facility focus WhatDoesGreenIceMelt ReallyMean? There is little regulation of green claims in the ice melt industry, making it difficult to decipher an environmentally preferable product from the masses. By: Rob Peterson T The concept of green is quickly taking hold in the JanSan industry. Recent statistics indicate that 80 percent of JanSan professionals will do what they can to incorporate the use of environmen-tally safe products in their jobs. This growing awareness is a reflection both of the spread of the Earth-friendly principles that guide businesses and con-sumers today and the fact that custodians are sensitive to the potential for harm from the range of chemical-based products they encounter as they do their jobs. Green labels can help steer JanSan pro-fessionals toward Earth-friendly products. But, the green label can sometimes be confusing. The reason: There aren’t any firm regula-tions that govern when the term green can be used in promotional materials, product names and packaging. Some products may claim Earth-friendly status merely because the manufacturer created a unique definition of green to match his or her product specifications. providing validation. Ice melt manufacturers may use these terms to merely indicate that packaging is made from recycled material or that the product contains green coloring, whereas maintenance professionals may interpret these terms to mean that the product is beneficial to the environment in some way. Other products truly are environmentally friendly, substantiating their claims with the manufacturer’s own research and/or third-party certifications. While environmental claims are often more subjective than performance claims, they should be quantifiable in some way, such as through fewer chemicals introduced into the environment or other means. How can maintenance professionals pick the products that can make a positive dif-ference? The Ice Melt Industry To help protect businesses and consum-ers against misleading marketing claims, The Ice Melt Industry Because the ice melt industry is largely unregulated, there’s nothing to prevent a manufacturer from adding small traces of additives to basic rock salt and claiming greater environmental benefits, creating a unique symbol that implies eco-friendli-ness, including “green” or “environmentally friendly” in the product name — or making other misleading marketing claims without The residual properties of many ice melt products means they will fight the accumula-tion of snow and ice for some time after their initial application. 40 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • January2011
CMM – Archives Jan 2012: 40
