2019 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award Winners: Profiles

Below are profiles for each of the 2019 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award Winners.

• Albertsons Companies, Boise, ID
• BASF Home Care and I&I Cleaning Solutions, Florham Park, NJ
• Berkley Green, Uniontown, PA
• Earth Friendly Products, Cypress, CA
• Hazardous Waste Management Program, King County, WA
• Holloway House, Inc., Fortville, IN
• Household & Commercial Products Association, Washington, DC
• Jelmar, LLC, Skokie, IL
• Lemi Shine, Austin, TX
• The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH
• RB, Parsippany, NJ
• Seventh Generation, Burlington, VT
• Solutex, Inc., Sterling, VA
• Wegmans Food Markets, Rochester, NY

Go back to the Partner of the Year Awards home page.

Albertsons Companies, Boise, ID

Albertsons Companies is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Retailer. Albertsons Companies is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States. Albertsons has been a Safer Choice partner since 2012. Safer Choice commends Albertsons Companies for its use of social media to raise awareness about cleaning products made with chemical ingredients that meet the Safer Choice program’s stringent health and safety requirements. In 2018, Albertsons Companies worked with 28 influential bloggers who produced 63 content pieces that included information on its Safer Choice-certified products. The content on social media reached over 10.3 million consumers.

BASF Home Care and I&I Cleaning Solutions, Florham Park, NJ

BASF Home Care and I&I Cleaning Solutions is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Innovator. BASF has 61 chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria and added a new concentrate that can be diluted to provide four different cleaners in 2018. In addition, in 2018, BASF focused on raising awareness about these safer chemicals by distributing printed brochures, printed and electronic ads, and trade show exhibits for a total reach exceeding 43,300 people. BASF spoke at several conferences and customer meetings in 2018 to educate customers on the value of chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria. Safer Choice commends BASF’s dedication to developing and educating the public about safer chemical ingredients.

Berkley Green, Uniontown, PA

Berkley Green is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Formulator-Product Manufacturer. Berkley Green formulates, manufactures, and markets products with chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria. Since becoming a Safer Choice partner in 2007, Berkley Green has continually added new products with ingredients that meet the Safer Choice program’s rigorous human health and environmental criteria. In 2018, Berkley Green added 28 new products, bringing their total to 49 Safer Choice-certified products. Of note, Safer Choice recognizes Berkley Green for their 2018 accomplishment of being the first company to develop dryer sheets that comply with Safer Choice criteria. Safer Choice commends Berkley Green for their continued dedication to protecting people and the planet.

Earth Friendly Products, Garden Grove, CA

Earth Friendly Products is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Formulator-Product Manufacturer. Earth Friendly has been a Safer Choice partner since 2008. In 2018, Earth Friendly continued to increase their offering of Safer Choice-certified products, reaching a total of 138 products. This means that 73% of Earth Friendly’s entire product line has earned the Safer Choice label. Earth Friendly’s strong private label business helps retailers and other product suppliers expand their offering of products made with chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria. Their continual reformulation led Earth Friendly to a 2018 launch of an innovative line of Safer Choice-certified fabric and carpet odor eliminator products. Safer Choice values Earth Friendly’s dedication to formulating products with safer ingredients.

Hazardous Waste Management Program, King County, WA

Hazardous Waste Management Program, a local government collaborative in King County, Washington, is recognized for its efforts to advance the use of chemicals that meet Safer Choice criteria. In 2018, the Hazardous Waste Management Program developed cleaning kits that included Safer Choice-certified products to educate the public firsthand on the value of products with chemical ingredients that meet the program’s stringent safety standards. That year, the Hazardous Waste Management Program also created a training curriculum for local government staff on Safer Choice criteria and the environmental and health benefits of Safer Choice-certified products. Safer Choice commends the Hazardous Waste Management Program’s dedication to raising awareness of the value of products with chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria.

Holloway House, Inc., Fortville, IN

Holloway House, Inc. is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Formulator-Product Manufacturer. Holloway House has been a Safer Choice partner since 2008 and currently offers seven Safer Choice-certified products, making up 40% of their product line. As part of improving existing products in 2018, Holloway House used a preservative from a database of chemical ingredients pre-approved for use in Safer Choice-certified products. Use of this new preservative improved their Safer Choice-certified products’ safety and effectiveness, while achieving a 92.6% reduction in the amount of preservative used. Safer Choice commends Holloway House for raising awareness of their Safer Choice-certified products through social media and commercials in 2018, and by placing Safer Choice-certified products in more than 30,000 retail stores. Holloway House also increased household viewer impressions of their certified products from 34.2 million in 2017 to 75.6 million in 2018 using national television spots on one network.

