Category: Trends in Sustainability

The Green Seal Compass: Protecting Human Health

Posted on by Green Seal

This is part of a series of stories about Green Seal’s Compass. Read our introduction to the Compass here.

Green Seal’s work follows a compass that focuses on four key targets: protecting human health, minimizing waste, ensuring clean water, and preserving the climate. 

This compass keeps us focused on Green Seal’s priority impacts, ensuring that Green Seal certification represents products and services that are safer for people and our planet. In this blog post, I will explain how Green Seal certified products are more health-protective than conventional options on the market.

What You Should Know About Toxic Chemicals 

There are more than 80,000 chemicals registered for use in the U.S. and only a few hundred have been evaluated for health and environmental effects. Although Congress updated the Toxic Substances Control Act in 2016 to grant the US EPA greater authority and resources, to date the agency has banned only nine chemicals, and addressing the massive chemical evaluation backlog is estimated to take centuries at the current pace.  

Some product manufacturers are leading the way: disclosing all ingredients, publicly committing to phase out hazardous chemicals, and strongly investing in green chemistry innovations. However, there are still too many products with toxic ingredients available in easy reach on store shelves and school custodial closets.

For example, many cleaning products contain chemicals that disrupt our endocrine systems. The endocrine system is like your body’s conductor – setting the rhythm for metabolism, growth, mood, and sleep patterns. Endocrine disrupting chemicals cause hormone changes, lower sperm counts, birth defects, obesity, diabetes, and thyroid irregularities, reduced immune function, and reduced vaccine response. Examples of endocrine disruptors that Green Seal prohibits in certified cleaning products are:

  • Phthalates
  • Bisphenol A (BPA) 
  • Nonylphenol ethoxylates (the byproducts of alkylphenols) 
  • Glycol ethers 

Our High Standard for Health Protection

Green Seal’s standards address the most significant health and environmental impacts for which there are known and feasible safer alternatives. Critically, Green Seal standards also set requirements for functional performance; buyers can be confident the certified healthier product they are choosing is also one that will meet their expectations and get the job done.

Green Seal standards are designed to protect the most vulnerable, including, pregnant women, infants, children, and immunocompromised individuals. Our requirements address health risks across the product life cycle, including acute hazards, chronic hazards, and hazardous chemical exposure during product use, storage, and disposal.

This approach has helped Green Seal to be a leader, moving to act on hazardous chemicals decades ahead of state regulators and retailers. For example, Green Seal certified products have been free of the neurotoxin methylene chloride and the carcinogen 1,4-dioxane as far back as 1993. 

In addition to protecting the health of product users, Green Seal sets prohibitions on hazardous chemicals to incentivize the greening of supply chains: As more of a company’s products are Green Seal certified, it becomes simpler for the company to phase out their use of hazardous ingredients and raw materials across all production.

Certified Safer and Healthier 

Green Seal’s standards are the blueprint for product certification. Our scientists look at intentionally added chemicals and contaminants in the product to protect users from health and safety hazards. We verify that a product: 

  • Is non-toxic via ingestion and/or inhalation
  • Will not cause skin and/or eye damage
  • Meets strict limits for volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
  • Is not combustible and/or flammable

Green Seal also screens formulas for chronic hazards (impacts that can occur after 10 to 20 years of daily professional use or weekly household use), prohibiting chemicals classified as carcinogens, mutagens, or reproductive toxins.

Buyers face steep challenges when searching for healthier, greener products, from a proliferation of vague and unsubstantiated marketing claims to the absence of information about the safety of tens of thousands of chemicals. The Green Seal Certification Mark signifies that a product meets a strong benchmark of health and environmental leadership, making it simple for everyone to make the healthier choice. 

Innovations are Making Toxic Chemicals a Thing of the Past

Posted on by Patrick Lucci

This is a guest contribution by Patrick Lucci

Since 1847, when chlorine was first used as a disinfectant, there have been few alternatives to the effective but often dangerous substances known as chemical disinfectants. Today, there is a technology that combines salt, water, vinegar, and electricity to create an EPA-registered, general purpose, hospital-grade cleaner and disinfectant proven more effective than chlorine bleach.

Dubbed by The Los Angeles Times as “miracle liquid,” those of us in the world of advanced science call it electrolyzed water. It is effective, harmless to skin at both the dermal and subdermal levels, and easy and inexpensive to produce. Nobody is suggesting prolonged exposure, but if it gets in your eyes, no harm will come to them. In fact, products based on this same electrolyzed water are the basis of commercially available eyelid cleaning products. If ingested at small amounts, the most harmful effect is an imbalance of good and bad microbes in the intestine, which can cause discomfort for two or three days. The solution also can be generated on-site, eliminating delivery, storage, and disposal issues.

The Science Behind Electrolyzed Water

The process of making electrolyzed water is elegant in its simplicity. Tap water is placed into a flask containing an electrolytic cell composed of an anode that delivers a positive electrical charge and a cathode that delivers a negative electrical charge. Then, a carefully formulated solution of saline and vinegar is added to the water. When the device is operating, a measured amount of electricity passes through the anode and cathode. Negatively charged chloride ions are attracted to the anode and electrochemically convert into hypochlorous acid — a powerful and reliable disinfectant. The positively charged sodium ions are attracted to the cathode and convert into sodium hydroxide, a powerful grease cutter and cleaning compound.

This approach, based on simple but advanced electrochemical technology, is catching on in homes, schools, day cares, and professional cleaning companies throughout the U.S. and beyond. Commercial users of electrolyzed water note significant cost savings and fewer absences due to illness and injury from toxic chemicals exposure.

The Toxins Use Reduction Institute at the University of Massachusetts has standard, industry accepted protocols to measure the cleaning capability of a variety of chemicals used in homes and by professional cleaning organizations. It found that this technology can clean and disinfect on par with mainstream chemicals that are both toxic and more expensive than electrolyzed water.

While there has not been a major paradigm shift in cleaning and disinfecting chemistry since 1847, to quote a famous folk singer, “The times they are a changing.”

CDC Confirms: Less is More When it Comes to Disinfecting

Posted on by Doug Gatlin

Last Summer, I warned of a dangerous trend of over-disinfecting buildings to reassure people about safety amid the pandemic – with minimal effectiveness at reducing virus spread and significant risks to people’s health from toxic chemicals.  Now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its guidance to confirm that regular cleaning is preferable to disinfecting most of the time.  

When is disinfecting appropriate? The CDC now says to disinfect when someone confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 has been in the building within the past 24 hours.  

This is the same guidance Green Seal provided last Summer in our Safer Guidelines for COVID-19 Disinfecting for Schools and Workplaces, a free public resource that is now being implemented in more than 1 billion square feet of building space, including by Green Seal-certified cleaning services.  


Why Disinfecting Can Harm Instead of Help

It has been clear for some time that dousing a space in hazardous disinfecting chemicals won’t do much to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There are two main reasons for this: COVID-19 is much more likely to spread through person-to-person and airborne transmission than it is through surface-to-person transmission, and coronaviruses are relatively easy to kill on surfaces with plain old soap and water (or regular cleaning solutions).

There is a natural instinct to turn to the harshest chemicals available to attack a nasty virus, but the CDC’s new guidance should reassure us all that we can follow the science to avoid a dangerous reliance on disinfection. Doing so will avoid health risks ranging from cancer to serious respiratory disease – an especially grave risk for vulnerable populations such as children and the 1 in 13 Americans with asthma.

