Green Seal is proposing a certification standard for trash bags and can liners to recognize products that use less virgin plastic while maintaining top performance.

This standard introduces the new concept of plastic efficiency, which prioritizes the result – curbing virgin plastic use – over the method used to achieve it. While traditionally trash bags are deemed environmentally preferable for incorporating post-consumer recycled (PCR) content, this new model opens a second pathway to recognize products that use innovative technology to produce thinner liners that maintain tear and puncture resistance.

A High-Impact Single-Use Product 

As single-use plastic products, trash bags and can liners have significant environmental impacts. American households consume more than a billion trash bags each year, sending them on to landfills where they turn into microplastics that further pollute the environment. An estimated 79% of all plastic products eventually reach the ocean, harming marine life and emitting the potent greenhouse gas methane when they degrade 

Trash bags and can liners have significant carbon pollution impacts on the front end too – they generally are made of virgin plastics that are produced using considerable amounts of energy and associated carbon emissions. In fact, over 95% of the carbon footprint of plastics comes from its production.

Extracting and manufacturing resources for plastic production can also produce harmful chemicals that have human health impacts, particularly on industry workers and neighboring communities. These chemicals have been associated with a variety of negative health outcomes, including impacts on development, reproduction, and the nervous system. 

Reducing Impacts by Using Less Virgin Plastic 

Currently, there are no alternatives that perform as well as plastic trash bags and can liners for strength, odor control, and sanitation. While non-conventional plastics such as bio-based, biodegradable, or compostable plastics are marketed as sustainable alternatives, they currently are not effective solutions due to a lack of recycling and composting infrastructure, improper consumer use and, in the case of bio-based plastics, land use and emissions concerns associated with growing crops to produce the materials.

However, there is a more sustainable solution: plastic trash bags can be made with less virgin plastic without sacrificing performance. 

Incorporating post-consumer recycled (PCR) content into a trash bag reduces plastic pollution by giving a second life to used plastic films that would otherwise end up in landfills or the ocean. It also reduces the carbon impact of trash bags by eliminating the greenhouse gas emissions associated with extracting and manufacturing new virgin material and avoids emissions from incinerating plastic waste.

Several state and federal purchasing policies require trash bags to contain 10% PCR content, and demand for PCR content in plastic products and in packaging is growing among states, industry, and advocacy organizations.

However, PCR content alone may not be an effective way to identify products that reduce virgin plastic use. A Green Seal analysis of products in the marketplace found that bags that feature PCR content sometimes still incorporate the same amount of virgin plastic as their PCR-free competitors. Additionally, challenges with recycling plastic films can make sourcing high-quality PCR content difficult for manufacturers: plastic films are not typically collected in curbside collection programs and can damage recycling equipment at traditional recycling facilities. Some can liner types, such as those made from HDPE resins below 0.4 mil, also struggle to incorporate any PCR content without compromising performance.

Another way for manufacturers to reduce the amount of virgin plastic in trash bags is through using technological advancements to produce liners that are thinner but maintain uncompromising performance. In a Green Seal analysis, thin liners produced fewer greenhouse gas emissions than thicker liners, even in some cases where thicker liners incorporated PCR content. Manufacturers can also take advantage of mineral additives to reduce their use of virgin plastic and provide more strength to the bag.

Plastic Efficiency: A New Approach to Environmental Leadership 

Through an extensive market analysis, Green Seal has developed a program to recognize environmental leadership in trash bags and can liners based on plastic efficiency: reducing virgin plastic use to the minimum amount required to maintain top performance for the product’s gallon size.

This approach opens a pathway to recognize products that use leadership levels of recycled content, but also those that use innovative technologies to produce thinner liners that still maintain a trash bag’s important functional attributes of tear and puncture resistance. The result is a clear designation for buyers that a bag is in the top 30% in its size category for the lowest amount of virgin plastic in the liner, and thus the least amount of greenhouse gas emissions and plastic waste. 

The draft standard includes: 

• Verifying product functional performance through tests for puncture and tear resistance
• Requiring a minimum amount of 10% verified post-consumer recycled content for bags above 0.7 mil in thickness
• Prohibiting the addition of hazardous ingredients such as carcinogens, heavy metals, phthalates, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and fragrances that can further pollute the recycled plastic supply chain or pose harm to users
• Requiring source reduced, recyclable, or post-consumer content in packaging materials

The draft standard and a supplemental background report are available here.

