EPA Updates Safer Choice and Design for the Environment Standard

On August 8, 2024, EPA finalized updates to the Safer Choice and Design for the Environment Standard.  The revised standard implements sustainable packaging criteria and introduces a Safer Choice Cleaning Service Certification for cleaning service providers.

Created in 2009, the Safer Choice program allows products such as cleaners and detergents to carry a special label if they meet human and environmental health requirements.  Products must meet both holistic and component-level requirements to be approved for partnership with EPA, which is renewable and lasts three years.  Design for the Environment operates under the same standard and applies specifically to antimicrobial products.

Under the updated standard, primary packaging for certified products can no longer contain intentionally added PFAS.  The revisions also require packages to either be 1) designed to be reused or 2) recyclable and made of a certain percentage of recycled content.

The update also inaugurates a certification program for cleaning services that use certified products “to the maximum extent practicable.”  The agency says that it will consider exceptions on a case-by-case basis, including in situations where limited certified products are available for a certain product class.

Other changes include stricter requirements for pet care products and voluntary criteria aimed at reducing carbon-based energy consumption.  The new standard does not alter the master criteria for ingredients or any of the supplemental requirements for certain product classes.

The update is the first revision to the standard since 2015 and the fourth in its history.  New products must comply with the updated standard immediately.  Existing partnership products must comply within a year after they are notified of the updates.

 

EPA Updates Safer Chemicals Ingredients List

On September 23, 2023, EPA announced that it is adding 10 chemicals to the Safer Chemicals Ingredients List (SCIL), a list of chemicals which have been reviewed by EPA’s Safer Choice Program and meet its Safer Choice Criteria.  The chemicals on the list are considered to be among the safest chemicals for their functional use class (such as surfactants, solvents, or chelating agents), allowing manufacturers to choose the safest available chemicals for each type of ingredient in a product.

Manufacturers can apply to have chemicals added to the SCIL.  During the application process, a third-party profiles the substance and the Safer Choice Program assesses whether it meets Safer Choice criteria, which includes toxicity and fate standards.  Products containing chemicals that meet Safer Choice criteria may be eligible to enter into partnership with the program, which grants use of a Safer Choice product label.

According to EPA, the updated SCIL includes 1,071 substances.  The 10 chemicals added to the list in September 2023 are shown below.

List Name CAS Registry Number Functional Use Class
Fats and Glyceridic oils, vegetable, hydrogenated 68334-28-1 Emollients
Tocopherols 1406-66-2 Preservatives and Antioxidants
Sulfuric acid, dimethyl ester, compd. with .alpha.,.alpha.’,.alpha.”,.alpha.”’-[1,6-hexanediylbis(nitrilodi-2,1-ethanediyl)]tetrakis[.omega.-hydroxypoly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl)] 247074-09-5 Polymers
Glycolipids, sophorose-contg., Candida bombicola-fermented, from D-glucose and mahua Madhuca longifolia fats and glyceridic oils 1573124-58-9 Surfactants
1,4-Benzenedicarboxylic acid, 1,4-dimethyl ester, polymer with 1,2-ethanediol, .alpha.-hydro-.omega.-hydroxypoly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) and 1,2-propanediol, ester with .alpha.-methyl-.omega.-hydroxypoly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl) 152442-40-5 Polymers
Dodecanoic acid, ester with 1,2-propanediol 37321-62-3 Solvents
Diisopropyl succinate 924-88-9 Solvents
Diisopropyl sebacate 7491-02-3 Solvents
Methyl propanediol 2163-42-0 Solvents
Methyl ethyl ketone 78-93-3 Solvents

EPA Seeks Input on Expansion of the Safer Choice and Design for the Environment Programs

EPA recently solicited public comment on its proposed expansion of the Agency’s Safer Choice and Design for the Environment programs. The expansion would include certification of additional product categories; the programs are currently limited to cleaners and disinfectants. Participation in the programs by manufacturers is voluntary. The programs help consumers and businesses acquire products that meet strict criteria for effects on human health and the environment; products certified by the programs do not present a risk of harm to human health or the environment.

The proposed expansion comes as a result of increasing consumer interest in the chemicals used in products and consumers’ desire to make informed purchasing decisions. During the comment period, the Agency seeks input on which new product categories it should add to these programs and how adding these products will benefit the health of humans and the environment. All products in any category that is added will be subject to the human health and environmental toxicology criteria detailed in the Safer Choice Standard. No product containing intentionally added PFAS can be approved for either program.

