Newsletter: May 22, 2022

PFAS-free & Preferred Products

May 19, 2022 Newsletters

Looking for PFAS-free* and preferred products? GreenScreen Certified® certifies products that are PFAS-free* and avoid thousands of other toxic chemicals, including phthalates, bisphenols, and organohalogens (https://www.greenscreenchemicals.org/certified). To date we have certified over 200 products from more than 20 manufacturers, including:

• Firefighting Foam: 15 products from 5 manufacturers
• Cleaners & Degreasers in Manufacturing: 14 products from 4 manufacturers
• Furniture & Fabrics: 4 products from 3 manufacturers
• Food Service Ware: 48 products from 2 manufacturers
• Textile Chemicals: 142 products from 7 manufacturers

*For all GreenScreen Certified® Standards zero intentionally added PFAS are allowed, PFAS contamination must be below 100 ppm (parts per million) in the material, and analytical testing is required to verify total organic fluorine (a proxy for the sum of all PFAS) is below the specified threshold of 0.0001 to 0.01 percent by weight of the material (1-100 ppm) depending on the product category.

See below for highlights of our product certifications.

Our Firefighting Foam certification (https://www.greenscreenchemicals.org/certified/fff-standard): 

• Sets the international standard for defining PFAS-free and preferred firefighting foam:
  • “The safest option to avoid future environmental liabilities when considering which foams to transition to is to use the GreenScreen Certified® standard for firefighting foams,” said Ian Ross, PhD, Technical Director and Global PFAS Practice Lead at Tetra Tech UK (https://iffmag.mdmpublishing.com/now-afff-is-defunct-whats-the-way-forward/).
  • “The general term for fluorine-free foam: ‘F3’ to many people means good environmental stewardship because the breakdown products from a foam discharge, and resultant fire water run-off, are not persistent in the environment. However, this may not always be the case since the term ‘F3’ has not been defined by any standard other than GreenScreen. Users need to ensure that the ‘F3’ they select is bio-degradable, one way to do this is to look for the GreenScreen Certified® approval” – said David Plant, Global Product Manager of Firefighting Chemicals for Angus Fire, in The Big Red Guide (https://www.thebigredguide.com/insights/firefighting-foam-approaching-transition-fluorine-free-co-1669-ga.1621002455.html).
• Features 15 certified products from 5 manufacturers based in the US, UK, and France.
• Is used by the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, and Wisconsin as a resource for identifying PFAS-free products. Massachusetts, for example, requires procurement of GreenScreen Certified® Firefighting Foam products.

Our Cleaners & Degreasers in Manufacturing certification (https://www.greenscreenchemicals.org/certified/cleaners-degreasers-standard):

• Features 14 GreenScreen Certified® Gold products from 4 manufacturers.

• Addresses the little known fact that PFAS can be intentionally added to cleaners and degreasers. Some manufacturers continue to intentionally add PFAS to their products.

• Is integral to identifying safer products at electronics firms, including Apple, which stated that: “The GreenScreen Certified® for Cleaners & Degreasers is free and publicly available in an effort to drive broader, industry-wide change by making information about safer alternatives readily available to companies globally. Apple has used the GreenScreen tool, as well as the EPA Safer Choice criteria, to assess and promote safer chemicals in our supply chain, leading to the transition of 100 percent of our supplier final assembly sites to safer alternatives for cleaners and degreasers” (https://www.apple.com/au/supplier-responsibility/pdf/Apple_SR_2022_Progress_Report.pdf).

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Our Furniture & Fabrics webinar on March 23rd featured:

• PFAS-free fabrics for commercial furniture with:
  • Glen Raven’s non-fluorinated Sunbrella Contract with Assure™ fabric achieving GreenScreen Certified® Bronze. Glen Raven manufactures textiles for healthcare, industrial, automotive, and residential and outdoor furniture applications.
  • Maharam’s Arcade fabric achieving GreenScreen Certified® Bronze. Maharam is a leading designer of textiles for commercial and residential interiors.
• Kaiser Permanente, as stated by Joel Sigler, National Director Environmental Health & Safety, “will integrate Green Screen certification requirements into contractual agreements with furniture and fabric suppliers.” Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation's largest not-for-profit health plans, serving 12.5 million members with 39 hospitals and 216,000 employees.

View and listen to the presentations at https://greenscreenchemicals.org/resources/entry/greenscreen-certified-for-furniture-fabrics-v1.1-webinar.

Our Food Service Ware certification, co-created with Center for Environmental Health (https://www.greenscreenchemicals.org/certified/food-service-ware):

• Features PFAS-free products from:
  • Eco-Products with its Vanguard™ Worldview™ Renewable & Compostable Sugarcane Take-Out Containers achieving GreenScreen Certified® Silver.
  • NatureWorks with its Ingeo™ Biopolymer Materials achieving GreenScreen Certified® Platinum.

• Was profiled in Environmental Health News in the article, “Want single-use foodware without harmful chemicals? A new certification will help you find it,” by Nate Seltenrich. The article highlighted that “GreenScreen certification examines foodware for PFAS, BPA, and thousands of other concerning chemicals—but transparency on chemical replacements remains elusive” (https://www.ehn.org/foodware-chemicals-2657115016/certified-products).

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Our Textile Chemicals certification

(https://www.greenscreenchemicals.org/certified/textile-standard)

• Covers 142 products used in apparel manufacturing from 7 companies located in Europe and Asia.
• Certifies products that eliminate PFAS and thousands of other toxic chemicals that contaminate global water systems.
• Is accepted by ZDHC for identifying products that meet its Manufacturing Restricted Substances List (MRSL) requirements. ZDHC is an international NGO working to reduce the chemical footprint of the apparel value chain.

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If you’re interested in demanding certified products or certifying PFAS-free products contact us at: certifications@cleanproduction.org.

Mark