Every year, Earth Day serves as a reminder to support environmental protection and appreciate the world around us. The first Earth Day was in April of 1970, a time when environmental activism and civil rights led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (1970) and the Clean Water Act (1972). As we approach the 50th anniversary of celebrating the nation’s first Earth Day, we are again battling two existential crises – one we’re familiar with, climate change, and a new one we are still grappling to understand, a global pandemic.
The GOJO Purpose, Saving Lives and Making Life Better Through Well-Being Solutions, allows us to contribute to Earth Day 2020 and its call for climate action, while enhancing the lives of those we touch – especially during this unprecedented time. We recognize our role in creating a healthy future and put great effort into understanding and proactively managing the social, environmental, and economic impacts of our business.
Creating Renewable Energy
The global push for cleaner, healthier energy is ever present. Costs of renewable energy continue to drop every day, and now it is not only competitive to other sources, but is the best choice for the environment and the economy.
In 2018, we completed the installation of a 755-kilowatt-hour solar array at our 1.3-million-square-foot distribution center in Wooster, Ohio – achieving our renewable energy goals two years ahead of schedule. The solar array continues to provide energy without producing harmful emissions or consuming non-renewable natural resources.
In addition, we’ve replaced more than 20,000 traditional fluorescent lightbulbs and fixtures with light emitting diode (LED) bulbs and fixtures, saving nearly 200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy annually. The solar and lighting projects combined will save nearly one million kilowatt-hours of energy each year.
Product Innovation
At GOJO, we’re continuously innovating our products to create more sustainable solutions, for both the consumer and the environment. Read more about some of the recent sustainable improvements we’ve made on our products below.
- April 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of PURELL® Green Certified Instant Hand Sanitizer, a product made with naturally renewable ethanol in a readily biodegradable formula. It was the world’s first hand sanitizer to be certified by ECOLOGO®, a well-respected life cycle-based environmental standard and certification. The release of PURELL Green Certified Instant Hand Sanitizer served as a major milestone in the long history of GOJO product development.
- In 2017, we launched PURELL® brand HEALTHY SOAP® with CLEAN RELEASE™ Technology, a breakthrough hand soap that is gentle on skin, contains no antibacterial ingredients,1 preservatives, parabens or phthalates and reaches into skin’s cracks and crevices two times better than regular soap to lift and wash away more than 99 percent of dirt and germs.2 CLEAN RELEASE™ Technology soaps are made with natural ingredients, far exceeding the 65 percent USDA BioPreferred® Program requirements with 90 percent biobased content.3 They also rinse faster and cleaner to save an estimated six gallons per refill compared to regular soap.4
- We reformulated our top-selling GOJO® MULTI GREEN® into a green-certified heavy-duty hand cleaner, GOJO® MULTI GREEN® ECO. The product now not only uses sustainable scrubbing particles to remove dirt but also meets the USDA BioPreferred® Program and ECOLOGO certification requirements.
- GOJO introduced the revolutionary new PURELL ES8 Dispensing System, which combines our latest advances in touch-free dispensing technology, the aesthetics and reliability that made GOJO a leader in dispensing, and a footprint that addresses multiple aspects of sustainability. These advances represent a 68 percent reduction in battery waste and a 15 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,5 when compared to leading touch-free systems on the market.6
Commitment to Third-Party Certifications
Our commitment to sustainability and climate action is shown through our third-party certifications on our products, which are signals to our customers of credible and trusted claims of environmental performance. Some of our third-party certifications include:
- ECOLOGO- North America's largest, most respected life cycle-based environmental standard and certification. ECOLOGO Certified products, services and packaging are certified for reduced environmental impact.
- USDA Bio-Preferred Label Program- recognizes products that have been independently certified to meet USDA BioPreferred program standards for biobased content.
- U.S. EPA - Design for the Environment (DfE)- part of the EPA's Safer Choice program aimed at "helping consumers, businesses, and purchasers find products that perform well and are safer for human health and the environment."
- ABNT Ecolabel- a life cycle-based ecolabel that is a voluntary method of environmental performance certification and labeling for products and services in Brazil.
- EU Ecolabel- a voluntary program, established in 1992 to encourage businesses to market products and services that are kinder to the environment. The EU Ecolabel is the official environmental label in the United Kingdom and the European Union.
- Global GreenTag- an independent, third-party, product rating and certification program, based on life cycle assessment (LCA). The Global GreenTag Ecolabelling program uses scientific assessments and ISO-compliant Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), along with a variety of reporting techniques to ensure product qualification and transparency.
Living our Purpose allows us to have a positive impact on public health and the world in which we live, each day. It drives us to find new ways to create Sustainable Value through innovative solutions—solutions that bring social, environmental, and economic value for all GOJO stakeholders.