Not All Disinfectants are Created Equal 

For the times when disinfecting is appropriate, some disinfecting products are safer than others. Green Seal has curated U.S. EPA’s List N: Disinfectants for Coronavirus to help you identify safer ones.

Unlike other active ingredients commonly found in disinfectants, the active ingredients we recommend are not linked to asthma, cancer, endocrine disruption, DNA damage or skin irritation. Find our list of recommended ingredients and products here. 

Microbial-Based Cleaning Products

Posted on by Green Seal

Update:  On November 11, 2021, Green Seal issued six standards with updated criteria for microbial-based cleaning products. Spray-applied microbial-based cleaning products are now eligible for Green Seal certification. All documents on this criteria revision can be found on Green Seal’s Library of Standards page. 

Green Seal is proposing several important improvements to our standard criteria for microbial-based cleaning products to better recognize leadership in this popular product category.  These updates will remove unnecessary requirements and provide more opportunities to highlight healthier, safer options for buyers.

The Benefits of Microbial Products

Formulating with microbes is an exciting application of green chemistry. These naturally occurring ingredients can allow product formulas to reduce or eliminate hazardous solvents and surfactants and make it easier for producers to formulate with biobased rather than petroleum-based ingredients. In certain cases, these products are likely to be healthier, to degrade at a faster rate and under more natural conditions, and to be less harmful for aquatic life. 

When Green Seal first issued criteria for microbial-based cleaning products in 2011, we took a precautionary approach by designing heavy restrictions until more information was known about the safety and environmental impacts of this newer product type. In the decade since then, these products have proliferated across the North American and global markets with no scientific evidence they present a higher level of risk to human health or the environment than traditional cleaning products. Adding to our understanding of their safety profile, these types of products are being studied as safer options in healthcare settings. 

Removing Excessive Requirements  

Recognizing the green chemistry benefits and safety profiles of microbial-based cleaning products, Green Seal is proposing to remove unnecessary and burdensome requirements for these products that exceed those we set for other cleaning products. These key updates include:

  • Allowing certified microbial-based cleaning products to the be sold in spray packaging
  • Reducing certain labeling requirements

The requirements proposed for revision are located in the “Microorganisms Annex” of each of the following standards:

  • General Purpose Cleaners (GS-8, GS-37)
  • Laundry Care Products (GS-48, GS-51)
  • Specialty Cleaners (GS-52, GS-53) 

Seeking Feedback

Green Seal is accepting public comments on this proposal until April 8, 2021. To submit comments or schedule a conference call, contact us.

The Proposed Revisions and supplementary documents are available on Green Seal’s Standard Projects page. 

Green Seal’s reputation for credibility and market impact rests on an open and transparent process for developing and revising our science-based standards. All major standard revisions include extensive stakeholder outreach and opportunities for public input. Green Seal publishes all formally submitted comments, as well as a response to each substantive issue identified by commenters. 

TO SUBMIT COMMENTS OR SCHEDULE A CONFERENCE CALL,

How to Safely Clean and Disinfect for Coronavirus

Posted on by Nina Hwang, MPH

Are you concerned about properly disinfecting for coronavirus while also protecting people from the health risks associated with hazardous chemical exposure? 

Green Seal’s new Guidelines for Safer COVID-19 Cleaning and Disinfection spell out five effective and responsible cleaning practices for occupant health and safety during the pandemic. 

Improper cleaning and disinfection practices – such as neglecting required product contact times, using inappropriate procedures or application methods, or failing to communicate with cleaning workers and building tenants – can expose building occupants to unsafe levels of hazardous chemicals while failing to protect them from COVID-19.

Our Guidelines explain how to:

 Earn LEED Credit 

Implementing the five best practices can contribute to earning the new LEED® Pilot Credit – Safety First: Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Space, promoting easy adoption by project managers seeking LEED® credit. The Guidelines also align with the requirements in the features related to cleaning products, practices, and protocols in WELL v2 and the recently announced WELL Health Safety Rating for Facilities Management and Operations. 

Green Seal-certified cleaning services already are verified to meet strict third-party standards for safe and effective cleaning and disinfecting, including rigorous requirements for training and operations. The Guidelines provide these best-in-class cleaning services additional guidance for pandemic-specific practices.


Safer Disinfecting Ingredients for COVID-19

When it comes to disinfectants that are effective against the virus that causes COVID-19, some active ingredients are safer than others. While EPA does not allow third-party certifications for disinfectants, Green Seal has curated U.S. EPA’s List N: Disinfectants for Coronavirus to help you identify safer ones.

Green Seal recommends choosing List N disinfectants with the following active ingredients. Unlike other active ingredients commonly found in disinfectants, the active ingredients we recommend are not linked to asthma, cancer, endocrine disruption, DNA damage or skin irritation. 

  • hydrogen peroxide**
  • citric acid
  • lactic acid
  • ethyl alcohol (also called ethanol or just alcohol)
  • isopropyl alcohol
  • peroxyacetic acid** 
  • hypochlorous acid

Products With Safer Disinfecting Ingredients

Green Seal has compiled a list of EPA List N disinfectants that use safer active ingredients. This is only a partial list; check List N for other options. As always, read the label carefully and follow the directions for safe, effective use.

  • Accel 5 RTU
    EPA Registration No. 74559-8 • 5-minute contact time
  • Angel
    EPA Registration No. 777-126 • 10-minute contact time
  • Annihilyte 
    EPA Registration No. 92449-1 • 10-minute contact time
  • Bona STL Disinfecting Cleaner
    EPA Registration No. 91861-2 • 10-minute contact time
  • CleanCide
    EPA Registration No. 34810-35 • 5-minute contact time
  • Diversey’s Oxivir TB Ready-to-Use Liquid
    EPA Registration No. 70627-56 • 1-minute contact time
  • Ecolab’s Peroxide Multi Surface Cleaner and Disinfectant
    EPA Registration No. 1677-238 • 2-minute contact time
  • ECOS Multi-Purpose Disinfectant & Sanitizer, fresh citrus
    EPA Registration No. 34810-35-82206 • 5-minute contact time
  • ECOS Multi-Purpose Disinfectant Wipes, fresh citrus
    EPA Registration No. 34810-37-82206 • 3-minute contact time
  • ECOS PRO Multi-Surface Disinfectant & Sanitizer, fresh citrus
    EPA Registration No. 34810-35-82206 • 5-minute contact time
  • Facility + RTU
    EPA Registration No. 45745-12 • 1-minute contact time
  • Force of Nature Activator Capsule***
    EPA Registration No. 93040-1 • 10-minute contact time
  • Hydra
    EPA Registration No. 10772-21 • 5-minute contact time
  • Lemi Shine Disinfecting Wipes 
    EPA Registration No. 34810-37-92388 • 3-minute contact time
  • PURELL Healthcare Surface Disinfectant 
    EPA Registration No. 84368-1-84150 • 30-second contact time
  • PURELL Professional Food Service Surface Sanitizer 
    EPA Registration No. 84368-1-84150 • 30-second contact time
  • PURELL Professional Surface Disinfectant 
    EPA Registration No. 84368-1-84150 • 30-second contact time
  • UrthPRO
    EPA Registration No. 84368-1 • 30-second contact time
  • Viking Pure Disinfectant
    EPA Registration No. 87542-1 • 10-minute contact time
  • Wexford Disinfectant Wipes EPA Registration
    No. 34810-37 • 3-minute contact time
  • Windex Disinfectant Cleaner 
    EPA Registration No. 4822-593 • 10-minute contact time

It is also important to look at the safety of the overall disinfectant product, including inactive ingredients. The product safety data sheet (SDS) provides information on whether the overall product is classified as hazardous according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The Fairmont Chicago Reaps Benefits of Certification

Posted on by Taryn Tuss

In order to set smart and ambitious sustainability goals hotels generally find they must address unique infrastructure, operations, and purchasing challenges, often without a road map.  Significant water, energy and cost savings, increases in corporate bookings, an improved guest experience, and higher staff morale are just some of the benefits that make the effort worthwhile. 

