM StretchTM
Standard: GS-20 Environmental Innovation
Start: 7/6/20
Stop: 8/6/20 11:59PM
Published: Yes Kaivac’s Univac and AutoVac Stretch are used to clean hard surface commercial flooring. UniVac is designed to be used on hard-to-clean, heavily soiled grouted or obstructed floors, such as those found in commercial kitchens and restrooms. AutoVac Stretch is equipped with a trolley bucket and wide-area trailing squeegee to enable cleaning larger open hard-surface flooring (e.g., hallways, lobbies, gym floors, warehouse floors, etc.) Innovation Claim Details Kaivac claims that these products differ from other powered floor maintenance equipment on the market in two primary ways:

By reducing the typical water use rate by at least 66%
By reducing the typical cleaning solution use rate by at least 70% while maintaining equivalent product performance to comparable alternatives.

The environmental innovation is achieved through the following design elements:

The use of a high-flow fluid extraction method that removes soil and cleaning solution via a dual-blade squeegee head powered by a wet vacuum motor,
The use of filters for debris and contaminants via a fine mesh filter bag and sedimentation trough, and
The reuse of grey water based cleaning solution at least three times and up to seven times.

Green Seal has not yet validated any of these claims. Once Green Seal finalizes the requirements after this public comment period, Kaivac will submit documentation for third-party certification by Green Seal. The Univac and AutoVac Stretch will achieve Green Seal Certification for Environmental Innovation if all requirements within the Kaivac UniVac and AutoVac Stretch Criteria Document are met.

Environmental and Human Health Impacts

Over the lifecycle of powered floor maintenance equipment, the use phase has the most significant environmental and human health impacts through water use and cleaning solution use from normal operation.

Water Use Rate

According to the ISSA 612 Cleaning Times & Tasks book, comparable products such as floor scrubbers and autoscrubbers can clean 500 square feet per gallon of water on average depending on soil conditions. The applicant product is reported to clean 1500 to 3500 square feet per gallon of water depending on soil conditions.

Chemical Solution Use Rate

According to the ISSA 612 Cleaning Times & Tasks book, comparable products such as floor scrubbers and autoscrubbers typically use cleaning solution at a rate of 50 oz per 25,000 ft2. The applicant product is shown to have a cleaning solution use rate of 16 oz per 25,000 ft2. Cleaning solution metering is accomplished by using packets of pre-measured cleaning solution.

Chemical Hazards

Since the claims made in this certification relate to the efficiency of the product with regard to water use and cleaning solution use, the cleaning solution formulation was not reviewed for human and environmental hazards as part of the product innovation. Therefore, no claims shall be made in association with this certification as to the “safety” or “environmental preferability” of the parts or the cleaning solution formulation.

About Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Standard

Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Standard (GS-20) provides a framework for the certification of environmental innovations in a variety of product categories. Applicants follow the steps below to complete the process: