You’ve heard from method’s very own environmental stewards – we call them “greenskeepers” – on our blog before, but the Design for the Environment (DfE) office of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also has our back. We work closely with this group of respected scientists to perform a final check on all of our formulations, validating that the ingredients we choose are safe for people and safe for the environment – “recognized for safer chemistry,” as they put it.
We dig DfE for the rigor of their assessment work. They take the same approach we do: that products should be made with inherently safe materials, avoiding any potential safety hazards before we start to formulate. DfE researches a broad range of health and environmental characteristics for each proposed ingredient, as does a third party environmental research institute, the Environmental Protection and Encouragement Agency (EPEA). The head of the EPEA is Dr. Michael Braungart, who developed the concept of “cradle to cradle” to describe the ideal life cycle of products and authored a book of the same title with architect William McDonough.
After DfE performs their in-depth assessments on the formulations, they make recommendations if necessary and decide to either recognize the formulation or not. So far in our collaboration, DfE has recognized over 50 of our products – which actually accounts for every one we've submitted to them!
So why go through the ingredient assessment process twice? It’s because we're really proud of our formulations and want to communicate their good health to as many people as possible – that means you! DfE, with their expertise and credibility as an EPA office, help tell this story through their DfE logo - the little globe you see here and on many of our bottles. And then the EPEA endorsement is the icing on the cake.
If you ever have questions or comments on our formulations, please tell us here, write info@methodhome.com, or give us a call at 1-866-9-method (1-866-963-8463).
