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Green Seal recently announced the publication of GS-51, a new standard designed specifically to address the life cycle impacts of laundry care products for institutional and industrial settings.

GS-51 eliminates many of the hazardous ingredients often found in laundry products and also provides a benchmark for product concentration.

Dr. Arthur Weissman, President and CEO of Green Seal noted, “Research has shown that the environmental impact of these products can be reduced by concentrating the product, thereby minimizing its volume. Concentrated products use less packaging material and contain less water, meaning fewer pallets to transport, fewer trucks on the road and less storage space needed. These improvements represent a smaller carbon footprint as well.”

The new Green Seal standard also focuses on product performance. Certified products must demonstrate that they perform as well as leading laundry care products.

About 80 per cent of the environmental impact of these products occurs during usage, so the standard requires that labels recommend using the proper amount, washing at the lowest possible temperature and washing a full load.

GS-51 covers more than 20 categories of products for conventional laundry and dry cleaning, including detergents, prewash products and spot removers; additives such as alkali boosters; and fabric care products such as anti-static treatment, starches and fabric softners.

Green Seal offers this new standard to manufactures as a way to recognize leaders in the industry and to give purchasers a way to identify safer, more environmentally preferable institutional laundry products.