NORFOLK, NEB.—MP Global Products, a leader in the manufacture of underlayment for the flooring industry, announced that FiberBacker, by MP Global Products L.L.C, has earned Indoor Advantage Gold certification from Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), the organization’s highest level of indoor environmental quality certification and the most stringent indoor air quality certification in the country. It is the first underlayment for ceramic and porcelain floors to do so.

BOISE, IDAHO—ProTeam has earned the gold Seal of Approval/Green Label from the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) for seven of its leading vacuums, signifying that they meet the highest standards for carpet cleaning effectiveness and indoor air quality. Vacuums awarded gold pass a stringent testing process at an independent laboratory and meet three key performance criteria: amount of soil removed, containment of dust and dirt within the machine, and carpet fiber protection.

WINCHESTER, VA.—Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP), a leader in innovative facility maintenance solutions, announces a new concept in cleaning. The DVAC 1 Pass Cleaning Solution combines multiple cleaning tasks into one to reduce non-productive labor time. The award-winning DVAC 1 Pass Cleaning Solution is a dolly-integrated vacuum.

ATLANTA—Kimberly-Clark, a leader in non-woven technologies, announces the availability of its newest line of high-efficiency filtration media for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system air filters. Based on the company’s patented, bi-component, nonwoven technology, the new media is ideal for a range of HVAC filter styles delivering MERV 11-15 performance.

PULASKI, N.Y.—A family-owned and operated business for over 30 years, HealthWay has launched a new line of green cleaning products designed to improve indoor air quality. The line is called terafore. A number of studies have drawn a link between traditional cleaning products and the substantial increase in the number of people—especially children—afflicted with asthma and allergies.

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Hasek Communications, the Cleveland, Ohio-based publisher of Green Lodging News, welcomes HealthWay as a Green Product & Service Directory partner. HealthWay offers teraforé—a line of all-natural, commercial green cleaning products. HealthWay’s teraforé biodegradable green cleaners release no harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and come in hyper-concentrated form.

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIF.—ClearWater Tech, LLC, a leading manufacturer of ozone generation systems for water and air purification, announced it has received the UL and ULC (equivalent to the Canadian Standards Assn. certification program) safety certification mark for its EcoTex Advanced Laundry Oxidation Systems. Underwriters Laboratories (UL) is an independent product safety certification organization that tests products and writes standards for safety. It has done so for more than a century.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS—With its recent $1 billion in renovations, the Holiday Inn brand has earned well-deserved publicity. Perhaps the Holiday Inn property deserving of the most buzz this year, however, is the brand new Holiday Inn Northwest/Sea World in San Antonio. The 194-room hotel is on track to be the first LEED certified hotel in Texas and the first LEED certified property within the 3,300-property Holiday Inn brand. The hotel is owned by a group of investors out of Lubbock, Texas, and managed by Dallas-based Hospitality Management Corp. Green highlights of the property include cisterns to collect water runoff.

NEW YORK—Carnegie, a leading manufacturer and innovator of textiles and wallcoverings, announced that its product line, Surface IQ, has achieved SCS Indoor Air Gold Certification. Surface IQ is built from the polymer up: eliminating the hazardous use of vinyl, chlorine, plasticizers, heavy metals, formaldehyde and dioxin.

Hotels and restaurants that have been taking steps to green their cleaning operations may mistakenly be setting back their green cleaning programs as a result of H1N1 and other public health concerns. The problem is that eradicating from surfaces the germs, bacteria, and pathogens that can spread these diseases often requires the use of powerful, EPA-registered, hospital-grade disinfectants which they erroneously believe cannot be part of a green cleaning program. In the U.S. today, there are no disinfectants that can be marketed or labeled as green.