2008 was a revolutionary year for the historically conservative Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) as it embarked on key initiatives involving sustainability and ingredient communication. With our own Martin Wolf providing leadership as the vice-chair of the SDA Strategic Advisory Committee (becoming chair in 2009), the industry association hired a consultant to develop sustainability metrics and guidance for the industry. They will gather company data on energy use, environmental impacts, and other issues which will be merged to develop an industry-wide picture for the first time. Martin notes, “This is a tremendous step forward. I’ve been very encouraged by how the industry is embracing this. I see companies that are really bringing sustainability into their product mix. At Seventh Generation, we always say we want to change the world and we’re doing it.”

In another major breakthrough, the SDA announced a voluntary ingredient communication program in November — something we have been pushing for a long time. The program requires adherents to:

• list ingredients in descending order of predominance to one percent (below that in any order);
• use International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI) nomenclature, or the more exacting International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) nomenclature, or common chemical names; and comply by 1/1/2010.

In a decisive break with the secrecy of the past, ten of approximately 30 companies (representing 90% of the products in the market and including major players such as P&G, SC Johnson, and Clorox) have signed up so far. Most cleaning product companies are bypassing the opportunity to provide this disclosure on product labels and choosing only website disclosure. Also on the disclosure front, SDA and Seventh Generation both provided testimony to the Federal Trade Commission regarding an updated version of its green marketing guidelines. They urged greater scrutiny and clarity for claims of environmental benefits and attributes and for words like “non-toxic,” “natural” and “recycled content.”

Gregor Barnum thanks for your thoughts - we are only focusing on our major customers in the coming months and will definitely keep you in mind as we grow this program. Gregor 17 August 2009

stephanie schlecht Susan, Sounds like you are creating change agents through the GIVE program. Is Seventh Generation planning on rolling out a similar program for the independent office supply channel? If you are, you have a partner in Give Something Back Business Products. There are many opportunities for behavior change through education in this channel. We see it with our customers. Folks want to bring their values to work. There is nothing more disturbing than the smell of harsh cleaning chemicals all over one's cubical. Stephanie Schlecht Director of Sustainability http://jm.ly/xNob3F 14 August 2009