Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
Your industry news - first
The original and best - for over 20 years!
We strongly recommend viewing Cleanzine full size in your web browser. Click our masthead above to visit our website version.
2015 American Cleaning Institute Sustainability Report features first-ever 'Critical Issue' assessment for cleaning products industry
The American Cleaning Institute's 2015 Sustainability Report showcases the cleaning products industry's progress toward sustainable development and unveils ACI's first-ever industry 'materiality assessment', which maps the critical risks and opportunities facing its value chain.
The materiality assessment, conducted by sustainability analytics firm Framework, identifies and characterises those issues that are most material across ACI's membership and to the industry at large. Companies committed to sustainability have increasingly informed their strategies and reporting by conducting such analyses, but the ACI assessment is among the first across the value chain of an entire industry sector.
The top 10 issues to the cleaning products industry's internal and external stakeholders identified by the materiality assessment include:
- Materials: Safety of chemical ingredients; raw material sourcing and scarcity
- Disclosure and Transparency: Public disclosure of information related to sustainability, governance, and products
- Climate Change / Greenhouse Gases: Climate risks and opportunities; emissions of greenhouse gases
- Ecological Impacts: Biodiversity; deforestation; environmental management; responsible agricultural practices
- Water: Water use, waste water treatment, and water recycling
- Workplace Health and Safety: Health and safety management; health and wellness training programs
- Waste: Hazardous and non-hazardous waste; management of product end-of-life
- Energy: Energy use; renewable energy
- Supply Chain Management: Screening business partners on ethics and sustainability issues
- Compliance: Compliance with environmental, health, and safety regulations
"This assessment represents a new way of reporting on industry priorities, so it is vital to share the results with our stakeholders and engage in dialogue to gain a deeper understanding of the issues," says Ernie Rosenberg, ACI President and CEO. "We plan to be more strategic about tracking future industry performance on these matters, and our Sustainability Report will evolve as a result."
In 2014, 33 ACI member companies, including cleaning product makers and upstream ingredient suppliers, contributed environmental metrics data for ACI's Sustainability Metrics Programme. The Programme captured sustainability performance for 17.3 million metric tons of cleaning product-related production and its results are detailed in the 2015 Report.
Since the Programme's launch in 2009, more than 5,000 datapoints have been collected on environmental issues most relevant to the industry. The Report shows improvements by member companies in many environmental areas key to ACI, including energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water use and solid waste generation. Highlights include:
- Substantial improvements to water efficiency across the industry, with a 21% reduction in water used per ton of production for the industry since 2009
- Absolute amount of electricity from green energy sources has increased over 30% since 2008
- Significant advances in waste reduction, totalling an 18% reduction overall since 2009
The following companies submitted metrics data for the 2014 Sustainability Metrics Programme:
AkzoNobel Chemicals
Amway
Arylessence
BASF Corporation
Brenntag North America
Celeste Industries Corporation
Chemia Corporation
Church & Dwight Company
The Clorox Company
Colgate-Palmolive Company
Corbion
Croda
The Dow Chemical Company
DuPont Industrial Biosciences
Ecolab
Evonik Corporation
Farabi Petrochemicals
Firmenich Incorporated
Givaudan Fragrances Corporation
Gojo Industries
Henkel Consumer Goods
Huntsman Corporation
International Flavors & Fragrances
Novozymes
PQ Corporation
Procter & Gamble
SC Johnson
Sasol
Seventh Generation
Shell Chemical
Stepan Company
The Sun Products Corporation
Vantage Oleochemicals
The 2015 Sustainability Report also features an updated summary of ACI social and environmental sustainability programmes, as well as details on ACI scientific and research programmes.
Among the highlights reported:
- Twentyfive companies committed to continually improve their sustainability performance through participation in ACI's Charter for Sustainable Cleaning
- Publicly available hazard data were linked to 80% of members' cleaning product ingredients
- More than 6,000 hygiene kits were put together for families and communities in need in the US during ACI's Annual Conventions in 2014 and 2015
- $65,000 was donated in 2014 and 2015 by ACI and its member companies to support free home cleanings to women battling cancer
Furthermore, the online version of the Report includes a gateway to more than 30 profiles of how ACI members demonstrate sustainability.
The ACI is the Home of the US Cleaning Products Industry and represents the $30 billion US cleaning products market. ACI members include the formulators of soaps, detergents and general cleaning products used in commercial, industrial, institutional and household settings; companies that supply ingredients and finished packaging for these products, and oleochemical producers. ACI and its members are dedicated to improving health and the quality of life through sustainable cleaning products and practices.
More information about the materiality assessment is available in the online version of the Report. This is ACI's third Sustainability Report; the previous editions were published in 2011 and 2013.
T: 202 662-2517 / 202 680-9327
E: [email protected]
W: www.cleaninginstitute.org
22nd October 2015