Purell Sanitiser Brand Takes Steps Towards Halving Chemical Footprint

US skin hygiene company, Gojo Industries, says it is focusing on removing parabens, titanium dioxide and triclosan from its products in support of its goal to reduce its chemical footprint 50% by 2020.

The company, which makes Purell hand sanitising products, announced its aim to halve its footprint in late 2015. As defined by the NGO Clean Production Action's Chemical Footprint Project (CFP), this is measured by the mass of chemicals of high concern (CoHCs) shipped in products annually.

Gojo corporate communications director, Nicole Koharik, told Chemical Watch the company is calculating its chemical footprint to include the total mass of CoHCs on the CPA list, plus other chemicals it has prioritised for having "hazardous traits".

And it has identified parabens, triclosan and titanium dioxide as the initial set of ingredients it is targeting for "significant reduction".

Ms Koharik said the company is also working through the process of prioritising additional ingredients based on hazard, functional value of the material to the formulation and evolving customer preferences.

Implementation efforts

Gojo has formed an internal sustainable chemistry implementation team to focus on the chemical footprint reduction target. This team will identify projects to help the company review potential ingredients of concern and prioritise ingredients for reduction or substitution.

So far, Ms Koharik said that the company’s efforts have focused on the reduction of ingredients rather than substitution. For example, it has removed parabens from Purell hand sanitising high capacity wipes "without trade-offs with product performance".

She added that "informed substitution" is being used to investigate ingredients that have the same safety and efficiency function with less impact on human and environmental health.

In the case of triclosan, Gojo is focused on innovating for better alternatives. This includes looking at Food And Drug Administration (FDA) monograph active ingredients, which are currently in development and will be in market later this year.

Triclosan was among 19 antibacterial active ingredients the FDA classified as not Generally Recognised as Safe and Effective (GRAS/GRAE) for use in consumer antiseptic wash products in September last year, but the ban does not apply to consumer hand sanitisers, hand wipes and antiseptic products used in healthcare and in food handler settings.

To avoid regrettable substitutions, Ms Koharik said Gojo is strengthening its internal assessment capabilities. In 2016, two staff members completed the GreenScreen Hazard Assessment course. She says they are now two of 31 authorised assessors in the US for conducting GreenScreen Assessments – a screening tool developed by the CPA that can be used to evaluate hazards presented by substances and identify safer alternatives.

NGO response

Gojo was an early signatory to the CFP, which scores companies on their chemicals management practices through a series of 20 questions. Of the 24 companies that participated in the project's survey last year, Gojo is the first to commit to reducing its chemical footprint.

CFP co-founder Mark Rossi said the commitment to halve its footprint "highlights how companies can use chemical footprinting to create a quantitative metric for assessing their use of hazardous chemicals, setting goals and measuring progress."

Gojo participated in the CFP pilot in 2014, having already established a sustainable chemistry policy in 2013 to guide its product formulation, packaging and system design.

Ms Koharik said Gojo's participation gave the company "a helpful framework to evaluate our chemical use, implement our sustainable chemistry policy ... [and] ultimately led to our ongoing work with the CFP and declaring our 2020 goal to reduce our chemical footprint by 50%."