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DfE's Standard and Criteria for Safer Chemical Ingredients
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On this page you will find:DfE's Standard for Safer Products (SSP)
Criteria for Safer Chemical Ingredients
Master Criteria
Functional-Class Criteria
Chelating and Sequestering Agents
Fragrances
Processing Aids and Additives
Solvents
Surfactants
Criteria for Direct Release Products
Criteria for Ice-Melt Products
Criteria for Microorganism-based Products
Criteria for Specialized Industrial Products
CleanGredients®
DfE's Standard for Safer Products
The DfE "Standard for Safer Products" comprises the requirements products and their ingredients must meet to earn the EPA Design for the Environment label. Newly added to the Standard are provisions for the DfE Safer Chemical Ingredients List, including clarifications to the ingredient criteria that enable listing the range of chemicals in DfE-labeled products.
Other changes in the recent update to the Standard address:
- Colorants, Polymers, and Preservatives that as part of their functionality tend to persist;
- Specialized Industrial Products and their high-performance ingredients that do not meet the DfE criteria;
- Potential sensitizing chemicals in fragrances used in consumer and industrial products;
- Volatile organic chemicals (VOCs) exempted from product-specific VOC restrictions issued by the California Air Resources Board (CARB); and
- Concentrates outside the DfE pH range for closed dilution-controlled application systems.
The full set of changes is described in the Notice for the DfE Safer Chemical Ingredients List and Accompanying Changes to the Standard (PDF) (150 pp, 20K).
Read the updated Standard for Safer Products (PDF) (43 pp, 351K) September 2012 Revision.
Criteria for Safer Chemical Ingredients
Each ingredient in a formulation has a function in making a product work - whether it is to aid in cleaning by reducing surface tension (surfactants), dissolve or suspend materials (solvents), reduce water hardness (chelating agents), or provide a scent (fragrances). Within these "functional classes," many ingredients share similar toxicological and environmental fate characteristics. As a result, DfE focuses its review of formulation ingredients on the key (environmental and human health) characteristics of concern within a functional class. This approach allows formulators to use those ingredients with the lowest hazard in their functional class, while still formulating high-performing products. The DfE Safer Product Labeling Program evaluates each ingredient in a formulation against the following Master and Functional-Class Criteria documents, as appropriate. These documents define the characteristics and toxicity thresholds for ingredients that are acceptable in DfE-labeled products. The Criteria are based on EPA expertise in evaluating the physical and toxicological properties of chemicals, and while they incorporate authoritative lists of chemicals of concern, they go far beyond these lists. DfE applies the Criteria using EPA research and analytical methods to ensure that DfE-labeled products contain only the safest possible ingredients. All Criteria documents are part of DfE's Standard for Safer Products (SSP) (PDF) (43 pp, 351K).Master Criteria
DfE Master Criteria for Safer Ingredients v2.1 (PDF) (33 pp, 269K)
The DfE Master Criteria establishes thresholds for safer ingredients by defining the "low concern" end of the ingredient hazard spectrum. If there are no functional-class criteria for an ingredient, it is evaluated against the Master Criteria as described in section 5.2 of the DfE Standard. Read the DfE Master Criteria for Safer Ingredients v2.1 (PDF) (33 pp, 269K).
A document with highlighted changes to version 2.0 (PDF)
(35 pp, 302K) of the DfE Master Criteria for Safer Ingredients is also available.
Functional-Class Criteria
Functional-class criteria define the safer end of the ingredient hazard spectrum. Using the Master Criteria as a base, the functional-class criteria tailor health and environmental endpoints for key distinguishing characteristics to the specific functional class. Developing functional-class criteria improves the general understanding of the safer ingredient characteristics in the class and helps identify green-chemistry opportunities and successes.Criteria for Chelating and Sequestering Agents
DfE Criteria for Chelating and Sequestering Agents (PDF) (34 pp, 495K)
These Criteria were developed to identify safer chelating and sequestering agents, which have preferred human and environmental health profiles. DfE developed the Criteria with a group of stakeholders that included chelating agent manufacturers, cleaning product formulators, environmental non-governmental organizations, certification groups, industry associations, and others. Chelating and sequestering agents that pass these Criteria can be included in cleaning products eligible for recognition under the DfE Safer Product Labeling Program.
Read the DfE Criteria for Chelating and Sequestering Agents (PDF) (34 pp, 495K).
