2021 Impact Report

Impact Report

Welcome

If ever there was a need for expert, science-based information on cleaning for health it was during this past year. As a global pandemic threatened our health, wellbeing and our very lives, Green Seal’s role as a trusted authority on safer and more sustainable products thrust us into the spotlight.

Photograph of Doug Gatlin, Green Seal CEO
Doug Gatlin, Green Seal CEO

At Green Seal, our number-one goal is to enable businesses and consumers to make healthier, greener choices with confidence — especially when it comes to the products and services they use to clean and care for their spaces. This past year, more than perhaps any other in our history, Green Seal has been a leading voice in the public conversation about keeping our buildings, homes and schools safe and healthy.

Green Seal’s comprehensive guidelines on safer cleaning amid COVID-19 filled an urgent public health gap in guidance for disinfecting without doing harm. These guidelines are now being used to protect people in more than 1 billion square feet of school and office space, demonstrating the hunger for sound information on cleaning for health. The guidelines, along with new certification criteria for verified-safe hand sanitizers, gave businesses and facilities leaders actionable resources for protecting people from a deadly virus without exposing them to health risks from toxic chemicals.

We’ve leaned into our role as a resource for consumers looking for proven-effective, proven-greener products. We were proud to launch partnerships that are broadening Green Seal’s reach and getting safer, greener products into more hands – including a high-impact initiative with Amazon through its Climate Pledge Friendly program.

This year, as in every year of our history, we have continued to follow science to help policy makers, businesses, and consumers use healthier products and create spaces where people can thrive.

Photograph of Paul Bateman, Green Seal Board Chair
Paul Bateman, Green Seal Board Chair

We sincerely want to thank the 321 certified product manufacturers and service providers who have put their trust in us and are transparently demonstrating that their offerings meet Green Seal’s rigorous standards. In particular, we extend a special welcome to the 36 new participating companies who have signed up to pursue Green Seal certification in the past year. We also want to thank our wonderful staff for their commitment through what has proved to be a challenging year. Despite the pandemic, our dedicated team didn’t miss a step. Finally, we want to thank our colleagues on the Board of Directors for their leadership, insights and perspectives and unwavering support of our team and our mission.

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Raising the Bar

Green Seal’s science-based standards define sustainability leadership in the marketplace and reward industry innovations. Our strict criteria for safer chemicals, uncompromising performance and lifecycle sustainability mean that only the healthiest, most responsible and most effective products and services can earn the Green Seal. Over the past year, we launched new and updated standards to ensure certified products stay at the forefront of the market when it comes to health and sustainability.  

  • Hand Sanitizer

    Amid surging hand sanitizer use and FDA warnings about hundreds of toxic products, Green Seal worked with public health and industry experts to design a standard that gives buyers a simple way to identify hand sanitizers that meet the highest bar for health, safety and performance.

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  • Paints and Coatings

    Green Seal’s globally recognized paint standard remains the sole one to restrict carcinogens, reproductive toxins, alkylphenol ethoxylate and a host of other harmful chemicals. This year, we added requirements for VOC chamber testing to align our standard with the latest LEED® green building criteria, providing a simple choice for health-focused buyers.

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    paints-coatings

Leading During Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic raised urgent, national questions about what it means to clean for health. As a leading authority, Green Seal responded with rapid public guidance, including a viral blog on how to identify disinfectants with safer active ingredients. We followed up with comprehensive Disinfecting Guidelines for Schools and Workplaces – now being used in more than 1 billion square feet of building space – to give facilities leaders an actionable resource for protecting people without exposing them to health risks from hazardous chemicals. In tandem, our new hand sanitizer standard filled a critical market gap by providing independent verification of safe, effective hand sanitizers amid surging use and an influx of toxic products.

Power in Partnership

As the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to reverse positive trends toward greener cleaning, Green Seal doubled down on key partnerships to expand consumers’ access to verified sustainability information – and get safer, greener products into more hands.  Among the most impactful: You can now find Green Seal-certified products marked as “Climate Pledge Friendly” on Amazon, combining Green Seal’s trusted expertise with the online retail giant’s unparalleled reach to foster informed consumption.

  • SEIU

    Green Seal partnered with the nation’s largest union of property service workers on a comprehensive COVID-19 training course for tens of thousands of frontline custodians.

  • Amazon/Climate Pledge Friendly

    Green Seal certified products automatically earn Amazon’s new Climate Pledge Friendly badge, signifying to consumers that the products meet meaningful sustainability standards.

  • GSA

    Green Seal worked with the General Services Administration and ecomedes to make Green Seal certified products easy for project managers to match to federal purchasing guidelines.

  • Healthy Schools Campaign

    Green Seal and pioneering nonprofit Healthy Schools Campaign are creating Healthy Green Schools & Colleges, a verifiable program for sustainable school facilities management.

  • Whole Foods Market

    Green Seal helped Whole Foods Market execute its cleaning products standards program, independently evaluating household cleaners against the supermarket chain’s criteria for environmental impact, safety, ingredient labeling, and efficacy testing.
36,161
certified products
(by SKU)
100+
federal, state and local
purchasing policies
specify Green Seal

Countries Producing Green Seal-Certified Products

A Seal Buyers Trust

30 years ago, Green Seal pioneered ecolabeling in the United States with a consumer-friendly seal that helps buyers make safer, greener choices with confidence. Today, our seal is a universal symbol that a product, service or space is independently verified to meet the highest standard of health and environmental leadership. Here’s what the Green Seal means.

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  • Cleaning Products

    Green Seal-certified cleaning products must demonstrate uncompromising performance while using ingredients that are significantly safer for people and the planet. They’re screened for VOCs, carcinogens, reproductive toxins, mutagens, phthalates, endocrine disruptors, skin sensitizers and a host of other harmful ingredients – and must use environmentally preferable packaging materials.

    197 Millionpounds of plastic saved byconcentrated professionalcleaning products in 2020

  • Environmental Innovation

    From chloride-free ice melt to floor pads made from recycled water bottles, Innovation Certified products are delivering breakthroughs in the performance, health or environmental safety of products and re-defining what it means to be sustainable in their product categories.

    30% lower
    environmental or human
    health impact compared
    to competing products

  • Sanitary Paper

    Green Seal-certified sanitary paper never uses virgin fiber. Products are made with 100% recycled material and meet stringent requirements for reducing carbon emissions, using less water and energy and chlorine-free processing.

    3.8 Million
    metric tons of CO2
    emissions saved each year

  • Commercial Cleaning Programs

    Green Seal’s certified cleaning providers set the benchmark for excellence in cleaning effectiveness, using highly trained teams and verified products and practices to improve indoor air quality and protect health during a year when proper cleaning has never mattered more.

    1 Billionsq. ft of building space cleaned daily

Customer Spotlight

Only the safest, most responsible and most effective products and services achieve the Green Seal. Companies undergo a comprehensive review of everything from their formulas to manufacturing practices to ensure they meet our science-based standard criteria. Here’s how our partners are making an impact.

Newly Certified

Thanks

Thank you to Green Seal’s Board of Directors for their support, guidance and expertise. Learn about the members of our Board of Directors and our staff here.

Special thanks to Diversey and Ecolab for contributing data and expertise to the development of Green Seal’s plastics saving metric.

Resources