Forward-looking hotels are also leveraging their sustainable purchasing policies to lure a growing market of wellness-focused travelers. An average-sized hotel purchases more products in one week than 100 families do in a year, representing significant opportunity to reduce waste and create a wellness environment where guests and staff can stay safe from allergy and asthma triggers and reduce their exposure to toxic chemicals and endocrine disruptors found in common household and personal care products.

With an increase in the use of cleaning chemicals amid the COVID-19 pandemic, hotels that use cleaning products that are certified for health, sustainability and effectiveness promote safer indoor air, protecting the health of their guests and employees without sacrificing cleaning performance.  This is especially vital for housekeeping staff, who are already twice as likely to experience occupational asthma compared to workers in other professions.

To meet strong sustainability benchmarks, staff report the need for technical training, access to local networks, and support systems for solving problems. Where to begin? For a firsthand account from a property that has succeeded in the journey, we turned to Colleen Sweitzer, Marketing Manager and Co-Champion of the Planet 21 Environmental Committee at the Fairmont Chicago, a Green Seal-certified luxury property at iconic Millennium Park.

Taryn Tuss: Thanks for taking the time to share your experience and insights with us, Colleen. Let’s start with the basics.  Could you give a quick snapshot of the building – the year it was built, recent renovations, etc.?

Colleen Sweitzer: The Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park is a 45 story, 750,000 square foot hotel with 687 guestrooms. The building is Neoclassical in design, constructed of granite and opened in 1987. Guestrooms were refreshed in 2018.

TT: When did the hotel begin to go green and why was it important?

CS: Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has always been a leader in hotel sustainability.  Locally in Chicago, we had the extraordinary opportunity to work with the city of Chicago on our 2016 Olympic bid. The bid was built on a core of sustainability and hotels that wanted to participate were encouraged to achieve a Green Seal certification.  While Chicago didn’t win the Olympic bid, this opportunity started us down the road and helped us to get to where we are today. 

TT: We’ve seen that staff buy-in can make or break a hotel’s sustainability initiative. How do you engage and motivate staff? Why is this important?

CS: Staff buy-in is 100% necessary to be successful. Each member of a hotel team is responsible for the sustainability duties in their areas – for example, recycling or composting. If every member of your team is not ‘all in’ then it can affect policy, training and purchasing.

We are fortunate that we have a culture of environmental responsibility within our hotel that is cultivated by our leadership and supported by our city, Chicago, and our parent company, Accor. 

Green Seal has been an invaluable resource in helping us to achieve our goals

TT: How do you involve guests in the hotel’s green initiatives? 

CS: We are a luxury hotel, so we must balance good sustainable choices with making sure we are not sacrificing the standards that have made our brand great for more than a century.

For example: Every one of our guestrooms and meeting rooms has a recycling bin, and we have electronic messaging throughout the hotel.  We have an electronic newspaper app in lieu of the traditional hardcopy.  We also do things that our guests don’t necessarily see, like thoroughly vetting suppliers prior to contracting with them to make sure that our partners are not only environmentally conscious, but also productive members of our community.

TT: What sort of challenges did you overcome when converting and updating systems? Were there any surprises (good or bad)?

CS: A key step is to show long term financial benefits to our key stakeholders.  Without their support of our environmental efforts, it would be impossible to convince them to make a greater initial investment.  Several strategic equipment purchases over the last few years have proven that there can be a significant ROI in making great sustainable choices when purchasing high-dollar equipment. 

TT: Of the sustainability upgrades that you’ve made, what has produced the quickest ROI?  What has produced the biggest ROI over time?

CS: In January 2017, we replaced the water pumps in our 45-story hotel. We spent about 10% more by selecting a super energy efficient model. In 2017 alone, we saw a 13% reduction in our electric costs.  This savings exceeded the originally estimated ROI of 5 years and actualized at just over three years. 

In 2019, we replaced our entire laundry system.  The new super energy- and water-efficient tunnel system has reduced our water usage for laundry by more than 50% compared to the previous 30-year-old system.

In 2019, we also purchased a new digester.  As a city center property, we don’t have the space to compost and a digester helps us to divert food waste from landfill. The projected ROI on the digester is 5 years; however, we are hoping to exceed that expectation.

TT: What are the top 3 benefits you’ve seen from implementing such a strong sustainability program? 

CS: The top benefits are:

  • We are saving money by reducing our utility usage
  • We are saving money by diverting recyclables and food waste, instead of paying for our waste hauler to dump it in a landfill
  • We are making money by attracting groups that look for hotels that mirror their corporate social responsibility policies

And as an added bonus, our entire team is proud of the work we do to minimize our footprint.  Which leads to a more dedicated and engaged workforce and by extension ancillary savings on reduced hiring/training costs.

TT: What do you still want to accomplish for the hotel?

CS: We are just finishing up replacing all of the pipes in the hotel. The updated plumbing infrastructure allows us to install low-flow toilets. 

As an all-electric hotel, I would love to find a way to subsidize our energy with an alternate power source.  We don’t have the land for a turbine or enough space on the roof for solar cells, but we are always looking at options beyond credits.

We have always wanted to find a community partner that not only mirrored our social conscience, but also was a beneficial partnership on additional levels. We have just started working with a local non-for-profit organization, Ignite Promise, that focuses on at-risk teens. This holistic partnership is more than donating product; we are collaborating on job training, mentorship, and helping to facilitate the successful transition from their program. 

TT: What is one thing you’ve learned during the process, and do you have any advice for hotel managers who are just beginning the process of greening their properties?

CS: When the Fairmont Chicago started down this road, we were fortunate to have Green Seal and Fairmont Hotels and Resorts to help us navigate policy implementation.  My suggestion is to tap into the resources you have available. Many local lodging associations have sustainability programs. When we were starting our journey, I spoke with local and brand colleagues to seek their advice and support.  Since that time, I have had the opportunity to share my experiences with hotels looking to implement new procedures in their hotels. 

Green Seal has been an invaluable resource in helping us to achieve our goals.  The tenor of our relationship has been supportive and without their assistance, we would not have achieved the successes that we have.  If you are looking to start this journey, the investment in certification is a good way to get started.

TT: Is there anything else you’d like to share regarding the hotel’s sustainability journey?

