The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the winners of the 2024 Safer Choice Partner of the Year awards. A total of 43 awardees from 20 states and the District of Columbia were recognized for their contributions to safer chemical design, manufacture, promotion, selection, and use in various products.
The Safer Choice program aims to help consumers and facilities find cleaning products with ingredients that are safer for both human health and the environment. This year's applicants were encouraged to demonstrate how their work supports environmental justice, resilience to climate change impacts, cleaner air or water, improved drinking water quality, or innovation in packaging.
“We all deserve to clean our homes, schools and other facilities with cleaning products that use safer ingredients, like those that have earned EPA’s Safer Choice label,” said Jennie Romer, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pollution Prevention at the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “I want to congratulate this year’s Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners for going above and beyond to protect public health and the environment and to show their support for making products with safer ingredients accessible for all people.”
Several awardees have made significant strides in developing affordable products using safer chemical ingredients. Some winners made these products available at low-cost retailers both in stores and online. Others highlighted the Safer Choice label through consumer product coupons or reformulated existing product lines to include safer ingredients.
Efforts also extended into community protection. Two cleaning service providers used Safer Choice-certified products in their operations, including a minority-owned business. Tribal organizations and local non-governmental organizations increased awareness of the Safer Choice label among tribal elders, childcare centers in disadvantaged communities, and Spanish-speaking communities.
Innovation was another key area recognized by these awards. One winner upcycled seafood waste into two chitosan-based chemicals now listed on EPA’s Safer Chemical Ingredients List. Other winners reduced plastic use through plastic-free packaging, concentrated formulas, reusable bottles, or refill cartridges.
A full list of this year's awardees includes prominent names such as Apple Inc., The Clorox Company, The Home Depot Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., Seventh Generation Inc., among others.
For more information about each winner's achievements and videos highlighting their accomplishments can be found on the EPA's website.
