AKRON, OHIO—GOJO Industries has expanded its global portfolio of green-certified products with certification in Brazil for PURELL Advanced Green Certified Hand Sanitizer.The new green certified products acknowledgement is ABNT (Brazilian Association of Technical Standards). PURELL Advanced first earned green certification in 2012 when EcoLogo certified the formulation in the United States, and later gained acknowledgement as GECA (Good Environmental Choice Australia). With the certifications, the GOJO green-certified products portfolio continues to advance the company’s leadership position with highly effective and sustainable formulations.“Our growing green-certified products portfolio delivers on all three sustainability fronts, from social and environmental to economic,” said...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—In January 2013, Green Seal announced the publication of GS-51, a new standard designed to address the lifecycle impacts of laundry care products used in institutional and industrial settings.This standard covers more than 20 product categories for conventional laundry and dry cleaning, including detergents, prewash products, spot removers, laundry additives, fabric care products, and more. According to Linda Chipperfield, vice president of marketing and communications for Green Seal, GS-51 represents a comprehensive benchmark for sustainable laundry care products.“It also provides manufacturers the opportunity to be recognized as leaders in the industry, and allows purchasers to identify safer,...

FREMONT, OHIO—It is expected that version 4 of LEED-EBOM (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance), developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, will be adopted later this year. This new version will be broader, addressing a wider range of facilities and put more emphasis on environmental issues, such as climate change, and encourage more careful and efficient use of energy and water.However, what some cleaning professionals have noticed is several traditional cleaning-related credits, such as for the installation of effective entry matting systems, are no longer included in version 4.But that is not...

PACOIMA, CALIF.—Eco-Me introduces its Green Cleaning Program. Since 2006 Eco-Me has been a leader in the eco-friendly cleaning market as a manufacturer and distributor of premium eco-friendly natural cleaning products. Operating out of California, Eco-Me distributes natural cleaning products nationally supporting residential and commercial cleaning outlets. The Eco-Me brand, having recently been rated in the highest tier of the Whole Foods Market’s Eco-Scale, will now offer a private labeling option, catering to businesses with large-scale janitorial needs. The new program is now available on the company’s website. The program is an expansion of the brand’s founding mission—to remove dangerous chemicals...

MIAMI—On Contact Solutions, a supplier of scientifically-based green products to the hotel industry, announced that it is now offering Cimi-Shield, a soybean extract spray that is non-toxic and that prevents bed bug infestations for one year. Cimi-Shield ensures against infestations by leaving a residual that kills the bugs that hatch after treatment, eliminating the need for retreatment for 12 months.In 2006, the Bed Bug Registry, a free, public database of user-submitted bed bug reports from across the United States and Canada, was founded. Today, the Registry has collected 20,000 reports from 12,000 locations and states. “Until a reliable, safe...

ATLANTA—AloStar Bank of Commerce has awarded Forest, Va.-based NanoTouch Materials with its Rising Star Award. NanoTouch will receive a one-time $5,000 micro loan to address its business goals and needs. Recipients of the Rising Star Award are referred by their current banker and carefully selected by AloStar representatives.NanoTouch Materials is a manufacturer of antimicrobial, self-cleaning touch point and “object resting area” products. These products include facility touch points such as door push pads and door handle wraps as well as portable products including travel, desk and snack mats. The company’s primary customer base includes the hospitality, travel, food service,...

WEST CHICAGO, ILL.—Tornado Industries, a leading manufacturer of professional cleaning equipment, has just introduced six new products for the professional cleaning industry. These new systems are all designed to address changing needs and challenges in the industry—including the increased need for more competitively priced, high-performing, safer and more sustainable effective cleaning equipment—as well as changes in the needs and wants of facility managers and other end-customers.According to Jolynn Kennedy, marketing manager for Tornado, the six new systems include: •    The Windshear Storm air blower/dyer with “driven air technology” that can provide very high air velocity but uses less energy and...

ORLANDO, FLA.—Anyone attending The NAFEM Show from February 7 to 9 with the goal of greening up their kitchen would have found hundreds of ways to do so thanks to the innovations brought to the trade show floor by the more than 500 exhibitors in attendance. The North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers event, held every two years, attracted approximately 20,000 foodservice professionals to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.Companies touted advancements in cooking, ventilation, water filtration, water recycling, water heating, cooking oil management, ice making, warewashing, food waste management, refrigeration, balers, and even vegetable, herb...

HAILEY, IDAHO—Rocky Mountain Hardware, a leading manufacturer of solid bronze architectural hardware, is entering into a collaboration with Olin Brass to produce antimicrobial copper surface hardware.In announcing the relationship, Christian Nickum, Rocky Mountain’s CEO, said, “This represents a major leap for us. We’ll be marking our 20th anniversary in 2014, and this opens the door to a whole new category of business with the wellness industry where architectural hardware needs can now be answered not only with a distinctive aesthetic and proven Made in America quality product, but also with a new generation surface recognized by the U.S. EPA...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Green Seal, the nation’s oldest nonprofit environmental certification organization, announces the publication of GS-51, a new standard designed specifically to address the life cycle impacts of laundry care products for institutional and industrial settings.Traditional laundry products are significant contributors to water pollution, and both manufacturers and users risk exposure to harmful chemicals through inhalation and skin contact when using many of these products. In addition to minimizing or eliminating the use of many hazardous ingredients often found in these products, GS-51 provides an important benchmark in terms of product concentration. The standard establishes minimum requirements for concentrated (2X)...