IPAC-CSO May 8, 2014 Charting the Course for Sustainable Health Facility Care: Cutting through the green hype to develop practical approaches for sustainable health facility care CLEAN FREAK................................ Nicole Kenny BSc, Assoc Chem Senior Director, Professional & Technical Services Virox Technologies Inc 2 Objectives A review of NA Third Party Certification Programs Review of the process by which products are registered Beware of Corporate Marketing Campaigns there are different shades of green! Chemical disinfectants and cleaning products, their use within healthcare and how we can use sustainable alternatives How a change in culture can improve sustainability NA Third Party Programs Terrachoice EcoLogo Program Green Seal GreenGuard Environmental Institute EPA Design for the Environment (DfE) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System Green Certification Programs Who can help weed through the muck.. EcoLogo Program Launched in 1988 by the Canadian Federal Government, a for profit program managed by TerraChoice, UL Environment Recognized across NA with >120 categories Thousands of EcoLogo-certified products from over 100 manufacturers EcoLogo Program Products are Certified for reduced environmental impact. ECOLOGO Certifications are voluntary, multi-attribute, lifecycle based environmental certifications that indicate a product has undergone rigorous scientific testing, exhaustive auditing, or both, to prove its compliance with stringent, third-party, environmental performance standards. 1
EcoLogo Program EcoLogo Certification Criteria Documents (CCDs) are developed in an open, public and transparent process Broad base of stakeholder participation including user groups, product producers, environmental nongovernment organizations, and other environmental advocates The criteria address multiple environmental attributes related to human health and environmental considerations throughout the life cycle of a product CCD Criteria CCD Category Title Product Types UL 2845 (CCD 103) Personal Care Products Soaps, Shampoos, Body Wash, Moisturizers, Conditioner UL 2783 (CCD 170) Instant Hand Antiseptics Waterless hand sanitizers & antiseptics UL 2784 (CCD 104) UL 2776 (CCD 105) Hand Industrial & Institutional Liquid Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softeners Industrial Heavy Duty, Institutional Laundry Detergents UL 2759 (CCD 146) Hard Surface Dishes, Bathroom, Degreasers, General Purpose, Window & Glass UL 2777 (CCD 147) Floor Care Products Neutralizers, Sealers, Floor Finish, Strippers, Restorers UL 2795 (CCD 148) Carpet & Upholstery (Carpet), Spot and Stain Removers UL 2794 (CCD 166) Disinfectants and Disinfectant Disinfectants and Disinfectant Green Seal Green Seal is a non-profit organization that has been actively identifying and promoting sustainability in the marketplace, and helping organizations be greener in a real and effective way since 1989. Develop life cycle-based sustainability standards for products, services and companies and offer third-party certification for those that meet the criteria in the standard. Green Seal Categories GS Category Title Product Types GS-37 GS-40 GS-41 GS-42 Industrial and Institutional Industrial and Institutional Floor Finishes and Floor Strippers Hand and Hand Soaps for Industrial and Institutional Hand Purposes Commercial and Institutional Cleaning Services GP, Glass, Bathroom, Carpet Finishes and Strippers Heavy Duty Hand and Institutional Hand GreenGuard Certification GREENGUARD Certification is part of UL Environment (same group as EcoLogo) GREENGUARD Certification helps manufacturers create--and helps buyers identify--interior products and materials that have low chemical emissions, improving the quality of the air in which the products are used. GreenGuard Children and Schools standard which evaluates the sensitive nature of school populations combined with the unique building characteristics found in schools GreenGuard GreenGuard Standards for Low-Emitting Products certifies and Cleaning Maintenance Systems, Floor Finish - Applicable to: General cleaners, Glass cleaners, Toilet cleaners, Floor cleaners, Carpet cleaners, Hard surface cleaners Institutional cleaning systems, Maintenance systems Aerosol products Wood Floor Finishes, Hard Surface Floor Finishes 2
EPA Design for the Environment EPA's Design for the Environment program helps consumers, businesses, and institutional buyers identify cleaning and other products that perform well, are costeffective, and are safer for the environment. EPA Design for the Environment Formulator Partnership encourages partners to reformulate products to be environmentally safer, cost competitive and effective Industrial/Institutional Cleaning Partnership is section that manufacturers submit products for review Detergent Ingredients Partnership provides a tool that provides reliable identification of ingredients with optimal performance and environmental characteristics DfE Antimicrobial Pesticide Pilot Project moving towards the green of the pesticide spectrum using only Hydrogen Peroxide, Citric Acid or Lactic Acid as the active ingredient LEED Green Building Rating System LEED = Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design A third party program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings Recognizes performance in 5 areas: Sustainable site development Water savings Energy Efficiency Materials Selection Indoor Environmental Quality The LEED Program There are 100 possible points distributed across 5 major credit categories & 2 additional categories: 1) Sustainable Sites 2) Water Efficiency 3) Energy and Atmosphere 4) Materials and Resources 5) Indoor Environmental Quality 6) Innovation in Design (6 points) 7) Regional Priority (4 points) Building can qualify for four levels of certification: Certified: 40 49 points Silver: 50 59 points Gold: 60 79 points Platinum: 80 points and above 16 What is Greenwashing? The 7 Sins of Greenwashing: Green, Greener, Greenest! The act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service Green Markets are strong and growing. In 2010, the greener product offerings increased by 73% from 2739 product choices in 2009 to 4744 in 2010 Source: The Sins of Greenwashing Home and Family Edition 2010. www.terrachoice.com 3