Petition to Remove Polyvinyl from EPA’s Safer Choice and Safer Chemical Ingredients List

On November 15, 2022, BlueLand and Plastic Pollution Coalition filed a petition with EPA on behalf of itself and numerous non-profit organizations fighting plastic pollution and climate change, requesting that EPA require health and environmental testing and regulation of polyvinyl alcohol under TSCA, and that the substance be removed from EPA’s Safer Choice and Safer Chemical Ingredients lists. TSCA section 21 permits any person to petition EPA to initiate a proceeding for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a rule or order under TSCA section 4 (rules or order requiring chemical testing), section 5(d) or (f) (orders affecting new chemical substances) section 6 (rules imposing regulatory controls on chemicals), and section 8 (rules requiring information).

Polyvinyl alcohol, also referred to as PVA or PVOH, is commonly used in consumer-packaged goods, including laundry and dishwasher detergent pods and sheets. PVA is a petroleum-based polymer that serves as the thin layer of plastic film on these pods. The film dissolves in the water during a washing machine or dishwasher cycle. However, the PVA itself does not; tiny pieces of plastic debris called microplastics are contained in the wastewater.

Microplastics are suspected of contributing to plastic pollution in oceans and waterways. A recent study detailed in Degradation of Polyvinyl Alcohol in US Wastewater Treatment Plants and Subsequent Nationwide Emission Estimate stated that approximately 75 % of PVA from these pods persists through conventional wastewater treatment, ultimately ending up in waterways and ecosystems. Additionally, microplastics have been found in human food and water sources, the human bloodstream, and human breast milk.

The petition argues that under TSCA (15 U.S.C 2603), EPA has the authority to and should require extensive health and environmental safety testing of PVA once it is released into ecosystems and waterways. The petition also requests that PVA be removed from EPA’s Safer Chemicals Ingredient List developed by EPA’s Safer Choice Program; the list arranges chemicals by functional-use class to help manufacturers find safer chemical alternatives than traditional chemicals that meet the criteria of the Safer Choice Program. The petition argues that based on PVA’s bioaccumulative and persistence qualities, when applied to the Safer Choice Program’s guidance on polymers, PVA does not meet the requirements to be listed.

EPA replaces Design for the Environment with new “Safer Choice” label.

Today, EPA unveiled its new “Safer Choice” label, which replaces the Design for the Environment (DfE) label for cleaning and other chemical products that meet the agency’s standards for safer chemical ingredients. The new label underscores the program’s focus on human health and environmental safety standards with the hope of making it easier for families to choose safer products for families. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy even appears with her dog in a short YouTube video to emphasize that children and pets are more vulnerable to chemicals.

The new “Safer Choice” label has different versions for products used in homes and for those used in office buildings, schools, and other institutions.

Speaking at a conference in Baltimore yesterday, Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, director of EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, said the agency consulted with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in developing in the new logo to ensure that it would comply with the FTC’s Green Guides on environmental marketing claims.

EPA also introduced a new label to substantiate fragrance-free claims in Safer Choice products. The revised “Safer Choice Standard” [PDF] specifies changes related to the new fragrance-free standard. Products that qualify for the Safer Choice label are eligible for the additional fragrance-free certification and label if no fragrance materials are in the product ingredients.

In addition, the agency announced that it “is aligning across product types the requirements applied to labeled products that contain sensitizers that exceed the de minimis level (0.01%) in the end-use product.” All Safer Choice products, not just consumer products, will now be required to disclose on the label if fragrance materials that are skin sensitizers are present above the de minimis level. Manufacturers of such products will also be required to provide EPA with information that the sensitizing ingredients are:

  • critical to the fragrance essence or product identity;
  • otherwise in compliance with the fragrances criteria;
  • the subject of good faith explorations of alternatives; and
  • subject to a monitoring system that would alert the Agency if a user reports any adverse effects from the product.

The new label does not change other aspects of the DfE program, such as safer chemical criteria.

On the agency’s blog, Administrator McCarthy wrote that producers and retailers including Clorox, Walmart, and Wegmans are on board to start putting products with the new label on shelves this year.