Household & Commercial Products Association, Washington, DC

Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) is recognized for advancing the use of chemicals that meet Safer Choice criteria. HCPA is a trade association representing companies that manufacture and sell products used for cleaning, protecting, maintaining, and disinfecting homes and commercial environments. Safer Choice recognizes HCPA for hosting sessions on chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice program criteria at all its 2018 membership meetings. HCPA also held speed networking sessions to connect companies that make these safer chemical ingredients with product manufacturers. HCPA holds regular calls with its members, state and local governments, and non-government organizations to discuss important issues impacting safer chemicals in products, including ingredient disclosure in products.

Jelmar, LLC, Skokie, IL

Jelmar, LLC is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Formulator-Product Manufacturer. Jelmar has been a Safer Choice partner since 2004. Safer Choice commends Jelmar for leadership in highlighting the environmental and health benefits of its 12 Safer Choice-certified products. Of note, in 2018, the company used a variety of channels – including television, online video, social media, shopping apps, trade shows, and blogs – to reach an audience of more than 800 million with information about how their certified products are safer for people and the environment, without sacrificing quality or performance.

Lemi Shine, Austin, TX

Lemi Shine is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Formulator-Product Manufacturer. Lemi Shine has been a Safer Choice partner since 2017. In 2018, Lemi Shine added seven new Safer Choice-certified products to their product line. Safer Choice commends Lemi Shine’s dedication to raising awareness about products with chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria through social media posts, digital advertisements, sales presentations to retail buyers, tradeshows, and owned and external web channels. Lemi Shine estimates they reached an annual total of 240,000 site visitors in 2018 with their safer-chemistry message.

The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, OH

The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Formulator-Product Manufacturer. In 2018, P&G developed seven new products as part of the Home Made Simple line that meet Safer Choice criteria. P&G raises awareness about their Safer Choice-certified products through their Home Made Simple website, social media, e-retailers, television ads, and packaging. Safer Choice commends P&G’s dedication to formulating and raising awareness of products with chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria.

RB, Parsippany, NJ

RB is recognized for advancing the use of chemicals that meet Safer Choice criteria. RB has been a Safer Choice partner since 2009. In 2018, RB took a leadership role and conducted an educational outreach campaign to states that resulted in all 50 states accepting the Design for the Environment (DfE) label on registered and certified antimicrobial products. Pesticide products may not carry the Safer Choice label, but may carry the DfE label if they meet the Safer Choice Standard in addition to meeting criteria specific to pesticide products for DfE. Consumers will be able to find safer antimicrobial products more easily because of RB’s efforts. Safer Choice commends RB’s dedication to expanding consumers’ access to safer antimicrobial products.

Seventh Generation, Burlington, VT

Seventh Generation is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Formulator-Product Manufacturer. Seventh Generation has been a Safer Choice partner since 2009. In 2018, Seventh Generation developed nine new Safer Choice-certified products. The nine additional products increased their total certified products to 29 by the end of 2018. Seventh Generation also added a fulltime position dedicated to the Safer Choice certification process to improve submission rate, speed, and accuracy. Safer Choice applauds Seventh Generation for their commitment to developing products with safer chemical ingredients.

Solutex, Inc., Sterling, VA

Solutex, Inc. is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Purchaser and Distributor. The company is a distributor of janitorial and building maintenance supplies committed to selling products that only contain readily biodegradable surfactants and other safer ingredients. Solutex has been a Safer Choice partner since 2010. In 2018, Solutex increased the sales volume of Safer Choice-certified products by 15% by exhibiting at multiple trade shows, including one with over 100,000 participants. Solutex was added to an organization’s website that extended their reach to over 8,000 condos and homeowner’s associations in the United States, Mexico, and Canada – further extending the availability of products with chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria. Safer Choice commends Solutex for raising awareness about the availability of products with these safer chemical ingredients.

Wegmans Food Markets, Rochester, NY

Wegmans Food Markets is recognized as an outstanding Safer Choice Retailer. Wegmans has been a Safer Choice partner since 2014. In 2018, Wegmans introduced six new Safer Choice-certified products, bringing their total to 17 store-branded Safer Choice-certified products. Safer Choice recognizes Wegmans for educating consumers about products with chemical ingredients that meet Safer Choice criteria through their website, in-store teaching tables and displays, and direct mail advertisements. Safer Choice also commends Wegmans for its commitment to transition all Wegmans-brand household cleaning products, laundry detergents, and dish detergents to Safer Choice-certified formulas.