CS: Our sustainability efforts have opened up interdepartmental communication and have encouraged connections amongst our colleagues on a personal level.  From the line chef that that grows her own produce in her rooftop greenhouse to house person that started an environmental program at her church, embracing the connection that we all share to the earth has been rewarding for all of us.

Conclusion

Global lodging companies including Fairmont parent company AccorHotels are using the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals as guidance for incorporating sustainability into their operations. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals — the outcome of an historic agreement among world leaders at the UN in 2015 on a universal 2030 agenda for sustainable development – recognize that tourism is an economic powerhouse and the third highest world category in export earnings.

Marriott-Starwood, Hilton International, and InterContinental Hotels Group are also among those implementing some or all of the Sustainable Development Goals, which include a goal for “responsible consumption and reduction” that targets sustainable procurement.

Setting strong targets is only part one of a successful sustainability journey. Making good on your commitments demands determination, partnerships and property-wide staff buy-in.  The results are a lower environmental impact, healthier and happier employees and guests, and a boon to your bookings — the triple-bottom-line benefits of leading on sustainability. 

This article was reprinted with permission from the Hotel Business Review, www.HotelExecutive.com  

Honoring the Custodial Workers Who Keep Our Schools Healthy

Posted on by Green Seal

Right now, 15 states and 2 U.S. territories have ordered or recommended school building closures for the rest of the academic year due to concerns with the rapid spread of COVID-19. These closures have disrupted the formal education of approximately 55 million students across U.S. public and private institutions.  But they have not slowed the activity of school custodial and housekeeping workers, who have been working tirelessly to maintain a healthy and safe environment for students and staff when onsite learning resumes. 

While many schools are closed for learning, some higher-ed students remain on campus due to lack of housing alternatives. Critical scientific research must proceed. And essential facility operations continue. These inhabited spaces must be kept clean and free from potential exposure, and custodial and housekeeping workers are on the frontlines of protection.

Schools with robust green cleaning programs have risen to the occasion, as demonstrated by those represented through our Healthy Green Schools & Colleges (HGSC) Program. The University of Washington has developed creative ways to communicate their cleaning efforts to the broader community and assure those on campus they are up to task. Salt Lake City School District has provided their bloodborne pathogen training publicly so other schools and school districts can benefit. And HGSC school facility & custodial directors banded together to create a COVID-19 Webinar Series to provide immediate peer-to-peer learning opportunities centered on cleaning for COVID-19.

School custodial and housekeeping staff are unsung heroes during this global pandemic. On National Healthy Schools Day, they deserve our thanks for everything they’re doing to keep us safe. Even if we’re not able to thank them in person, sending a letter or an email to your school’s custodial department is a simple way to let them know you value their role. It’s the least we can do. Visit the Healthy Schools Network and click on the National Healthy Schools Day: Plan Your Activity Page to help you plan your way to celebrate the custodial and housekeeping team keeping our schools safe and healthy.

ABCO Natura Yarn Mop Heads – Innovation Criteria

Posted on by Green Seal

Update: The public comment period for ABCO Products has ended. Green Seal accepted public comments between April 6, 2020 and May 7, 2020. Learn more about ABCO Products and its product certification status on Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Registry page.

Green Seal’s Environmental Innovation Beta Advisory Program allows product manufacturers to explore environmental and health impacts, engage in transformative product innovation, and achieve global recognition to a new type of sustainability standard. 

ABCO Products 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).  The company submitted their NaturaYarn mop head for GS-20 Review with the following innovation claim: NaturaYarn mop heads are able to reduce environmental impacts as a result of proprietary equipment design using garment industry scraps resulting in 100% post-industrial reclaimed textile mop heads. 

According to ABCO Products, the NaturaYarn mop head eliminates the greenhouse gas impacts associated with extracting virgin materials for plastic textile production; the product eliminates the use of additional agrochemicals, water consumption, and disruption to habitats associated with growing and harvesting additional virgin cotton; and this product establishes a circular supply chain by increasing the value of and demand for post-industrial apparel scraps.

Seeking Feedback

Green Seal is seeking your feedback on the innovation criteria document, including innovation claims, impact analysis, and certification requirements for this product.  We invite all members of our stakeholder community and the general public to submit comments. Feedback will be accepted through 11:59PM ET on May 7, 2020.

About ABCO Products’ NaturaYarn

When used as intended, this product provides wet and dry floor care maintenance in commercial spaces including (but not limited to) industrial, hospitality, educational, and food service settings.

Innovation Claim Details

ABCO Products claims that through a proprietary equipment design resulting in mop heads made from 100% post-industrial blended cotton and polyester waste sourced from reclaimed textiles from garment manufacturing scrap, NaturaYarn mop heads are able to achieve a minimum of 20% reduction of two or more significant environmental or human health impacts associated with this product category.

The product design and manufacturing process leverages the textile waste material of a garment design center and promotes circularity within the apparel sector – one of the most well-documented and environmentally impactful manufacturing sectors. Textile waste is at an all-time global high; massive amounts of water and energy are used, and pollutants released into the environment, to generate textile material that would otherwise never reach an end user. 

In addition, ABCO has installed on-site solar arrays at its production facility to reduce energy demand from non-renewable sources during the manufacture of its mop heads. ABCO continues to increase the share of its energy demand from on-site, renewable sources.

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

Environmental and Human Health Impacts

Mop heads are commonly made from blends of cotton and synthetic materials. The production of both materials creates significant environmental impacts. 

Cotton serves as the basis for nearly 50 percent of the world’s clothes, household goods, and commercial products, and accounts for 85 percent of all natural fibers used in these materials. According to the World Wildlife Fund, “cotton’s most prominent environmental impacts result from the use of agrochemicals (especially pesticides), the consumption of water, and the conversion of habitat to agricultural use.  Conventional production practices for cotton involve the application of substantial fertilizers and pesticides. Pesticides threaten the quality of soil and water, as well as the health of biodiversity in and downstream from the fields. Heavy use of pesticides also raises concern for the health of farm workers and nearby populations.” The organization adds that “runoff of pesticides, fertilizers, and minerals from cotton fields contaminates rivers, lakes, wetlands, and underground aquifers. These pollutants affect biodiversity directly by immediate toxicity or indirectly through long-term accumulation.”

Synthetic fibers are made from synthesized polymers whose raw materials include petroleum-based chemicals. These material inputs  present significant resource extraction impacts, particularly related to greenhouse gas emissions. According to the World Wildlife Fund, polyester (a comparable synthetic material to nylon) requires 3-5 times more energy to produce than cotton textiles.

During the manufacturing phase, common environmental impacts from textile production (whether cotton or synthetic fiber) include soil and water quality degradation from toxic effluent emissions from wet treatment processes from the use of dyes, dye carriers, lubricants, detergents, and complexing agents.

According to van der Velden et. al., energy use for production of yarn, fabric, and the finished product (including shipping) is dependent on a wide range of variables related to the processes employed and the region of manufacturer. The variables include the type of fiber, the makeup, the dyestuff, the dyeing technique, and the machinery employed to produce the fiber. 

Learn more about the environmental and human health Impacts of this product category by downloading the Innovation Claims.

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: 

Green Seal GS-20 Environmental Innovation Cycle Graphic

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

Serving Our Stakeholders During the COVID-19 Health Crisis

Posted on by Green Seal

Green Seal is closely monitoring developments regarding the novel coronavirus COVID-19, which was declared a national emergency by the White House and a pandemic by the World Health Organization. During this emerging and rapidly changing situation, we rely on the CDC for updated information as it becomes available. 

