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Washington, D.C. — Green Seal, Inc., the nation’s first independent nonprofit certifier of sustainable products and services and the original "green seal of approval," has been celebrating the 15th anniversary of the GS-37 Standard for Cleaning Products for Industrial and Institutional Use — a standard that helped usher in a new era for sustainable and safer cleaning products.
GS-37 at its introduction was the first independent, third-party standard to establish stringent requirements for industrial and institutional general-purpose, restroom, glass, carpet cleaners, and biologically-active cleaning products (enzymatic and microbial products for routine cleaning).
“GS-37 set the foundation for what a safer, sustainable, and performing green cleaning product could be,” said Arthur B. Weissman, president and CEO, Green. “Thanks in large part to the standards set by third-party certification bodies, manufacturers know that the products they are making are what the marketplace demands in terms of sustainability. Standards also take the pressure off purchasers like building managers, who might be questioned from time to time concerning their requirements for sustainable products.”
GS-37 includes product performance requirements and environmental and health considerations for vulnerable populations in institutional settings such as schools, day-care facilities, nursing homes, and other facilities. To be certified under the GS-37 standard, products must fulfill criteria including conservation of natural resources, protection of human and environmental health, and reduction of waste while delivering the performance customers expect.
Green Seal has certified more than 575 products under GS-37 since its inception. Green Seal client Rochester Midland Corp., a leading manufacturer of specialty chemicals that has manufactured its Enviro Care line of environmentally preferable products since the 1980s, was the first to have a product certified under GS-37 and now has 30 products certified by Green Seal under the standard. Today, most cleaners for industrial and institutional use have certification under GS-37.
The GS-37 standard can be downloaded and applications for certification can be made online at www.greenseal.org.