A Collaborative Approach to Standard Development 

Green Seal’s standard development process includes input from a Working Group made up of leading companies, nonprofit organizations, and independent subject matter experts. Working Group members provide technical and market feedback throughout the standard development process, program implementation, and evolution to ensure the standard is a meaningful tool for manufacturers and consumers.

Seeking Feedback 

Green Seal welcomes public input on the draft standard. The public comment period is open until January 29, 2023. Review the draft standard or submit comments here. 

Green Seal’s reputation for credibility and market impact rests on an open and transparent process for developing and revising our science-based standards. All standard development and major standard revisions include extensive stakeholder outreach and opportunities for public input. Green Seal will publish all formally submitted comments, as well as a response to each substantive issue identified by commenters.

Green Seal is proposing a new prohibition on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a large class of chemicals that are commonly used in consumer products and associated with a number of adverse health and environmental effects.

Although only seven PFAS are formally classified as hazardous, a growing body of evidence indicates that all PFAS are likely to have harmful health and environmental effects. While Green Seal has long prohibited those seven PFAS, as part of Green Seal’s precautionary approach, we are now proposing to prohibit all chemicals in this class (approximately 12,000 PFAS) in certified products.

It can be challenging for consumers and even manufacturers to be sure that products do not use PFAS. For example, PFAS are often used in raw materials – and those proprietary formulas are often not fully disclosed to the final manufacturer. A prohibition on PFAS would allow Green Seal to verify that these chemicals are eliminated from these product supply chains and provide assurance to both manufacturers and buyers that their Green Seal certified cleaning and personal care products are PFAS-free.

Green Seal is taking a multi-year phased approach to this initiative, with the end goal of ensuring all certified product formulas and product packaging are PFAS-free across product categories. In this initial phase, our focus is on eliminating PFAS in formulas for certified cleaning and personal care products.

What are PFAS?

PFAS are a large group of synthetically produced chemicals that have a history of use dating back to the 1940s. PFAS have carbon-fluorine bonds that make them very stable and effective at repelling oil, water and heat. Today they are found in food packaging, coatings, paints, textiles, cookware, and even some cleaning products.

Unfortunately, the same unique chemical structure that makes PFAS so effective is also what gives them the moniker “forever chemicals.” PFAS are persistent in the environment, with evidence that some chemicals are so resistant to degradation that they could persist for hundreds of years. They also bioaccumulate in soil, drinking water and in humans, with some chemicals taking more than eight years to reach their half-life — or reduce their concentration by 50 percent in the human body.

PFAS are associated with numerous adverse health effects, including impacts on the endocrine and reproductive systems; increased risks of certain cancers such as prostate, testicular, and kidney; and decreased immune responses — including our body’s ability to develop beneficial antibodies in response to vaccines.

Eliminating PFAS

While two of the approximately 12,000 PFAS have been phased out of use in the U.S., evidence shows that the “safer substitutes” (other PFAS) also cause harmful health effects. Therefore, Green Seal is proposing to prohibit all chemicals classified as PFAS by the US EPA’s comprehensive CompTox PFAS Master List database — an evolving list that aggregates PFAS based on environmental occurrence, manufacturing process data, and testing programs from agencies across the globe.

Eliminating all PFAS from the supply chain for consumer and professional care products is a critical step in protecting human health and ending the environmental contamination caused by releases of these chemicals.

Proposed Changes

Recognizing an opportunity to increase supply chain transparency and encourage the use of safer alternatives, Green Seal is proposing to add criteria prohibiting PFAS to our standards for cleaning products and personal care products. These proposed updates include:

• Prohibiting any intentionally added PFAS
• Restricting any PFAS to 100ppm when present as a contaminant

The PFAS criteria will be added to the product health and environmental requirements section of each of the following standards:

• General Purpose Cleaners (GS-8, GS-37)
• Laundry Care Products (GS-48, GS-51)
• Specialty Cleaners (GS-52, GS-53)
• Personal Care Products (GS-44, GS-50)

Seeking Feedback

The public comment period is now open until January 22, 2022. To submit comments or schedule a conference call, contact us by email here.

The Proposed Revisions and supplementary documents are available on Green Seal’s Standard Projects page.

Green Seal’s reputation for credibility and market impact rests on an open and transparent process for developing and revising our science-based standards. All major standard revisions include extensive stakeholder outreach and opportunities for public input. Green Seal publishes all formally submitted comments, as well as a response to each substantive issue identified by commenters.