Green Seal is committed to providing trusted information and resources on staying safe and healthy amid the challenges caused by COVID-19. Whether you’re a consumer, business owner, school leader or Green Seal certified provider, we have resources for you at www.greenseal.org/coronavirus.


Many Green Seal certified producers and providers are on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing vital cleaning products, cleaning services, hygienic products, and lodging or food services while meeting the highest sustainability standard in the market. Green Seal is absolutely committed to serving these stakeholders with the highest quality support. To that end, Green Seal is taking the following steps

  • To reduce unnecessary added workloads on overburdened teams, Green Seal is suspending compliance monitoring activity until the crisis has abated.
  • Due to extreme impacts to the fiber supply chain, Green Seal will temporarily make reasonable accommodations to fiber sourcing compliance for certified paper producers, while also requiring periodic reporting on fiber content. This measure will aid in the continued market flow of hygienic and other paper products that consistently meet the highest sustainability standard in the market.
  • Green Seal will conduct virtual audits instead of in-person audits where necessary. This will allow any companies that have submitted for new certification evaluations to achieve conditional Green Seal certifications in a timely manner.

To protect the health of our staff and the general public, Green Seal transitioned to operating as a virtual workplace for all staff beginning March 12th.  While this measure allows us to do our part in our communities, we have taken steps to ensure that this will not affect our ongoing operations and customer support. 

We will continue to update this blog and our COVID-19 Resources page as new information and resources become available – and we are always available for questions here. 

Thank you for allowing Green Seal to serve you during this challenging time. 

Our Standard Means Uncompromising Cleaning Performance

Posted on by Green Seal

At Green Seal, we often hear the question: how do I know green cleaning products work as effectively as conventional ones? With coronavirus prompting more frequent use of cleaning products (and more inhalation of cleaning chemicals), here’s a window into Green Seal’s performance requirements for certified green cleaning products.

Defining Clean

Amid the coronavirus epidemic, it is important to remember that proper cleaning is a critical first step in the disinfecting process. Disinfectants are less effective when applied directly to dirty surfaces because germs can hide behind bits of dirt.

Proper cleaning is critical to disinfection

To clean is to remove visible soil from objects and surfaces where germs can hide. How you measure effectiveness depends on the kind of surface you’re trying to clean.

Shortly after launching, Green Seal worked together with hundreds of cleaning industry and public health experts to agree on how to evaluate the effectiveness of cleaning products in a way that can be tested in a lab – so we can clearly see what works and what doesn’t work. 

For example, glass cleaners should be able to remove toothpaste splatters and hairspray from your bathroom mirror while avoiding leaving behind unsightly smears and streaks.

Carpet cleaners should be able to remove dirt and stains and to avoid re-soiling- which is where soapy, sticky residue from the cleaner ends up attracting more soil and dirt.

And general-purpose cleaners, like the kind used on kitchen counters, should be able to remove a minimum of 80% of dirt from a surface.

If It Doesn’t Work, It Won’t Be Certified by Green Seal

A foundational belief at Green Seal is that a product is not green if it doesn’t work as consumers expect it to.  The odds are that an under-performing product will be thrown away and replaced with one that works better – which is a terrible waste of resources. All of our standards include strict performance requirements so that consumers can be confident that Green Seal-certified products are proven-healthier and proven as effective as conventional alternatives.

When it comes to performance, not all certifications are created equal.  Purchasers and consumers should always check whether a certification body includes performance requirements in its standard.

Green Seal’s Testing Requirements

Before achieving Green Seal certification, general purpose cleaners are rigorously tested and re-tested to prove that they can successfully and consistently remove dirt and grime from surfaces.

How does this test work? Green Seal requires testing based on a nationally developed method for evaluating cleaning products. The standard, from ASTM (formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials), details the steps to take to evaluate a cleaner’s efficacy in removing test soil from white vinyl tiles. This test method was not specially designed for green cleaning products – many conventional cleaners have been tested this way as well.

The standard provides a recipe for the test soil, which acts as a stand-in for dirt that most of us encounter in real life. The recipe includes ingredients such as natural humus (organic material that includes decayed leaf litter), used motor oil, iron oxide (rust), kerosene, vegetable shortening, and olive oil.  

First, a set amount of the test soil is applied to vinyl floor tiles and air dried for 24 hours. Then, a fresh sponge that has been soaked with the cleaning solution is attached to the cleaning apparatus, which scrubs the tile exactly 10 times at the same applied pressure.  Next, the tile is rinsed off with water.

The amount of soil removed is determined by using a reflectometer that measures light reflected off of the tile (0=black, 100= white). The more light that is reflected, the cleaner the tile. Each tile is measured three times and the average is used as the final cleaning score.

This process is repeated with at least 3 different sets of tiles and sponges. The cleaning product must receive an average score of 80% soil removal to be considered effective and to qualify for Green Seal certification.

Learn More

For more information about proper cleaning and disinfecting, visit the EPA and the CDC for the best guidance for preventing coronavirus in your home or building.  You can also find Green Seal’s blog on safely disinfecting for coronavirus here, including a curated list of some of the safest EPA-registered disinfectants.

BMS: An Interview with Green Seal CEO Doug Gatlin

Posted on by Doug Gatlin

Green Seal partner Building Maintenance Service (BMS) sat down with Green Seal CEO Doug Gatlin to discuss green cleaning, sustainability in the janitorial industry, and why being Green Seal certified matters now more than ever.

WHY IS THIRD-PARTY VALIDATION IMPORTANT WHEN IT COMES TO SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CLEANING SERVICES INDUSTRY?

Green cleaning is a common term these days in the cleaning industry. The concept has been around for a long time.  However, in recent years, the sustainability community has actively embraced it.  They are better quantifying its impacts and promoting its value. Thanks to national benchmarks such as LEED as well as  Green Seal’s Green Cleaning Services Standard, green cleaning has become more common.  The knowledge of best practices has become more standardized within the industry.  Many facility teams, building managers, and office managers are utilizing some elements of green cleaning.  That said, green cleaning is a series of continuous improvement steps.  It is based on core principles that include training, site-specific plans, careful chemical management, and environmentally preferable purchasing.  In most cases we’ve seen, when a group says they’re implementing green cleaning, there are often major gaps in the implementation, the level of rigor, and the results.  A third-party certification process confirms the application of actual green cleaning procedures and benefits.

HOW DOES GS-42 CERTIFICATION BENEFIT JANITORIAL COMPANIES AND THEIR CLIENTS?

We’ve heard from cleaning companies of all sizes that simply the act of applying for certification is beneficial.  In completing the checklists, you can quickly identify gaps in what you were doing, assumptions you made, and communications that should have been developed that never were. It helps you get a bird’s-eye view of your own business.  During the process, you’re speaking with a facilities management expert.  This person can help you dive into the best practices of green cleaning and the unique ways to develop your site-specific plans.

Commercial properties that choose certified green cleaning services attract higher quality tenants. Consumers today are demanding a higher level of social and environmental consciousness. Green cleaning delivers on those priorities by reducing the building’s environmental impact and promoting the health and wellbeing of building occupants – as well as some of society’s unsung heroes: custodial workers.

