How many cleaning products have you used in the last week on your clothes, dishes, floors and windows? The cleaning products you use can end up in the environment, whether they’re used outside, rinsed down the drain or evaporated into the air. Some ingredients used in cleaning products can impact the environment. So, what can you do to keep your home clean and avoid polluting the planet? Look for the EPA Safer Choice label!
Safer Choice is a voluntary EPA program that certifies cleaning products made with safer ingredients. Products that meet EPA’s stringent criteria earn the Safer Choice label, which makes it easy to find products that are made with safer ingredients, use more sustainable packaging and work well. EPA’s Safer Choice program helps prevent pollution in our air, land and water by distinguishing more sustainable products in the marketplace.
When you see the Safer Choice label on a product, it means that EPA scientists have evaluated every ingredient for potential human health and environmental effects. Only the safest possible ingredients are allowed.
CORNERSTONE CLEANING is proud to announce that two of its cleaning agents – Bona Floor Cleaner & Cleaning Vinegard – are now certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Safer Choice program and have earned the Safer Choice label.
Safer Choice-certified products are better for our air and health. Safer Choice helps protect Earth’s ozone by prohibiting ozone-depleting substances and minimizes indoor air pollution and associated respiratory concerns by restricting volatile organic compounds (VOCs). With EPA’s rigorous review, you can also be confident the ingredients are not only safer for you and your family but also fish and other aquatic life. The result: less pollution in streams, less contamination of the food chain, reduced impacts on water treatment facilities and less damage to the ecosystem.
Speaking of protecting the environment, Safer Choice sets an even higher bar for products like car and boat cleaners—that are used outdoors and can bypass water treatment—to provide an extra layer of protection to aquatic life.
Safer Choice goes beyond what’s inside a product and makes sure certified products use safer, more sustainable packaging. Packaging must meet EPA’s sustainability standards and cannot contain toxic elements, such as heavy metals that can harm ecosystems, or other chemicals of potential concern.
Safer Choice also encourages climate-friendly manufacturing practices. For example, companies are encouraged to use renewable energy when making products, explore creative packaging technologies or create concentrated products, which reduce shipping needs and, in turn, the product’s carbon footprint.
But it doesn’t stop there. Companies are expected to make continuous environmental improvement a focus of their research and development, and EPA conducts annual audits of products with the Safer Choice label to make sure companies continue to meet EPA’s high standards.
Only products that meet high standards for performance, sustainability and human and environmental health carry the Safer Choice label. When you look for the label, you’re supporting companies that are investing in a healthy planet by participating in EPA’s voluntary Safer Choice program. It’s a win-win for cleaning and the planet: you can reduce your environmental impact and still get the job done.
So, help prevent pollution and protect our environment by looking for the label. It’s a Safer Choice.
Visit these websites for more information on the U.S. EPA Safer Choice Program and to find Safer Choice-certified products.