GREEN CLEANING CLAIMS AND THIRD-PARTY CERTIFICATION
We Want The Truth And Nothing But The Truth
By Roger McFadden
Vice President Technical Services
Coastwide Laboratories
Portland Oregon
Cleaning products are needed to help keep our buildings clean and healthy. Product material safety data sheets indicate that many cleaning products present several human health and environmental concerns. Conventional cleaning products contain chemicals associated with eye, skin and respiratory irritation and other human health issues. And the concentrated forms of many cleaning products are classified as hazardous waste, creating a potential handling, storage and disposal issue for users. When unsafe or ineffective cleaning products reach the market, the legal system provides a mechanism for resolution and compensations. In the meantime, people are injured, our environment may be compromised and the sustainability of our communities challenged. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tells us that:
Cleaning chemicals are the most frequent type
of chemicals involved in poisonings reported to poison control centers in the
U.S.
General-purpose cleaning chemicals contribute
approximately 8 percent of the total non-vehicular volatile organic compound
(VOC) emissions in California.
Millions of tons of cleaning products are
washed down drains every month. These products often contain toxic chemicals
that can find their way into our steams and lakes.
Most people spend more than 90 percent of their time indoors; thus, exposure to indoor environmental hazards has led to many health concerns.
The reduction of negative environmental, health and safety effects in cleaning products is an excellent incentive for implementing an environmentally preferable purchasing program. Dr. Lauren Heine, Director of Green Chemistry & Engineering for Zero Waste Alliance said, “There is a need for credible and reliable criteria to distinguish cleaning product formulations that perform well and are preferable with respect to human and environmental health, based on reduced inherent hazard.”
“Our cleaning product is green” is joining “The checks in the mail” and “trust me you’ll like it” as one of the frequent fibs of our modern times. Read a label on any cleaning product today and you are likely to see poorly defined and ambiguous claims like “biodegradable”, “environmentally friendly”, “phosphate free”, “recycled” or “non-toxic”. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has established guidelines for environmental claims by cleaning product manufacturers. Janice Frankle, an attorney for FTC said an environmentally friendly product claim must be supported by “competent and reliable scientific evidence that should include testing, analysis, research, studies and other professional evidence”. However, the guidelines are not law and are only enforceable if a complaint is lodged to the FTC and there is enough evidence to get a court order forcing the company to remove the claim. Keep in mind that making one positive environmental claim about a cleaning product, such as, contains no hydrochloric acid, does not mean that the product is environmentally friendly or cannot harm the environment or endanger the worker.
LACK OF UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED CONSENSUS BASED STANDARDS
Currently there are no formal universally-accepted or consensus-based green cleaning standards and this has caused concern among end users, government regulatory agencies and manufacturers. Federal agencies are facing renewed pressure to adopt so called “green” cleaning practices and purchase environmentally safe cleaning products. There is a need for affordable, effective and reliable means to identify preferred green cleaning chemical products. The best known of the privately funded institutions that certify green cleaning products is Green Seal. This organization and other similar organizations provide valuable information to consumers and allow manufacturers and consumers to freely trade with one another. While certification like that provided by Green Seal is likely to ensure a benign product, the certification is exclusive because it is expensive. It can cost $10,000 to $15,000 for initial certification of a single product by Green Seal and up to $5,000 per year to maintain an annual re-certification. This cost is especially restrictive for smaller and regional companies that cannot afford to certify and annually renew certification for each product. In order to support the development and dissemination of green cleaning formulations into the marketplace and to help to generate awareness and demand, it is necessary to make the criteria accessible to a broader audience.
Cleaning chemical manufacturers, environmentalists, government officials, major users and other stakeholders are forming alliances to identify consensus green cleaning criteria and regulations. These groups are forming with a common goal of encouraging the demand and supply for sustainable cleaning products. The impact of cleaning chemicals to human health and the environment is complex and involves differing degrees of uncertainty. Therefore, it is important to assemble credible and defensible scientific information that can both educate buyers and clarify the advantages and disadvantages of individual products.
An official at EPA said it well, “EPA believes standards that reflect both life cycle considerations, and that are developed through a voluntary consensus process will help to encourage the development of environmentally preferable products and services in the marketplace.”
Third-party certification is a scientific process by which a product, process or service is reviewed by a reputable and unbiased third party to verify that a set of criteria, claims or standards are being met. A third-party certification can reduce the time and expense needed for identifying, selecting and purchasing cleaning products. Third-party certification is not the final word. The consumer has the final say. But a third-party certification claim is an important factor to consider when selecting a cleaning product.
The best world is one where all manufacturers and consumers of green cleaning products are comparing their green claims to the same or similar set of consensus standards. Those standards currently do not exist. Until these standards are readily available, reputable third-party certification is the most reliable way of verifying green cleaning claims. Third-party certification of green cleaning products will fill the gap between self-endorsements and fully-developed, widely-accepted and consensus-based green cleaning standards.
