Novozymes named EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year for second consecutive year

FRANKLINTON, North Carolina, USA – November 1, 2022. Novozymes was named a 2022 Safer Choice^® Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for outstanding achievement in the manufacture of ingredients that are safer for families, pets, workplaces, communities, and the environment. Novozymes is among the 26 Safer Choice Partner of the Year award winners announced by the EPA in 2022.

The Safer Choice program helps consumers and purchasers for facilities, such as schools and office buildings, find products that perform and are safer for human health and the environment. Novozymes’ recognition is based on the company’s innovative approach to creating enzymes to be incorporated into safer detergents, and for spreading awareness of Safer Choice advocating for use of Safer Choice ingredients.

“We are proud to again be receiving this recognition as a Safer Choice Partner,” said Arnaud Melin, VP of Consumer Biosolutions, Americas, at Novozymes. “Alongside our industry partners we’re striving to build the next generation of cleaning products, starting with laundry detergents, to reduce chemical and carbon footprints by leveraging sustainable, biological solutions.”

Decarbonization of the cleaning industry is one of the key goals for Novozymes’ biological detergent initiative. Typically, detergents are made of ingredients such as surfactants, polymers, and solvents. These fossil-derived chemical ingredients can account for up to 46% of a detergent’s carbon footprint. But Novozymes enzymes can partially replace the chemicals in laundry detergents with more climate-friendly biobased ingredients.

Consumers and purchasers are increasingly asking for eco-friendly products that are gentler on the planet and for end-users. The Safer Choice program makes it easier for people to identify the products that achieve that, while not compromising on performance and cost. “We are proud to recognize Novozymes North America in Raleigh, North Carolina for their work to manufacture safer chemicals in a sustainable manner," said EPA Region 4 Administrator Daniel Blackman. “Their achievements in promoting the Safer Choice program and supporting formulators to become Safer Choice certified ultimately provides consumers and commercial buyers with products that are safer for communities and the environment.”

Novozymes is on an ambitious journey to enable biological detergents without compromising wash performance and cost. The company continues to build its product portfolio to help industry partners to launch U.S. EPA Safer Choice approved consumer products. In 2021, Novozymes added seven ingredients to CleanGredients, a database of chemical ingredients pre-approved for use in Safer Choice-certified products, including its latest innovation to remove body grime from clothes, Pristine^® 100 T. Novozymes supported 12 requests made by formulators and brand owners for certification of formulations by the Safer Choice program. Novozymes also leveraged owned media to promote both the U.S. EPA Safer Choice program, as well as Novozymes’ product lines that enable formulators and retailers to offer cleaning products that carry the Safer Choice logo.

The company also ran a survey of 1,000 consumers in the United States to gather data on consumer perception of Safer Choice as the most trustworthy certification on laundry products. Novozymes provided this information to formulators to help them understand how Safer Choice certification enables commercial success. Novozymes showed its commitment to EPA’s goal of addressing climate change by working to reduce carbon emissions. Novozymes has also committed to ensuring zero waste by 2030. The company is well on its way to this goal, with a recycling rate of non-biomass waste at 62% in 2021, compared to 48% in 2020. The company also successfully advocated within the Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) and the Sustainable Chemistry Alliance (SCA) for those organizations to prioritize supporting Safer Choice.

“Our company purpose states ‘Together, we find biological answers for better lives in a growing world.’ A vital element of this is not just doing our part with our own products, but also educating and empowering others, whether that be our commercial customers, the organizations we partner with, or the general public, to explore and adopt these solutions’” said Melin. “We understood that formulators, retailers, and consumers need to build awareness toward both U.S. EPA Safer Choice and Novozymes’ Safer Choice product lines easily in order to build product formulations that are environmentally friendly. Striving for and earning that Safer Choice standard demonstrates a commitment to rethinking tomorrow.”

To qualify for the Safer Choice label, a product must meet EPA’s Safer Choice Standard, which includes stringent human and environmental health criteria. The Safer Choice program currently partners with about 350 formulator-manufacturer partners who make nearly 2,000 Safer Choice-certified products for both consumers and commercial buyers.

More information on the 2022 Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award winners can be found at www.epa.gov/saferchoice/safer-choice-partner-year-awards. Click here for the Novozymes Safer Choice Partner of the Year video.