Building occupant productivity is also a benefit. Occupants of green office buildings report three fewer sick days each year and a 5% increase in overall productivity.  This has a direct connection to indoor air quality. In fact, a 2018 study from the U.S. Green Building Council found that 80% of green building occupants say the enhanced air quality improves their happiness and productivity.

HOW DO CLEANING CHEMICAL CHOICES IMPACT BUILDING OCCUPANT HEALTH?

VOCs are one of the most common hazards in today’s buildings.  They can cause allergic responses, exacerbate asthma, or other respiratory issues, cause headaches, eye irritation, or dizziness, prevent us from feeling our best – or, at worst, send people to the emergency room.

Young people, sick people, pregnant women, and the tens of millions of Americans who suffer from asthma are especially at risk from exposure.  One in seven cases of adult asthma can be attributed to the use of spray cleaners.

Cleaning professionals are on the front lines of these impacts. A large body of research has found that both domestic and professional cleaning work is associated with a higher risk of asthma and other respiratory issues. In fact, the first long term study on the topic recently found that cleaning with conventional products is as bad for your lungs as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day over 10-20 years.

The good news is that you easily mitigate these risks by simply switching to green-certified products.

HOW DO YOU DETERMINE SUSTAINABILITY STANDARDS FOR CLEANING CHEMICALS? 

We start by looking at function. It’s important for us to understand the intended function of a product.  In many cases there are several.  This helps us understand why a certain active chemical ingredient may be necessary or beneficial. Once we understand those two pieces, we conduct a marketing review by looking at safety data sheets or European regulations, which frequently home in on chemicals of concern before the U.S. does.  We identify the known toxic chemicals that are in most cleaning products.  Then we look at the products that have been designed without those toxic chemicals.  We independently validate that these products still function to industry standards.

By focusing on those leadership products, we’re able to craft a profile that looks at everything from the raw materials and production processes to the formula and the end of life of the product.  We zero in on the best opportunities for reducing environmental and human health impacts. We strive to create standards that are achievable for the top 20 percent of the industry. As the industry catches, we review and increase the performance thresholds where it makes sense, so that the Green Seal mark continues to set a leadership benchmark.

DO GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS (OR LACK THEREOF) IMPACT HOW YOU DEFINE YOUR STANDARDS, AND IF SO, HOW?

 We rely on a number of authoritative lists to screen product formulations for chemicals of concern. These lists range from those set by international bodies, such as the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s list of carcinogens, to those set by professional associations, such as the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics’s list of asthmagens. In between, of course, are federal and state lists by U.S. EPA and California.

By referencing multiple sources, we ensure that we have the most health-protective standards based on the latest science. Green Seal’s standard development is guided by the precautionary principle – if there is a lack of full scientific certainty on the suspected health and environmental health hazards of a chemical, we prohibit it until it’s proven to be safe. That’s why commonly found toxins like methylene chloride and 1,4-dioxane – which have only recently spurred widespread public concern in the U.S. – have been prohibited in Green Seal-certified products for decades.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE YOU HAVE SEEN FOR CLEANING SERVICE PROVIDERS TO ADOPT GS-42 STANDARDS?

We see employee turnover and maintaining buy-in as two of the biggest challenges.  Green cleaning itself is not intuitive.  It’s a careful, conscious process of monitoring, setting baselines, and understanding opportunities for where chemicals are unnecessary or overused, and shifting to better practices.  It is a continuous improvement game.  It works best with the buy-in of your teams—in particular, custodial managers, who can lead a culture shift.

In some cases, building occupants need to be educated about green cleaning.  We’re conditioned to think that a bleach smell or a lavender fragrance signifies “clean.” It can also be hard to overcome the misconception that constant cleaning is beneficial.  Many times, it’s counterproductive, and it unnecessarily increases chemical exposure.

It’s important to convey the concept of green cleaning to the building occupants. They must find value in this new way of working with non-fragrance products, in restricting cleaning schedules to off-hours, and in restricting the use of disinfectants and sanitizers to high-touch surfaces. But increasingly, we’ve seen that building tenants and occupants are aware of the benefits.  They are requesting green cleaning, even if they don’t yet understand all the details.

WHAT IS YOUR GREATEST CONCERN AS IT RELATES TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE CLEANING INDUSTRY?

Water use. The more we can encourage the shipping of concentrated products, the more we can reduce the unnecessary emissions of shipping water.  There’s an emerging concept in Europe where water itself is not required as frequently in cleaning.  That could be interesting in the future as well.

We’re also concerned about the overuse of disinfecting products because of the potential for the development of microbial resistance to these products.

HOW DO YOU SEE SUSTAINABILITY IN THE CLEANING INDUSTRY CHANGING OVER THE NEXT 5-10 YEARS? 

Green cleaning will be better understood. We’re going to see reductions in water use, more careful application of chemical-based products, and a shift to more evidence and quantification of green cleaning and effective cleaning.  There will be more demand from building occupants for third-party certified services and products that protect and promote health and wellness.  You can already see that in popular shared workspaces like WeWork – they offer snacks, coffee, and spaces that only use green products.

From Building Maintenance Service Blog – November 7, 2019. Contact us to learn more about BMS’s Sustainability initiatives, including our Green Seal (GS-42) certification.

Partnership Leads to Healthy Green Schools & Colleges Program

Posted on by Green Seal

For the past 30 years, Green Seal® has served as the nation’s most trusted ecolabel for products and services. Millions of Americans interact with a Green Seal label every day, from the cleaning procedures used in their office buildings to the low-VOC paint used on their bedroom walls. We have certified thousands of products, services, and spaces used by families, companies, government agencies, and institutions around the country. 

Now, we’re setting our sights on our nation’s schools: Green Seal is partnering with pioneer advocacy organization Healthy Schools Campaign (HSC) to create the Healthy Green Schools & Colleges Program. Together, we envision a world in which everyone has equitable access to schools that improve the health of people and the planet. Every day in the U.S. more than 76 million people from all walks of life spend time in a school or university as students, staff, and faculty. This partnership brings great opportunity to improve how schools serve our communities and empower them as change agents for a more sustainable society. 

Healthy Green Schools & Colleges will be a simple, effective, verifiable program to help schools with the why, what, and how of designing and implementing healthy green facilities management practices. Building on HSC’s popular 5 Steps to Green Cleaning in Schools and Green Seal’s industry-leading cleaning services standard (GS-42), the program will expand to address a range of issues including indoor air quality monitoring, integrated pest management, and procurement. And most important of all, we will make sure facilities teams and green school champions have the knowledge, resources, tools, and support they need to succeed.

As we begin this journey, we’d love to hear from you. What green practices have you implemented in your school? Are you interested but don’t know where to start? Healthy Green Schools & Colleges is here. We’re looking to connect with K-12 and higher-ed practitioners of all experience levels. It takes a village to improve the health of our kids, neighbors, and planet. There’s a lot of work to do, and we’re excited to get started.

30 Years Strong: A Look at Green Seal and Ecolabelling

Posted on by Doug Gatlin

If you follow us on social media, you probably already know that Green Seal is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month. Because anniversaries are a natural time to reflect, we’ve been looking back at our history and the role Green Seal has played in the wider story of the sustainability movement. We’ve also been digging into our archives to unearth public service announcements and news clips from our early years (preppy outfits included), and to reveal key moments where we catalyzed economy-wide shifts toward safer, greener products.  

