The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has recognised the Global GreenTag Cleaning Product Standard for GBCA’s Green Star Performance rating tool ‘Green Cleaning' credit.
The Green Star ‘Green Cleaning’ credit requires certified green cleaning products and GreenTag is now recognised by the GBCA as a third party certification program authorised to certify products under this credit.
The Global GreenTag Cleaning Product Standard was developed with the assistance of an industry expert panel including representatives of ACCORD, the industry association for personal and cleaning product manufacturers; manufacturers such as Eco Store and Ecolab; and the GreenTag National Advisory Committee for Cleaning Products including representatives of the Building Service Contractors’ Association, the National Cleaning Suppliers Association and Bridget Gardner from Fresh Green Clean.
Gardner explains that GreenTag's scientific approach to measuring a product’s whole-of-life impact is the missing link for green cleaning. For instance, the new Standard will now allow the full lifecycle impact of a microfibre mop to be compared with that of green chemistry or steam cleaning equipment.
GreenTag is unique because it’s a rating system that uses whole-of-life life cycle analysis (LCA), considers all the health and biodiversity impacts of all constituents to 0.01%, and ensures that the product is safe to use. Additionally, it also assesses the corporate social responsibility of the manufacturer, its supply chain and labour practices, and reports results transparently using a product scorecard and EcoPOINT score.
Professionals can refer to the Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum GreenTag Mark to choose between certified products. Recognised by GBCA in the building and interiors sector for about five years, GreenTag has nearly 900 products under certification.
GreenTag CEO and Program Director David Baggs believes that GreenTag is a game changer for the industry as it allows manufacturers with innovative products such as activated water and microfibre to rate themselves against regular products. The certification also allows building owners, facilities managers and cleaning companies to assess the products before purchase.
A number of really innovative cleaning products are currently undergoing or considering certification. Baggs adds that GreenTag looks forward to working with industry leaders to lift the cleaning product sector to a new level of transparency and increase the understanding of the positive benefits that GreenTag certified products bring to purchasers, building owners and occupants.
