GREEN NEWS: EcoLogo and Green Seal Launch Green Hand Soap Criteria
EcoLogo and Green Seal Launch Green Hand Soap Criteria
The EcoLogo Program and Green Seal have developed new, identical audit criteria for hand soap. The move allows companies with environmentally preferable products to undergo one audit and receive both certifications.
“This new standard builds on and replaces the previous EcoLogo CCD 104 standard for industrial cleaners created in 1997,” says Linda Chipperfield, Director of Marketing for Green Seal. “It includes criteria for all industrial and institutional hand cleaner products.”
Institutional hand cleaners are most often found in the public washrooms of airports, educational facilities, and office buildings.
“Conventional hand cleaners may contain unnecessary antimicrobial ingredients, be wastefully packaged, negatively impact indoor air quality, and/or contain ingredients that irritate the skin,” says Stewart Fast, a researcher in EcoLogo’s Science and Certification Group.
Based on these criteria, EcoLogo and Green Seal will award certification to hand cleaners that:
- Perform as well or better than conventional hand cleaners,
- Are biodegradable and have limited toxicity to aquatic life,
- Are packaged in recyclable packaging, ideally incorporating recycled content, and
- Have eliminated ingredients considered likely to negatively impact health and the environment.
“Certification under the new standards indicates reduced impact of all of these variables and their effect on the health of the individual user and the environment,” says Fast.
For detailed criteria, visit: www.govinfo.bz/5966-308.