Criteria for Fragrances
DfE Criteria for Fragrances v2.1 (PDF) (34 pp, 257K)
The DfE Criteria for Fragrances were developed by the DfE Program and a group of stakeholders that included the fragrance industry, cleaning product formulators, environmental non-governmental organizations, and others. More than 2,000 chemical substances with diverse chemical structures, and therefore diverse human and environmental health profiles, are used in formulation by the fragrance industry.
Following publication of the DfE Criteria for Fragrances (Version 2.0) in 2010, the fragrance industry worked with DfE and product manufacturers to implement a pilot of the criteria. Through the pilot, DfE learned that the criteria were set too ambitiously for fragrance materials, and that some simple changes would make the formulation of a fragrance for a DfE-labeled product much more straightforward. DfE has developed version 2.1 of the criteria to account for what was learned during the pilot.
The DfE Criteria for Fragrances (Version 2.1) considers a range of human and environmental health endpoints. To be considered safer ingredients and allowed in a DfE-labeled product, fragrance chemicals must be evaluated and meet all requirements for each hazard endpoint.
During annual audits in 2013, DfE partners will receive formal notice of the version 2.1 criteria and must meet the criteria no later than the end of 2014. Compliance will be confirmed during 2015 audits. During this interim period, DfE will continue its current policy that no carcinogens, mutagens, or reproductive toxicants (CMRs), and no persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic compounds (PBTs) will be allowed.
Read the DfE Criteria for Fragrances v2.1 (PDF) (34 pp, 257K).
A document with highlighted changes to version 2.0 (PDF) (43 pp, 425K) of the DfE Criteria for Fragrances is also available.
Criteria for Processing Aids and Additives
Criteria for Processing Aids and Additives (PDF) (5 pp, 64K)
A large set of chemicals that play supporting roles in product formulations, DfE will now group processing aids as a class, with tailored criteria for each subclass. These chemicals (often considered commodity or generic ingredients) are diverse in structure and function, but have in common, beyond their formulary supporting roles, that their chemical characteristics and long-standing safe use make them a low hazard concern. For example, physical-chemical properties (like simple acids, when controlled for product pH) or essential functionality in humans (like polysaccharides) can indicate low hazard. Like colorants, polymers and related chemicals, processing aids are often data-poor. Yet, they are very common ingredients in cleaning and other products and frequently provide multiple functional attributes.
Read the Criteria for Processing Aids and Additives (PDF) (5 pp, 64K).
Criteria for Solvents
DfE Criteria for Solvents (PDF) (13 pp, 454K)
With cleaning solvents, there are potential concerns for the following hazards: carcinogenicity, acute mammalian toxicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, repeated-dose toxicity, neurotoxicity, and environmental fate and toxicity. The DfE Criteria for Solvents (PDF) (13 pp, 454K) were developed for the alcohol, ester, ethylene glycol ether, and propylene glycol ethers solvent classes. Structural definitions of these classes are included in the Criteria document.
Read the DfE Criteria for Solvents (PDF) (13 pp, 454K).
Read the DfE Criteria for VOC-Exempt Solvents (PDF) (1 pp,13 K).
Criteria for Surfactants
Surfactants in cleaning products are distinguished by their rate of biodegradation, degradation products, and level of aquatic toxicity. The DfE Criteria for Surfactants combine these hazard characteristics, and requires that surfactants with higher aquatic toxicity demonstrate a faster rate of biodegradation without degradation to products of concern. Surfactants that meet the Criteria are acceptable for use in a DfE-labeled cleaning product; surfactants in products which typically by-pass sewage treatment must meet the Criteria for Environmental Fate & Toxicity for Chemicals in Direct Release Products.
Standard Surfactant Criteria
Acute Aquatic Toxicity |
Rate of Biodegradation |
≤1 ppm |
May be acceptable if biodegradation2 occurs within a 10-day window without products of concern3 |
>1 ppm and ≤10 ppm |
Biodegradation2 occurs within a 10-day window without products of concern3 |
| >10 ppm | Biodegradation2 occurs within 28 days without products of concern3 |
1. In general, there is a predictable relationship between acute aquatic toxicity and chronic aquatic toxicity for organic chemicals, i.e. chemicals that have high acute aquatic toxicity also have high chronic aquatic toxicity. Since acute aquatic toxicity data are more readily available, the DfE Criteria use these data to screen chemicals that may be toxic to aquatic life.
