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Green Seal, the nation's premier nonprofit ecolabel, is excited to announce that the first products certified to its Standard for Environmental Innovation (GS-20) are a complete line of floor-care pads from Americo Manufacturing Company. The certified products include all of Americo’s Full Cycle Floor Pads, both abrasive and non-abrasive, which have been proven to offer enhanced biodegradation in landfill conditions and to contain 100 percent recycled content and natural fiber.
“Green Seal is delighted to have Americo’s Full Cycle Floor Pads lead the way as the first products to earn GS-20 certification,” stated Arthur B. Weissman, Ph.D., Green Seal’s President and CEO. “The pads are a stellar example of what happens when sustainability, innovation, and performance combine in product design,” he added.
"With Green Seal being one of the most well-known and respected environmentally based certification organizations in our industry, Americo is proud to be recognized and awarded with their first GS-20 Environmental Innovation certification for our Full Cycle floor pads,” stated Richard Rones, President of Americo Manufacturing Company.
In order to become certified under GS-20, Americo submitted an application to Green Seal describing its product line and the environmental benefits it claimed for validation. Green Seal examined these benefits in a life-cycle context and also determined whether the product line could be considered innovative, as defined by the standard.
Americo’s Full Cycle floor pads are made with 100% recycled PET fiber or a combination of that and natural fibers. The company also uses water-based latex in the manufacturing process, avoiding phenolic-based resins. The pads have been tested by an independent lab to demonstrate that they biodegrade at a faster rate than conventional floor pads in a simulated landfill environment. The enhanced biodegradation helps to reduce landfill volume over time. In addition, this significantly shorter time frame allows landfills that have methane-to-energy collection systems in place to capture landfill gas and convert it to energy. Americo provides end-of-life instructions to the market for disposing of the pads in landfills that capture landfill gas and convert it to energy at www.americofullcycle.com/waste-to-energy.
The full list of criteria developed for this specific product group under the GS-20 standard and details on certification can be downloaded at www.GreenSeal.org. Additional information about the GS-20 standard itself can be found at www.greenseal.org/GS20.