ISSA, Ecoform Launch Transpare™ – New Online Product Registry

                                                                              

Lincolnwood, IL – Transpare™, the free online purchasing resource from ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, and its partner Ecoform, is now live at www.transpare.com. Already it is receiving excellent reviews from product buyers who are looking for an easy way to identify, compare, and select environmentally friendly cleaning products.

 

The online registry lists the environmental, health, and safety attributes of products, helping purchasers meet their sustainability goals. This easy-to-use resource uses uniform metrics, which can be sorted according to those criteria most important to the customer, while helping combat potential “greenwashing.”

 

Transpare allows suppliers to demonstrate the environmental profile of their products as well as their commitment to innovation and sustainable solutions.

 

“Transpare clearly represents the next generation of ecolabeling for the commercial cleaning industry that will help take green cleaning and sustainability to the next level,” says Stephen P. Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group, LLC.

 

The tool was developed using a consensus-based process driven by the priorities of purchasers representing key market sectors, including health care, education, and government, plus environmental organizations and traditional ecolabel organizations. Experts involved in the development include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment, Green Seal, EcoLogo, State of Illinois, State of California, and Walmart.

 

The program is ISSA and Ecoform’s answer to an increased demand for what is called “radical transparency.”  Transpare provides easy-to-use data that can help manufacturers and distributors better explain the differences between products as well as—for the first time—demonstrate why their products meet or exceed the criteria of traditional ecolabels.

 

How It Works
The Transpare registry provides clear and easy-to-understand explanations for each reported metric of a product’s environmental attributes and their impact on product users and building occupants.


 Transpare users can customize product searches by using filters based upon:

·      VOC content

·      Concentrates delivered in closed-loop systems

·      Skin sensitization

·      Acute toxicity

·      Biodegradability

•  The absence of fragrances and dyes.

 

Transpare helps users identify products that meet the requirements of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Environmental & Energy Design for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) green building rating system and helps ensure compliance with ISSA’s Cleaning Industry Management Standard for Green Buildings (CIMS-GB).

 

Informed Purchasers
Individuals who agree to use Transpare when evaluating cleaning products can become Informed Purchasers and utilize the“Informed Purchaser” logo. They will be listed at www.transpare.com as a forward-thinking organization committed to providing environmentally friendly, safe, and healthy solutions to meet occupant cleaning needs.

 

Manufacturers interested in listing their products within Transpare or purchasers wanting to list themselves or theirfirms as Informed Purchasers should contact ISSA Environmental Services Account Executive David Schweizer, at davids@issa.com. For more information, visit www.transpare.com

 

About ISSA
The leading trade association for the cleaning industry worldwide, ISSA has a membership thatincludes more than 6,100 distributors, manufacturers, building service contractors, in-house service providers, and others interested in the cleaning industry. ISSA helps its members and their employees make valuable contactsthrough the industry’s largest cleaning shows, produced in conjunction with Amsterdam RAI, under the brand name ISSA/INTERCLEAN®.

 

ISSA helps increase professionalism and networking opportunities through its global Web site, ISSA.com, and by offering business tools, industry standards, and legislative and regulatory services. It is through these initiatives that ISSA increases awareness of the true value of clean and its impact on human health, the environment, and a better bottom line. The association is headquartered in Lincolnwood, IL, USA. For more information, visit www.issa.com.

About Ecoform

Ecoform is the leading technical analysis company in the United States that focuses on the environmental performance of companies and their products and processes. Founded in 2006—but based on the combined 50-year history of its practitioners working through a variety of corporate and university organizations, such as The University of Tennessee's Center for Clean Products—the team brings a unique mix of skills to help companies achieve corporate environmental and social responsibility. Ecoform takes pride in its ability to work confidentially with leading corporations across multiple industry sectors to provide critical information that can be used to shape corporate policy.