Greener Products
Basic Information
- Why this website?
- Make a Difference
- What makes a product “greener”?
- Environmental Claims
- Feedback on this Website
Why this website?
The EPA Greener Products Portal is designed to help the user navigate the increasingly important and complex world of greener products. It allows users to search for EPA programs related to greener products based on the type of user and their specific product interests. It also links to additional greener products information from EPA and other sources.
Make a Difference
By looking for greener products when you shop and using products in ways that respect the environment, you will be joining millions of Americans in helping protect public health and the environment. Using products in ways that respect the environment include conserving energy, water, and materials as well as disposing of the products responsibly through recycling and reuse.
Products can have a wide variety of public health and environmental impacts including toxic exposures, air pollution, water pollution, climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, natural resource use (e.g., energy, water, materials), waste disposal, and ecosystem damages. These impacts can occur at just one or at many places throughout the product's life cycle: e.g., extracting raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, distribution, retailing, using the product, repairing or maintaining the product, and disposing of the product.
What makes a product “greener”?
A product may be considered “greener” if competent and reliable scientific evidence 
demonstrates it is less damaging to human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose. To the extent possible, all stages of the product “life cycle” as described above should be considered in making this comparison, and all types of public health and environmental impacts should be considered. For some product categories, certain impacts dominate the opportunity for environmental improvement. For these product categories, a greener product is one in which, at a minimum, those dominant impacts have been addressed.
The table below contains common environmental impact categories used in the life cycle assessment of products.
| Impact Category | Scale | Examples of Data |
|---|---|---|
| Global Warming/Climate change | Global | Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Methane (CH4) Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) Methyl Bromide (CH3Br) |
| Stratospheric Ozone Depletion | Global | Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) Halons Methyl Bromide (CH3Br) |
| Acidification | Regional Local |
Sulfur Oxides (SOx) Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) Hydrochloric Acid (HCL) Hydroflouric Acid (HF) Ammonia (NH4) |
| Eutrophication – The process by which a body of water or ecosystem acquires a high concentration of organic matter with potentially damaging consequences | Local | Phosphate (PO4) Nitrogen Oxide (NO) Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) Nitrates Ammonia (NH4) |
| Photochemical Smog | Local | Non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) |
| Terrestrial Toxicity | Local | Toxic chemicals with a reported lethal concentration to rodents |
| Aquatic Toxicity Additional information also available |
Local | Toxic chemicals with a reported lethal concentration to fish |
| Human Health | Global Regional Local |
Total releases to air, water, and soil |
| Resource Depletion | Global Regional Local |
Quantity of minerals used Quantity of fossil fuels used |
| Land Use | Global Regional Local |
Quantity disposed of in a landfill or other land modifications |
| Water Use | Regional Local |
Water used or consumed |
Environmental Claims
Despite a variety of initiatives intended to prevent misleading claims and increase reliable claims, there is evidence that many claims in the marketplace can be misleading . The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has primary jurisdiction over the regulation of environmental claims, and this website provides resources to help you be an informed consumer. If you represent a manufacturer or institutional purchaser, you will find resources to help you make credible environmental claims and important investments in “greener” products as a manufacturer or as a product buyer.
Feedback on this Website
EPA committed to develop this website as part of the EPA's Open Government Plan. As this is an early version of the website, we are especially interested in your ideas and feedback for future revisions. Please provide your suggestions for feedback here.
Why Greener Products?
As stated by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at the National Press Club on March 8, 2010:
“We need to reclaim leadership in the development of new products that protect our health and our environment...we need to capitalize on the growing green marketplace here and around the world.”
“Consumers want to know that their products don't have hidden health and environmental costs. Companies must respond to parents who refuse to buy bottles with BPA in them, or that leach dangerous chemicals into drinking water.”
“Recent years have seen a growing grassroots environmentalism that is directly tied to our economy. Informed consumers are demanding more of their products.”