New products receive EcoLogo certification every month, and I thought it might be instructive to look at the last several months to see if there have been any trends. Turns out there have. While I knew green cleaning was a hot topic, I had no idea how hot. Roughly one third of recently certified products fall under the EcoLogo category of hard-surface cleaners. And that doesn’t even include the handful of other products like detergent and hand cleaner that support the green cleaning trend.How does a hard-surface cleaner meet the EcoLogo standard? Here are some of the criteria:

• No glycol ethers or their acetates
• No alkylphenol ethoxylate surfactants (APEOS) (Note: environmentalists are trying to pass a bill in Connecticut that would phase out these suspected hormone disruptors in all products)
• No toxic metals, including but not limited to arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, silver and mercury
• No more than 1% by weight of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as used (after dilution if applicable), or more than 12% by weight if sold in concentrated form

Among the other categories of recently certified EcoLogo products are green power, personal care products (like shampoo) and toilet tissue.

Posted by Mari in Environmental standards, Green cleaning, Green products