You can see it all in our new interactive timeline, here. 

It is stunning to remember that just 50 years ago, there were no legal limits on how much pollution companies could dump into communities. Then, a burning river, a major oil spill, and growing unease about worsening air quality spurred a nationwide uprising that prompted the creation of the EPA and an era of environmental regulation. 

This combination of public demand and government action drove big strides in cleaning up some of the heaviest sources of toxic air and water pollution in America. But by 1990, it was clear that government regulation alone could not adequately address critical global challenges like climate change, water shortages and natural resource depletion. The world needed a new era of action by businesses, institutions and consumers on everything from energy and water efficiency to greening the supply chain, to creating healthier, greener spaces in which to work, learn and play.  

To meet these needs, environmental leaders largely turned their attention toward voluntary market-transformation initiatives that have created the basis of a new brand of environmentalism – Sustainability.  

When Green Seal launched in 1989, there was nothing like it in the United States: a non-profit organization committed to independently verifying sustainable products. Environmental movement leader Denis Hayes signed on as our first Chair and CEO, two decades after organizing the first Earth Day. The New York Times, the L.A. Times, Time Magazine and other major outlets covered Green Seal’s launch as a critical moment in the burgeoning green consumer movement – and it was.  

Thirty years later, Green Seal has driven transformational change in the definition of and demand for sustainable products.  Each year, Green Seal standards and certified products save millions of metric tons of C02 emissions; hundreds of thousands of pounds of VOC pollution; and half a billion pounds of organochloride pollution – and that’s just a partial list.  

More than 7 million children reduce their exposure to toxic chemicals and asthma triggers every day because they attend schools cleaned with Green Seal certified cleaning products. And more than 120 million square feet of office space, hospitals and other commercial spaces are significantly safer for occupants because of Green Seal’s paints and coatings standard.  

The sustainability movement today has evolved beyond product ecolabeling to new frontiers like zero-waste, circularity, social equity and health and wellness – all areas Green Seal is capturing in our new standards, programs and initiatives.  

Even as we appreciate all that we have achieved in 30 years, anniversaries are also a time to look ahead. As we consider our path for the next 30 years, we are keeping some key values in mind:

We are doubling down on making it simple for consumers to make healthier, greener choices. We will be even more clear that Green Seal-certified means no carcinogens, no mutagens, no reproductive toxins, and a deep-dive look at the product’s sustainability from raw materials extraction all the way to packaging.  

We are invested in a new, service-oriented model that recognizes that none of our achievements would be possible without our partners.  It is their commitment to and investment in green chemistry and innovation that transforms our ambitious standards from an academic exercise into scientific breakthroughs that make their way into the products people use every day.  

We are committed to expanding our impact in the marketplace. From our Formula Facts ingredient labels, to our Environmental Innovation program, to powerful new partnerships in the works, we will continue to invest in market transformation initiatives that bring Green Seal’s certified products, services and expertise to an even wider audience.

As we look back at where we started, one thing is clear: The ecolabeling movement that Green Seal pioneered is flourishing today, driven by a rising tide of consumer demand for more sustainable products, especially among those who are now steering the economy. A full 78 percent of Millennials believe sustainability is important and say they make sustainable choices – higher than any generation before them. 

Millennials face a very different challenge to that of the 1989 green consumer: they have too many ecolabels to navigate. Today, there are meaningless ecolabels that allow companies to self-certify, and single-attribute ecolabels that examine only one product feature and ignore other significant environmental impacts. Thirty years after we started this movement, people still want to know what is good from an authority they can trust.  And that’s still Green Seal.  

We’ll be celebrating key moments in our history and the impressive achievements of our partners for the rest of the year. Be sure to tune in on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Thank you for joining us on the journey to a healthier, greener planet. We’re looking forward to the amazing things we can do together over the next 30 years – starting now. 

Consumers Spur Action on Toxins Like Methylene Chloride

Posted on by Nina Hwang, MPH

It has always been clear to Green Seal that toxic substances such as methylene chloride and 1,4-dioxane have no place in the products used in homes, schools or workplaces – that’s why we have long prohibited these and a long list of other hazardous chemicals in our certified products. 

Growing consumer awareness of the health risks of methylene chloride and 1,4-dioxane, both of which are found in common household and personal care products, has begun to prompt action by the federal government, states and retailers.  It’s encouraging that regulation and market behavior are beginning to catch up with the science on these two toxins. However, setting regulations is a lengthy process, and consumers shouldn’t be expected to police hazardous substances in household products in the interim.  

Green Seal fills a critical market gap by taking a precautionary approach – purposefully setting requirements beyond those of the U.S. federal government to empower consumers to choose the safest products on today’s markets and reward the industry innovators who are moving the market to safer, healthier product chemistry. Let’s take a closer look at the two examples of hazardous chemicals that Green Seal has prohibited for decades in our certified products. 

Methylene Chloride Timeline

Methylene Chloride

In 1993, when Green Seal first launched our standard for paints and coatings, methylene chloride was one of the first chemicals we prohibited. More recently, methylene chloride has made its way into headlines for all the wrong reasons. Earlier this year, two women sued the EPA to ban methylene chloride after their sons died from using products containing this chemical. 

This colorless liquid evaporates easily, and its vapors can be irritating to skin, eyes, and the respiratory tract. Exposure to very high concentrations, usually in areas with poor air ventilation, can result in unconsciousness and death.  Since 1980, there have been more than 60 reported accidental exposure deaths due to the use of paint strippers containing methylene chloride.  

As a member of a class of chemicals called organochlorides, methylene chloride is in the company of other known bad players, including vinyl chloride, the pesticide DDT, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Methylene chloride continues to be used because it is an extremely effective solvent. This chemical is used in paint strippers and in the manufacturing processes for other products, including pesticides, plastics, and pharmaceuticals. Consumer products that contain methylene chloride include paint strippers, household cleaners, and acrylic adhesives used by hobbyists.

The European Union voted to ban the use of methylene chloride in paint strippers for consumers and most professionals in 2009, effective beginning in 2010. Almost a decade later, in 2017, the U.S. EPA proposed a similar ban in both consumer and commercial products. The final rulemaking was delayed until March of this year, when a scaled back version was passed, which only bans methylene chloride in consumer products. In the interim, several major retailers – including Walmart, Lowe’s, Home Depot and Amazon – committed to phasing out methylene chloride products due to consumer concerns.   

1,4 Dioxane Timeline

1,4 Dioxane

Green Seal doesn’t only prohibit harmful active ingredients from certified products – we also have strict requirements for any impurities and byproducts that may make their way into a finished product. 1,4-dioxane is a probable carcinogen that has also been prohibited from all Green Seal-certified products since 1993. 

Unlike methylene chloride, 1,4-dioxane does not play a role in chemical products. Rather, it is an unintended by-product of a common chemical reaction called ethoxylation. In this process, ethylene oxide reacts with any number of chemicals, including alcohols, phenols, and polyethylene glycols, to create surfactants and other chemicals. These surfactants are used in cleaning products, laundry detergent, and shampoos to remove dirt and stains. Ethoxylated ingredients are also added to cosmetics as thickeners, skin conditioning agents, and emulsifying agents. Because it is a by-product, manufacturers may not even know if their products contain trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane. 

