EPA to Recommend Green Claims for Disinfecants and Sanitizers
By Mark Bishop, Deputy Director
One of the biggest challenges in a green cleaning program is how to properly disinfect and sanitize. The EPA requires registration for all sanitizers/disinfectants with their office of pesticides and does not allow the use of environmentally preferable claims. This has lead to confusion on how to identify preferable options.
This is all changing.
According to The Ashkin Group:
Officials at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have stated they will recommend the adoption of a policy that allows suppliers to make valid claims of “environmental preferability” in relation to the marketing of disinfectants and sanitizers...
Specifically, EPA officials are expected to recommend that the Agency allow suppliers to make factual claims of environmental preferability in conjunction with disinfectants and sanitizers, according to Marty Monell of EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP).
In addition, Monell stated that she will also recommend that a policy be established that would allow the use of “ecolabels” in conjunction with the marketing of hard surface antimicrobial products. In this regard, it is expected that the latter policy would be conducted in cooperation with the EPA Design for the Environment Formulator Program (DfE).
This is exciting news because this means that green cleaning adoption will become easier. In the past, concerns about proper disinfection have always been a concern. This will alleviate this as an issue, reduce marketplace confusion, and help promote greater adoption of environmentally preferable options. According to The Ashkin Group, the process is not yet complete but more information will be available by the end of the month.
