Outdoor cleaning products can now earn EPA’s ‘Safer Choice’ label

You may have seen the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safer Choice label on some of the household cleaning products you buy. Now, the agency is expanding use of the label to products used outdoors.

The EPA says the Outdoor Use Safer Choice label will appear as early as next year on products that meet additional agency criteria for protecting the environment. Products include those for pet care and fire defense, as well as cleaners for cars, boats and grills.

Ingredients used in outdoor products that feature the label must break down quickly and be less harmful to aquatic life, EPA says in a fact sheet.

“Washing our cars, barbeque grills and even our dogs outdoors often means that the cleaning products we use go directly into the environment,” said Jennie Romer, deputy assistant administrator for pollution prevention in the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “Safer Choice’s new label will help people find products that go the extra mile to protect the environment, giving consumers peace of mind when cleaning outdoors.”

More than 50 Safer Choice-certified products meet the additional criteria for outdoor use, the agency says. To find them, check the “Products with outdoor uses” box when using EPA’s Safer Choice products search page.