This is just a sample of an announcement from the EPA or other relevant organization affecting your industry.
Dear DfE Partners and Stakeholders:
Three items have surfaced that we want to bring to your attention. The first asks for a marketing contact at your company and the last two
share information on opportunities to better highlight your DfE-recognized products.
Marketing contact at your organization. As DfE works to enhance its transparency and outreach efforts, we realized that most of our
communications are sent to technical contacts at partner companies. We believe it would be more efficient for some of our communications, like this one, to go directly to the marketing or PR person at your company.
If you agree, please send contact information for that person(s) to Christa McDermott (mcdermott.christa@epa.gov or (202) 564-7303).
Dedicated web page for your DfE-recognized products. Over the years, many partners have asked if we would link from the DfE web site to a
page on their web site. While that sounded like a great idea, internal hurdles proved daunting. We are happy to report that we are now ready to offer our partners a link from our Labeled Products page (at http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/formulat/formpartc.htm#consumerclean ) to a page on your web site. To set up this link, we ask that you have a web page that: 1) is solely dedicated to DfE-recognized products; 2) explains your participation in the DfE Safer Product Labeling Program (the Clorox Green Works page at http://www.greenworkspresskit.com/ is a good example; feel free to use any language from the DfE web site for your page); 3) is available for DfE preview and comment; and 4) links back to the DfE website. We look forward to establishing these links, which will enhance the ability of consumers to find us all on the web.
Eco Janitorial Closet. DfE has learned of an opportunity to showcase your DfE-labeled cleaning products to schools. A non-profit youth
organization called Teens Turning Green (TTG) has launched a project to design and stock an “Eco Janitorial Closet.” The idea is to create a
list–a virtual closet–of safer cleaning products that TTG will recommend to schools nationwide. Your DfE-labeled products are prime
candidates for inclusion on this list.
One important caveat is, however, that to participate in the program you must disclose your ingredients to TTG. Although they know and value that DfE reviews all ingredients and only labels products that meet our rigorous health and environmental standards, the group requires their own transparent process for reviewing ingredients prior to including products in a list of recommendations to schools. They are not asking you to list ingredients on the product label. You can find more details on their request and program in the attached letter (any product that can be used in a school, even if not traditionally sold as I&I, is eligible for the list).
Please do not feel any pressure to participate in this project because of your partnership with DfE. We are not a sponsor of the Eco Janitorial Closet nor do we have any direct affiliation with TTG. The virtual closet may be an attractive opportunity for some partners and may provide a way for DfE to strengthen its relationship with the schools community and children’s advocates. If you have any questions or would like to participate, please contact Judi Shils at TTG ( judishils@earthlink.net or (415) 378-0504).
(See attached file: TTG Eco janitorial closet.pdf)
If you have any questions on DfE outreach or marketing activities, please contact Christa McDermott (mcdermott.christa@epa.gov or (202) 564-7303). Thank you for your partnership and all your work to make products safer for people and the environment.
DfE Safer Product Labeling Program
_______________________
David DiFiore
Design for the Environment
U.S. EPA
202-564-8796