Twenty-five years after Green Seal first acted to prohibit this chemical, state legislators are beginning to address growing consumer concern about 1,4-dioxane. California now requires that this chemical be disclosed if it is present in cleaning products, even as an impurity. The New York State legislature recently passed a bill limiting 1,4-dioxane to 1 part per million (0.0001%) in detergents and other cleaning products and California has announced plans to consider setting a threshold as well. 

Green Seal and Safer Alternatives

It can be challenging for manufacturers to find alternative substances that are safer for human health and the environment and that still perform to industry standards. Sometimes, in an effort to avoid one substance, the market moves toward regrettable substitutes: N-methylpyrrolidone (NMP), once widely used an alternative to methylene chloride, has its own toxicity issues and has also recently been banned for consumer use by the U.S. EPA and retailers. 

Similarly, manufacturers that want to replace ethoxylated surfactants in their products to eliminate 1,4-dioxane will need to carefully select safer alternatives. Filling in data gaps can prevent the unintentional introduction of a dioxane-free replacement with its own set of health and environmental hazards. 

Consumer demand will continue to drive market change and innovation, especially among market leaders. When you see Green Seal’s certification mark on a product, you can trust that we’ve screened that product against these and all other known hazardous chemicals, and that the alternatives are not known to have associated health and environmental risks.  And because we have strict performance requirements, you can rest assured that these alternatives will still work as you expect them to. 

Will CA Transparency Law Spur Safer Cleaning Products?

Posted on by Doug Gatlin

Growing public demand for ingredient transparency across the marketplace is prompting regulators to require manufacturers and retailers to publicly communicate the ingredients in everything from personal care and baby products to cosmetics and cleaning products.  

Starting this January, cleaning product manufacturers for the first time will have to post their product ingredients online to comply with a new ingredient disclosure law in California. As the nation’s leading environmental certification organization, Green Seal has always required manufacturers to fully disclose their product ingredients to us to qualify for certification. 

We believe that public disclosure of product ingredients can empower purchasers to choose healthier, safer products. But we also know that reading a long and complicated list of ingredients without context can be confusing or even misleading, defeating the purpose of ingredient transparency.

Formula Facts Make Disclosure Easier

To help both purchasers and companies get the most out of the new ingredient transparency law, we recently launched Formula Facts, an ingredient label program that makes it easier for leading manufacturers to provide clear, accurate and meaningful ingredient communications.

But will disclosure finally prompt companies to weed out the stew of toxic chemicals that lurk in most cleaning products?  Here is what we have learned about the benefits and challenges of ingredient transparency over decades of working with the nation’s leading cleaning product manufacturers. 

1.       Manufacturers don’t know all their product ingredients.

Ingredient disclosure is made harder by the fact that cleaning product manufacturers often don’t have access to information about some of their ingredients. That’s because they buy their raw materials from other suppliers who keep their formulas confidential.  Manufacturers know what the raw material will do in the cleaning product (for example: it’s a solvent), but they may not know the specific identity of the active ingredient or whether there are any additives.

Think of it like making homemade cookies with bakery-bought chocolate chips. You know that the chips will taste delicious in your cookie, but you don’t know where the chocolate was sourced or whether any ingredients were added to keep them tasting fresh.

When Green Seal evaluates a cleaning product for certification, we work with the company’s raw material suppliers to track down every ingredient in that product. Because so many of the ingredients in a finished cleaning product are contained within the raw materials and hidden from view to the manufacturer, it will be essential for manufacturers to convince their suppliers to disclose their ingredients — even when they involve confidential business information.  This will only help promote safer product formulations.

2. Some chemicals are hard to detect.

In addition to ingredients that are intentionally added, cleaning products can contain byproducts and other impurities that are unintentionally created during a chemical reaction.One example is 1,4-dioxane, a carcinogen found as a reaction by-product in ethoxylated substances, which are often used as surfactants in cleaning products.

The state laws require manufacturers to identify certain byproducts and other impurities that are associated with harmful health and environmental impacts. But this information can be hard for manufacturers to find because there is no requirement for raw materials suppliers to disclose the byproducts and impurities in their products. These chemicals also tend to be present at much lower concentrations that are harder to detect. Green Seal always screens for byproducts and impurities when we evaluate a cleaning product for certification to fully understand the product’s composition. Often, this process alerts manufacturers to the presence of chemicals they weren’t aware were in their products.Identifying these chemicals is the first step to weeding them out – another win for ingredient disclosure. Communicating product ingredients can help companies increase credibility and build trust with their customers. However, even the clearest ingredient labels can be difficult to decipher for anyone but a toxicologist.

3.       “Chemicals of Concern” are constantly changing.

The ingredient labeling laws require companies to clearly communicate whether their products contain any “chemicals of concern,” which include known carcinogens, reproductive toxins, and other ingredients harmful to human health.  But this task isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. There are dozens of different lists of chemicals of concern, including 22 referenced by the California law.  What’s more, the lists are constantly updated as new studies and information become available about the potential health impacts of the chemicals available in the marketplace.

In order to comply with the laws, manufacturers will have to track ongoing changes to each of these lists and update their ingredient labels accordingly.  In this way, the disclosure laws will force companies to pay close attention to new findings about the health risks of common chemicals.

4.      Ingredients have aliases.

The laws require cleaning product producers to list ingredients in descending order of weight, but even something as simple as communicating an ingredient’s name can be complicated. There are more than 2,000 chemicals used in conventional cleaning products – but an estimated 10,000 names for those chemicals.  For example, the carcinogenic byproduct 1,4-dioxane goes by a number of aliases, including Diethylene Oxide, Diethylene Dioxide, Dioxane, para-Dioxane, 1,4-Dioxacyclohexane, and Diethylene Ether, to name just a few.

Companies will have to follow the states’ regulatory guidelines for choosing the most appropriate names for their ingredients.  However, variations in naming conventions are likely to continue to cause confusion and uncertainty for consumers, who can’t be certain whether the ingredients they are screening for are hidden under aliases.  

5.       Communication won’t do the job of certification.

Communicating product ingredients can help companies increase credibility and build trust with their customers. However, even the clearest ingredient labels can be difficult to decipher for anyone but a toxicologist. Long lists of chemicals can be overwhelming and anxiety-inducing even when the chemicals are harmless.  Consumers can’t be expected to know whether chemical combinations are producing harmful byproducts or whether an ingredient that is considered a carcinogen in aerosol form is benign in liquid form.

When reviewing a product for certification, Green Seal always starts with ingredient disclosure – but that by itself does not translate to safer, greener products.  Disclosure precedes a scientific analysis of the formula information, and then the essential work of filtering out products that don’t meet strict health, safety and performance benchmarks. 

Reputable ecolabel standards stay far ahead of public awareness about the health risks of toxic chemicals.  For example, commonly found toxins like methylene chloride and 1,4-dioxane – which have only recently spurred widespread public concern – have been prohibited in Green Seal-certified products for decades. While ingredient communication itself is not sufficient to transform the market, these requirements often encourage manufacturers to move toward safer product formulations – in effect taking their first step towards environmental certification. With ingredient labels that consumers can access and understand, transparency will continue to spur innovation and guide the economy towards a healthier, cleaner future.