INDUSTRY-LEADING STANDARDS
Upholding a shared responsibility to people and the planet begins with setting the highest standards. These qualified programs have created a strong foundation for evaluating safer chemistry and safer cleaners in particular.
Each program works directly with suppliers to evaluate and optimize cleaners and degreasers. All programs are compliant with the IPC 1402 standard, rely on experienced toxicologists, have a publicly available science-based methodology, and are subject to quality assurance processes to continue to contribute to the ChemWorks registry.
Pre-Screening
ChemFORWARD is a leader in creating broad access to chemical hazard data and safer alternatives. Formulation Ingredient Intelligence Reports (FIIR) are specifically designed for formulators of cleaners and degreasers to quickly screen, optimize, and pre-qualify their products for certification.
ChemFORWARD leverages a shared, globally harmonized repository of chemical hazard assessments (CHAs), to quickly and cost-effectively provide an assessment of a formulation and suggest safer alternatives where needed.
The process is strategically designed to help cleaning product suppliers, brands, and manufacturers stay ahead of regulations, ensure human and environmental safety, and build trust through third-party verified transparency.
Certifications
Clean Production Action recently released GreenScreen Certified,™ for Cleaners & Degreasers in Manufacturing to promote safer chemical use and innovation in the electronics sector and beyond. The certification was developed with Apple who for years has used GreenScreen® for Safer Chemicals to assess and promote safer chemicals in their supply chain.
GreenScreen Certified provides criteria for assessing the safety of cleaners with three levels of certification: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. All levels require manufacturers to disclose all intentionally added chemicals in the products; avoid over 2,000 known chemicals of high concern and defined chemical classes (including PFAS and other organohalogens) listed in the Restricted Substances List; meet skin and eye irritation requirements; and perform analytic testing for substances of particular concern.
U.S. EPA Safer Choice certifies products with safer chemical ingredients that meet the Safer Choice Standard. Safer Choice evaluates all ingredients, regardless of percentage, against stringent human health and environmental criteria. Only those chemicals that are the safest in their functional class are allowed. A list of chemicals that meet Safer Choice criteria are available on EPA’s Safer Chemical Ingredients List (SCIL) LINK . Safer Choice has been certifying primarily commercial and retail cleaning products for more than 15 years.
Safer Choice and our third-party qualified profilers can help companies evaluate and improve their formulations to meet the Safer Choice criteria.
ToxFMD Screened Chemistry® evaluates chemical formulations in multiple product sectors, allowing brands and their suppliers to easily identify safer alternatives. A ToxFMD® assessment (which stands for full materials disclosure) includes a comprehensive hazard evaluation of chemicals in a formulation. Cleaning product formulations are also assessed for compliance with region-specific VOC standards, such Chinese VOC standards for cleaning agents.
ToxFMD Screened Chemistry® was created in 2014 to serve the textile and apparel industries and expanded in 2020 to assess cleaning products in the electronics sector.