Revision of the European ecolabel criteria for all-purpose cleaners, sanitary cleaners and window cleaners : preliminary report

The EU Ecolabel for All-purpose cleaners and sanitary cleaners is under revision. This report is meant to provide a first evaluation of likely areas for investigation and provides the scientific evidence for the revised EU Ecolabel criteria. The technical analysis found that the key environmental impacts of APCs are mainly due to the extraction stage, for window/glass cleaners packaging has larger contributions than ingredient extractions. When warm water is used to rinse off the product during use, the use phase has a significant impact. These findings are reflected in the score of the environmental indicators under consideration Based on these findings, measures should be developed in close cooperation with stakeholders (industry, academia and interested parties) to improve the formulation of the cleaners, decrease the energy consumed to heat the water and decrease the amount of product used per application, among others. This preliminary report takes part of the revision of the EU Ecolabel criteria for six detergents and cleaners related product groups. The EU Ecolabel revision process is foreseen to be held simultaneously. The progress of these discussions can be followed through the official website: http://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/detergents/index.html