EPA Updates Safer Chemical Label Standard for Cleaning Products

The EPA on Thursday updated its requirements for products that display a logo certifying their use of chemicals considered safer for public health and the environment.

The Safer Choice and Design for the Environment Standard is aimed at helping consumers tell the difference between similar products using ingredients that pose different levels of risk to their health. It particularly targets cleaners, detergents, and other chemical products likely to be used in higher-exposure places such as schools and office buildings.

“We’ve updated EPA’s Safer Choice and DfE Standard for the first time in nearly a decade with feedback from our stakeholders to make it stronger, more transparent and to include updated packaging sustainability standards,” said Jennie Romer, the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention’s deputy assistant administrator for pollution prevention.

The updates announced Thursday include a new certification program for cleaning service providers that use certified products; optional energy and water efficiency standards; and require packaging to be reusable or made from recycled material and free of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the Environmental Protection Agency said in a press release. The agency also updated and clarified language in the existing standard.

The EPA last November put out a call for public comments on proposed changes to the standard, which had not been updated in nearly a decade, according to the press release.