Continuing its industry leadership in ingredient disclosure, consumer packaged goods company SC Johnson has published details from its day-to-day restricted use materials list. The move is part of SC Johnson’s broad ingredient communication program and coincides with its newly released SC Johnson 2014 Public Sustainability Report. In spring 2015, SC Johnson will also give consumers access to the main ingredients within the fragrances in SC Johnson products through its What’s Inside SC Johnson website and a consumer hotline.
SC Johnson’s ingredient disclosure program spawns from its patented Greenlist process, launched in 2001 to create a scorecard to rank chemical ingredients and remove restricted use materials from their products to provide the best options for consumers. The SC Johnson Greenlist process helps scientists within the company to continually improve formulas based on information about ingredients’ impact on the environment and human health.
SC Johnson is initially focusing on disclosing fragrance ingredients in its air care products – including sprays, candles, oils and gels – first in the US and Canada, then Europe. The company will then expand the disclosure to other product lines, disclosing all fragrance ingredients used at a concentration of 0.09% or higher. In categories where products include less fragrance, SC Johnson will disclose either the top 10 fragrance ingredients or – in the case of fewer than 10 – all of them.
What deters companies traditionally from similar moves is trade secret. But Fisk Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer says, to earn trust and credibility, you must lay everything out for the scrutiny of the world. “We work hard to ensure our fundamental values never change,” he adds. “Among these are integrity, transparency and sustainability – enduring commitments that I am honoured to share with this company,” he adds.
Part of a broader goal
The company first began disclosing ingredients in 2009, making information about ingredients within its home cleaning and air care products readily accessible and easy for consumers to understand. The new unprecedented move of committing to disclose dyes, preservatives and fragrance ingredients adds to this effort of increasing transparency. Currently, SC Johnson’s US and Canada disclosure website, What’s Inside SC Johnson includes more than 450 products and hundreds of ingredients.
Such measures have helped SC Johnson move from 18% “better/best” ingredients in 2001, to 47% today, with the goal of 58% “better/best” ingredients by 2016, the 2014 Sustainability Report states. Kelly M Semrau, chief sustainability officer at SC Johnson, says the SC Johnson Greenlist process shows that “doing what’s right isn’t an agenda item; it’s part of every business discussion that takes place.”
The skinny on the SC Johnson Greenlist process
How does the SC Johnson Greenlist process work? The company’s scientists screen for about 4,600 materials while evaluating ingredients. SC Johnson uses two lists: a 0-rated materials list, items it doesn’t want to use, and an exclusive fragrance palette list, safe and approved ingredients allowed in its products. A robust reporting system tracks scores at the product, division and corporate level. For instance, when scientists survey a surfactant for potential aquatic toxicity, ultimate biodegradability and acute human toxicity, to gain “best” status, meaning little or no environmental or human impact, an ingredient must biodegrade at least 60% within 10 days.
SC Johnson isn’t claiming its Greenlist process is perfect. Occasionally, 0-rated materials are used in SC Johnson products. But their use comes with a requirement to have a proposed exit date from the product and receive approval from the company’s chief sustainability officer. However, the SC Johnson Greenlist process and increased product ingredient disclosure are helping SC Johnson meet its sustainability goals and retain customer trust. “Together we’re working to do what’s right and safeguard the future for generations to come,” Fisk says.
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