The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently recognized the WasteWise program’s Pacific Southwest regional award winner.
The Agency selected ECOS, based in Cypress, California, as the award recipient for being a “pioneer in the manufacturing of environmentally friendly household and commercial cleaning products since 1967,” according to a Jan. 28 press release.
In 2020, ECOS had a 97.8% landfill waste diversion rate, recycled over 106 tons of material, reused, or returned over 100 tons of material, and donated nearly 5 tons of unused or unmarketable products to non-profit organizations, the release stated.
The company’s ‘zero waste’ efforts also saved them over $18,000 a year in waste disposal costs, the EPA said.
“The realities of climate change and our impact on the Earth can no longer be ignored," President and CEO of ECOS, Kelly Vlahakis-Hands, said in the release. "For over 50 years, our mission has been to protect the health of people, pets, and the planet, and zero waste manufacturing is an important way we’re achieving that mission.”
Vlahkis-Hands also stressed consumers want environmentally friendly products.
“They want to buy products from companies that are doing more to reduce their impact on the environment,” Vlahkis-Hands said. “It’s important to them. I hope our success will inspire other companies to reduce waste in their operations to help protect our beautiful, shared planet.”
WasteWise is EPA’s longest-running voluntary program, according to the release. Since its establishment, the program has prevented and/or diverted nearly 249 million tons of waste from landfills and incinerators.
“The WasteWise program highlights the impact of business resource conservation and climate change leadership,” EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator, Martha Guzman, said in the release.
