US green purchasing tool off to a good start

The site is designed to help purchasing professionals, facility managers and building service contractors directly compare cleaning products based on environmental, health, and safety attributes. It also helps them to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.

This easy-to-use resource, found at www.transpare.com, uses uniform metrics, which can be sorted according to those criteria most important to the customer while helping combat potential "greenwashing.” 

ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, and its partner Ecoform, are showcasing the new tool at a variety of purchaser events this year. The result has been a total of more than 10,000 page views logged on the site thus far.

Manufacturers who have already placed products in the online registry include Avmor Ltd.; Betco Corp.; Diversey; Ecolab, Inc.; Enviro-Solutions Ltd.; Larose et Fils Ltee; Midlab, Inc.; Rochester MidlandCorp.; and Spartan Chemical Co., Inc.

Such companies are able to demonstrate their commitment to assisting customers in providing a clean, green, and healthy indoor environment as well as highlight the unique environmental characteristics of their products in a crowded marketplace.

"We are very pleased with the purchaser response to this new tool in such a short time,” said ISSA executive director John Garfinkel. "It reinforces ISSA’s belief that providing decision-makers with the right information can actually increase their appreciation of how cleaning can help them achieve their overall organisational goals.”

Upcoming purchaser events where Transpare will be featured include the APPA Annual Conference for higher education facility managers, August 2-4; the National Institute for Public Procurement Annual Forum for government purchasers August 24-28; and the International Facility Management Association’s IFMA World Workplace, October 2-4.

Transpare 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 organisations and traditional ecolabel organisations.

 Experts involved in the development include representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment, Green Seal, EcoLogo, State of Illinois, State of California, and Walmart.