The American Cleaning Institute‘s 2015 Sustainability Report showcases the cleaning products industry’s progress toward sustainable development and unveils the ACI’s first-ever industry “materiality assessment,” which maps the critical risks and opportunities facing its value chain.
The materiality assessment – conducted by sustainability analytics firm Framework, LLC – identifies and characterizes those issues that are most material across the ACI’s membership and to the industry at large. Companies committed to sustainability have increasingly informed their strategies and reporting by conducting such analyses, but the ACI assessment is among the first across the value chain of an entire industry sector.
The top 10 issues to the cleaning products industry’s internal and external stakeholders identified by the materiality assessment include:
• Materials: Safety of chemical ingredients; raw material sourcing and scarcity.
• Disclosure and Transparency: Public disclosure of information related to sustainability, governance and products.
• Climate Change/Greenhouse Gases: Climate risks and opportunities; emissions of greenhouse gases.
• Ecological Impacts: Biodiversity; deforestation; environmental management; responsible agricultural practices.
• Water: Water use, waste water treatment and water recycling.
• Workplace Health and Safety: Health and safety management; health and wellness training programs.
• Waste: Hazardous and non-hazardous waste; management of product end-of-life.
• Energy: Energy use; renewable energy.
• Supply Chain Management: Screening business partners on ethics and sustainability issues.
• Compliance: Compliance with environmental, health and safety regulations.
“This assessment represents a new way of reporting on industry priorities, so it is vital to share the results with our stakeholders and engage in dialogue to gain a deeper understanding of the issues,” said Ernie Rosenberg, ACI president and CEO. “We plan to be more strategic about tracking future industry performance on these matters, and our Sustainability Report will evolve as a result.”
This is ACI’s third Sustainability Report. The previous editions were published in 2011 and 2013.
In 2014, 33 ACI member companies – including Church & Dwight, The Clorox Company, Ecolab and Procter & Gamble – contributed environmental metrics data for ACI’s Sustainability Metrics Program. Since the program’s launch in 2009, more than 5,000 data points have been collected on environmental issues most relevant to the industry. The report shows improvements by member companies in many environmental areas. Highlights include:
• Substantial improvements to water efficiency across the industry, with a 21 percent reduction in water used per ton of production for the industry since 2009.
• Absolute amount of electricity from green energy sources has increased more than 30 percent since 2008.
• Significant advances in waste reduction, totaling an 18 percent reduction overall since 2009.