Now, Green Seal’s paint certification is the only mark in the marketplace to qualify products for both LEED v4.1 low-emitting materials credit requirements and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly badge — making it simple for health-focused buyers to identify safer products.

Working with Paint Industry Leaders

The North American paints and coatings industry has made major strides in green chemistry innovation in tandem with growing market demand for healthier, greener products. Leading manufacturers have achieved significant reductions in VOC content and hazardous chemical ingredients while maintaining the performance consumers expect.

Green Seal’s original leadership standard for paints and coatings, published in 1993, was the first to set limits on VOCs. Today, Green Seal’s is still the only standard in this product category to restrict carcinogens, reproductive toxins, hazardous air pollutants, alkylphenol ethoxylates, and a host of other chemicals, ensuring certified products are safer for building occupants while providing uncompromising functional performance.

Manufacturer investments and innovations have led to safer supply chains and improved air quality around the world. Case in point: In 2020, paints and coatings meeting Green Seal’s leadership standard prevented more than half a million pounds of VOC pollution across 120 million square feet of LEED-certified building space alone.

Aligning with LEED to Provide Buyers a Simple Choice

Green Seal regularly evaluates our standards for accuracy and relevance to ensure they correctly define sustainability leadership in an evolving marketplace. The updated standard protects indoor air quality; ensures certified products are safer for people and the planet; and aligns with the most recent version of the LEED green building standard (LEED v4.1), a key market driver.

The standard’s three key updates are:

• Strengthening VOC Content Limits. All products must comply with the VOC limits defined by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). CARB VOC limits reduce the potential for the formation of photochemical ozone and smog, which can cause serious respiratory issues.
• Requiring VOC emissions testing. Products must undergo VOC emissions testing conducted in an environmental chamber according to the State of California’s Department of Public Health Standard Method (CDPH). This test allows Green Seal to confirm low levels of off-gassing after paints are applied, increasing health protections for building occupants and promoting overall healthier indoor environments.
• Aligning two chemical restrictions with LEED language. A clarification that perchloroethylene and methylene chloride — which Green Seal prohibited in certified products decades ahead of government regulation — are not allowed to be intentionally added to product formulas at any level.

Products certified to Green Seal’s revised standard meet both the chemical content and VOC emissions testing requirements of LEED v4.1, making it easy for green building project managers to identify products that check all the boxes.

Our Focus on Health

Since entering the US marketplace in the 1980s, hand sanitizers have provided an effective and efficient option for hand hygiene. US and international health organizations have called the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers the second-best hand hygiene option, after hand washing with soap and water. Hand sanitizers are now critical to public health worldwide as governments and healthcare groups work to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

However, hand sanitizers available on the US market are sometimes formulated with hazardous ingredients linked to cancer, allergies, skin and eye irritation, and other harmful health effects. 

In addition, with sudden demand spurring many first-time producers to enter the market, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned consumers to beware of incorrectly formulated hand sanitizers. As of now, the FDA has listed 75 hand sanitizer products to avoid because they contain high levels of hazardous ingredients, like methanol. 

Given the strong demand for these products and their critical role in providing safer, healthier spaces from schools to grocery stores, Green Seal has developed a health-protective framework for alcohol-based hand sanitizer certification.

Our Requirements 

Green Seal’s proposed criteria for hand sanitizers set protective health requirements to provide purchasers and consumers a simple way choose safer and effective products. 

Because people apply hand sanitizer directly to their skin up to 30 times a day, it is vital that products are formulated with healthier ingredients. Under the proposed requirements, certified hand sanitizers must be free of carcinogens, mutagens, reproductive toxins and endocrine disruptors, with additional ingredient restrictions to prevent skin irritation, eye damage and allergies.

As always, consumers can be confident that Green Seal-certified products:

• meet uncompromising performance standards
• conform to rigorous health requirements
• do not pollute waterways, and
• use environmentally preferable packaging materials

Final Criteria Coming Soon

Green Seal’s reputation for credibility and market impact rests on an open and transparent process for developing our science-based standards. All of our major standard revisions are open for review and public feedback. Green Seal publishes all formally submitted comments, as well as a response to each substantive issue identified by commenters.

Green Seal accepted public comments on the proposed criteria between July 30 and August 13. All comments are now under review, and Green Seal will publish a Response to Comments before issuing the Final Criteria for alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

The Proposed Criteria and supplementary documents can be reviewed on Green Seal’s Standard Projects page.