The Sin of Hidden Trade Off Suggests a product is green based on a single environmental attribute or an unreasonably narrow set of attributes Such claims are not false, but are used to paint a greener picture of the product than a more complete environmental analysis would support Paper & Lumber products that promote their recycled content or sustainable harvesting practices without attention to manufacturing impacts such as air emissions, water emissions and global warming impacts The Sin of No Proof A claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable 3rd party certification Personal care products that claim not to have been tested on animals, but offer no evidence or certification of this claim The Sin of Vagueness Committed by every claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the intended consumer Chemical-free nothing is free of chemicals, water is a chemical, all plants and animals are made of chemicals; All natural arsenic, uranium, mercury and formaldehyde are all natural, but are poisonous The Sin of Irrelevance This sin is committed by making an environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant and unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products It is irrelevant and distracts the consumer from finding a truly greener option CFC-Free, CFCs have been legally banned for almost 30 years, there are no products manufactured using CFCs The Sin of the Lesser of Two Evils These are green claims that may be true within the product category, but that risk distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole Organic cigarettes; Green insecticides and herbicides The Sin of Fibbing Committed by making environmental claims that are simply false Shampoos claimed to be certified organic but research could not find certification support; A dishwasher detergent claimed 100% recycled paper but packaged in a plastic container 4
The Sin Worshiping False Labels Committed by a product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of third-party endorsement where no such endorsement actually exists! Aluminum foil with certification-like images that show the name of the company's own in-house environmental program for which there is no explanation. Distribution of the Sins Source: The Sins of Greenwashing Home and Family Edition 2010. www.terrachoice.com Green Marketing Guidelines Canadian Competition Bureau of CSA has released a Green marketing guideline titled Environmental Claims: A Guide for Industry and Advertisers The use of vague claims implying general environmental improvement are insufficient and should be avoided Virox s Road to Greenness Environmental claims should be clear, specific, accurate and not misleading Environmental claims should be verifies and substantiated prior to being made Corporate Green Stance Virox is committed to innovating, developing and improving peroxide based environmentally sustainable cleaners and disinfectants that allow our affiliates to reduce their environmental impact when consuming such necessary products. A focus on health and environmental sustainability is a legacy we will pass on to future generations. How we Got to LEED Silver? 2007: AHP becomes Canada s First EcoLogo certified green cleaner-disinfectant 2008: Virox was the only Canadian company awarded the Chemical Manufacturers and Product Formulators Champion Status, indentifying their patented Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide (AHP) technology as a sustainable technology. 2009: AHP received Green Seal and GreenGuard certification 2010: Virox received ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) registration which measures and documents our environmental impact. 2014: First DfE Certified EPA Registered Hospital Grade Disinfectant 5
Virox LEED Projects Mechanical system upgrades, to enhance occupant thermal comfort and energy efficiency. Lighting upgrades to provide more efficient, more uniform lighting levels and better quality of light to all areas - manufacturing, warehousing and office. Plumbing upgrades, to increase water efficiency and user-friendliness throughout the facility. Installation of a BT Radioshuttle System to allow for high-density racking of manufactured goods. Virox LEED Projects Installation of a "Get Green System" which lowers fuel costs and reduces CO emissions. Installation of KVAR Energy Controllers to reduce our electrical energy consumption and reduce electrical demand from the Electrical Grid. Implementation of a robust sustainable purchasing program for continuing environmental choices on procurement. Virox LEED Projects Implementation of a single-stream recycling program that includes corrugate, plastic (bottles and shrink wrap) and paper across the company which has diverted over 25,000 kg of recyclable waste from landfill (240 garbage containers) Implementation of a recycling program which converts the self-adhesive label backings and corrugate cores to material used for outdoor decking and diverted over 30,000 kg of waste from landfill (300 garbage containers) Implementation of a Daylight Cleaning Program which utilizes the AHP-based EcoLogo certified products Why go Green? It's the right thing to do. The Green Team was challenged to achieve LEED certification and through the process we created a company that has completely changed its culture and embraced the challenge of being the greenest of the green with such a passion that we achieved LEED Silver status. Celebrating Earth Day 2014! Questions? Nicole Kenny, B.Sc, Assoc Chem Senior Director, Professional & Technical Services Phone: 1-800-387-7578 x118 Email: nkenny@virox.com Twitter: @nicolecronkenny Blog: www.talkcleantome.com LinkedIn: Talk Clean To Me group 6