2. Generally, >60% mineralization (to CO2 and water) in 28 days.
3. Products of concern are compounds with high acute aquatic toxicity (L/E/IC50 ≤ 10ppm) and a slow rate of biodegradation (greater than 28 days).
Criteria for Environmental Toxicity and Fate for Chemicals in Direct Release Products
Certain products intended for use outdoors are likely to bypass sewage treatment, limiting the time for degradation prior to entering sensitive environments. For these products, like boat cleaners and graffiti removers, DfE has raised the bar in its standard environmental criteria to address the potential for immediate contact with aquatic life. Any ingredients (including surfactants, preservatives, solvents, etc.) that have aquatic toxicity values <10 mg/L are not allowed in DfE-recognized direct release products.Criteria for Direct Release Product
| Acute Aquatic Toxicity Value (L/E/IC50)1 | Persistence (Measured in terms of rate of biodegradation) |
Bioaccumulation Potential | Status | |
| 1 | If ≤10 ppm... | …and BCF/BAF <1000. | Not acceptable | |
| 2 | If >10 ppm and <100 ppm... | ...biodegradation2 occurs within a 10-day window without products of concern3... | Acceptable | |
| 4 | If ≥100 ppm... | ...biodegradation2 occurs within 28 days without products of concern3... | Acceptable |
2. Generally, >60% mineralization (to CO2 and water) in a Ready Biodegradation test.
3. Products of concern are compounds with high acute aquatic toxicity (L/E/IC50 ≤ 10ppm) and a slow rate of biodegradation (greater than 28 days).
Criteria for Ice-Melt Products
An ice-melt product under DfE is, as the name implies, one that melts ice and snow at temperatures below the freezing point of water, and not simply a product that aids traction like sand. A manufacturer of a safer ice-melt product may become a DfE partner provided that they agree to certain terms in their partnership agreement and that their product has the characteristics specified below.DfE ice-melt products must:- Pass the appropriate DfE safer chemical criteria.
- Reduce sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl) use by at least 30% (under comparable use scenarios).
- Be labeled under a DfE partnership agreement in which the product manufacturer has agreed to a customer education/training plan to ensure proper product use and application rates (and reductions in Na and Cl).
- Not contain cyanide as an anti-caking agent.
- Function at temperatures < 0 F.
- Comply with Pacific NW Snow Fighters' criteria for reduction in corrosivity to steel (see http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_577.pdf: to be acceptable, a corrosion-inhibition chemical product must prove to have a percent effectiveness value of at least 70% less than Sodium Chloride).
- Meet performance levels as evaluated under the Pacific NW Snow Fighters' criteria.
Criteria for Microorganism-based Products
Microorganism-based products are a distinct class and subject to tailored evaluation criteria. In its review, DfE carefully considers the identity and potential hazards and risks of the microbial species, as informed by its Checklist for Formulations Containing Microorganisms (PDF) (7 pp, 29K), in combination with other considerations like purity of strain, ingredient functionality and product performance, as described in its Considerations for Microorganism-based Products (PDF) (5 pp, 876K). Please note that microbial-based products intended for use in indoor environments are not eligible for partnership, as explained in the Considerations document. Non-microbial ingredients will be reviewed based on their respective component-class criteria.Criteria for Specialized Industrial Products
Criteria for Specialized Industrial Products (PDF) (4 pp, 58K)
Specialized Industrial Products (SIPs) are a distinct subgroup of products that meet tailored criteria under DfE's Safer Product Labeling Program. DfE is using the term "specialized" for this subset of I/I products to distinguish them based on performance requirements from other, more common I/I products, like cleaners and detergents, and to indicate that they require certain ingredients with special, high-performance functionalities. Nevertheless, to earn the DfE label, a candidate product and its ingredients must meet the general SIP criteria, in section II, as well as the subclass-specific requirements, in section III.
Read the Criteria for Specialized Industrial Products (PDF) (4 pp, 58K).
CleanGredients®
Formulators who subscribe to the CleanGredients®
database can find a list of surfactants, solvents, chelating and sequestering agents, and fragrances that meet DfE's Criteria. Suppliers who subscribe can have their chemicals reviewed against the appropriate criteria and listed in the database. Nearly
200 formulators
are finding safer ingredients on
CleanGredients®
.
