The EPA has put a new face on an old friend with the introduction of “Safer Choice.”

Formerly known as “DfE Standard” or the “Design for the Environment Standard,” the program will now be known as “Safer Choice” in an effort to better communicate the program’s health and environmental goals and increase purchasers’ understanding of products benefits that earn the label.

The Safer Choice Standard was revised this last February to include the provisions for the new Safer Choice label and an associated fragrance-free label.

There will be three new logos geared to the product category:

– Consumer

– Institutional/Industrial

– Fragrance-Free

Additionally, the use of the Safer Choice logo must also include the EPA web address for Safer Choice: www.epa.gov/saferproducts.

Currently, there are more than 2,000 products that qualify for the Safer Choice logo
and hundreds of chemicals identified by the EPA as “safer chemicals” including:

– 41 solvents

– over 190 surfactants

– 21 preservatives-antioxidants

– 46 polymers

– 158 fragrances

– 16 chelating agents

– 5 antimicrobial actives

Although the new logo is now available, manufacturers have no deadline to implement its usage. It is expected that many will begin transitioning their current labels this summer.

> Read the full Safer Choice Standard with revisions highlighted