A reputable third-party certification requires a company to disclose all ingredients, all toxicity data, all test results to an unbiased third-party independent laboratory. The laboratory conducts independent data reviews and laboratory testing to verify the accuracy of the claims. And the independent laboratory verifies in writing that the product meets its claims. Third-party certification can help the environmental, health and safety gatekeepers in an organization compare and assess the EHS attributes of cleaning products before they enter the building.
Why Third-Party Certify?
The basic values of a third-party certification are to provide a measure of conformity, satisfy customer demands and limit supplier risks without the expense of repeating tests. Certifying organizations are anxious to maintain their reputation and sustain their integrity and will provide an excellent way to validate green cleaning marketing claims while protecting consumers from myths, misconceptions, misleading information and “fly by night” manufacturers. Third-party certification will help overcome these myths and help those that want to develop true green cleaning programs to do so.
Third-party Certifications and Consensus Standardization can eliminate the need for government to create bureaucratic laws and regulations that may restrict market access and delay the introduction of new technologies. Third-party certifications have been successfully used for decades. UL-listed hair dryers, stove tops, automotive air-conditioners and ANSI respirators and safety equipment are examples of products that are third-party certified.
To make certain that third-party certification is credible it is critical that the third-party be a recognized and reputable independent testing laboratory and not an extension or subsidiary of the company requesting the certification. Any appearance of impropriety must be avoided and eliminated when selecting a third-party certifier. Reputable third-party certifiers will have the capability, independence, and controls to conduct sound and unbiased reviews. Two principal criteria are critical when selecting third-party reviewers --scientific expertise and avoiding conflicts of interest. The claims being evaluated and certified must be clearly stated and any ambiguous or subliminal deceptions must be flushed out of the criteria during the certification process. The worst scenario is to have products being third party certified as “green” but being based on a flawed third-party certification process. Mutual acceptance of the third-party findings and certification by the first and second parties is important.
Who pays for third party certification?
The organization that manufacturers the product and requests the third-party certification usually pays for the certification. Occasionally, the end-user will pay for a third-party certification to verify that products meet specific specifications or standards.
A typical third-party certification of a green cleaning product will take about 1-2 months to complete. It includes a three-part process.
A product is evaluated against a set of attributes and compared to a set of PASS/FAIL criteria. The product MUST PASS ALL CRITERIA or it is rejected as a green cleaning product candidate.
The second part of the scoring system evaluates specific environmental, health and worker safety characteristics of a product. Point values are assigned to each criterion that is reflective of environmental, health and safety priorities. If a product attains more than a threshold number of points, then it is rejected as a green cleaning product candidate. The lower the score the more favorable the results.
PART 3: Indiana Relative Chemical Hazard Score (IRCHS)
The third part of the scoring system evaluates the product by using a reliable measurement method that establishes a hazard value for chemicals and chemical mixtures. The method was developed by Purdue University and is currently being used to screen chemical ingredients and mixtures. The product MUST have an IRCHS Value below a threshold number or the product is rejected as a green cleaning product. The lower the value, the more favorable the rating in this part of the evaluation.
Once a product is evaluated and passes all three parts, it is certified and assigned a Tier I (GOLD), Tier II (SILVER) or Tier III (BRONZE) rating or Medal.
SETTING A NEW STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE
I remember an episode of Sesame Street where Miss Piggy was struggling with whether she should buy a red or a green dress and she asks Kermit the Frog for his opinion. Kermit after a polite hesitation predictably replied, “I like the green”. Miss Piggy sarcastically responds, “If you can’t trust Kermit the Frog, then whom can you trust?”
There is a credibility crisis in America today. The trust, integrity and honor of companies and institutions, once revered as much as mother, country and apple pie is being shaken from its foundation. My father told me when I was very young, that “Your integrity means everything, don’t lose it, because getting it back can take more than a lifetime.”
A primary marketing principle says, “People invest in products and services that they trust”. The credibility of a company, product or service is vital to its sustainability. Consumers of commercial cleaning products demand and deserve accurate, truthful and honest information from their suppliers.
We don’t need government mandated green cleaning laws and regulations. What we need is a cleaning industry with an environmental conscience and a commitment to community sustainability and doing the right thing. The wise use of reputable third-party certification of green cleaning product criteria is one of the ways that can help build trust and credibility into the cleaning products selection and purchasing process.
The despicable actions of a few companies can tarnish the integrity of an industry, ask accounting firms how things have changed since the Enron debacle. The cleaning industry is reputable. Let’s all pitch in and demand a new standard for environmental, health and safety excellence in our cleaning products.
Copyright Coastwide Laboratories 2002