The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced 26 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners across 14 states and the District of Columbia, recognizing their achievements in the design, manufacture, selection, and use of products with safer chemicals.
The Safer Choice program helps consumers and purchasers for facilities, such as schools and office buildings, find products containing chemical ingredients that are safer for human health and the environment.
This year’s awardees represent a wide variety of organizations, including small- and medium-sized businesses, women-owned companies, state and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and trade associations. This year’s winners have all shown a commitment to preventing pollution by reducing, eliminating, or stopping pollution at its source prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal.
Applicants for this year’s awards were encouraged to show how their work advances environmental justice, bolsters resilience to the impacts of climate change, results in cleaner air or water, or improves drinking water quality. Many of the organizations being recognized are working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat the climate crisis. Additionally, many awardees increased access to products with safer chemical ingredients in underserved and overburdened communities.
In early 2023, EPA will build on this work by announcing a grant opportunity for projects that can increase supply and demand for safer, environmentally preferable products such as those certified by the Safer Choice program or identified by EPA’s Envirnmentally Preferable Purchasing program.
2022 Partner Of The Year Award Winners:
- American Cleaning Institute, District of Columbia
- The Ashkin Group, LLC, Channel Islands Harbor, CA
- Bona US, Englewood, CO
- Case Medical, Bloomfield, NJ
- Church & Dwight Co., Inc., Ewing, NJ
- Clean Safety & Health in Food Trucks (CleanSHiFT) Team, Seattle, WA
- The Clorox Company, Oakland, CA
- Colgate-Palmolive, New York, NY
- Design for the Environment Logo Redesign Coalition: Environmental Defense Fund, The Natural Resources Defense Council, The Clorox Company, The Procter & Gamble Company, and Reckitt
- Dirty Labs Inc., Portland, OR
- ECOS, Cypress, CA
- Grove Collaborative, San Francisco, CA
- The Hazardous Waste Management Program, Seattle, WA
- Holloway House, Inc., Fortville, IN
- The Home Depot, Atlanta, GA
- Household & Commercial Products Association, District of Columbia
- Jelmar, LLC, Skokie, IL
- Lemi Shine, Austin, TX
- LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, San Francisco, CA
- Mother Africa, Kent, WA
- Novozymes North America, Raleigh, NC
- The ODP Corporation, Boca Raton, FL
- The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH
- PurposeBuilt Brands, Gurnee, IL
- Sensitive Home, Greenbrae, CA
- Solutex, Sterling, VA
Learn more about the 2022 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners and summaries of their accomplishments here.