1. Revision of EU Ecolabel Criteria for detergents
Preliminary Scoping
EU Ecolabel CB Forum
June 2014, Brussels
Joint Research Centre 
 The European Commission's in-house science service 

2. Content Current scope definition within the detergents EU Ecolabels
Penetration of the detergents EU Ecolabels
Current criteria and areas of focus for revisions
Preliminary LCA screening results
Toxicity evaluation

3. Current EU Ecolabels and revision schedule
The "detergents" group is made up of:
Domestic laundry detergents,
Industrial and institutional laundry detergents,
Detergents for dishwashers,
Industrial and institutional automatic dishwasher detergents.
 Project start – December 2013
 Preliminary reports – on-going work
 Draft for AHWG meeting – November 2014 (expected)
All-purpose cleaners,
Hand dishwashing detergents.
 Project start – June 2014
Ad hoc working group meetings to take place simultaneously for all product groups as the stakeholders are common to almost all products.

4. Source: Eurostat. PRODCOM
Production of manufactured detergent products, EU-28, value and tonnes, 2013
Source: Eurostat. PRODCOM 4

5. Current EU Ecolabel penetration
Current number of EU EcoLabelled products on the market under each Ecolabel:
- Domestic laundry detergents: 180,
(includes detergents and pre-treatment stain removers)
- I&I laundry detergents: 3,
- Domestic dishwasher detergents: 76,
- I&I dishwasher detergents:5,
- All-purpose cleaners: 2143,
(includes all-purpose cleaners, window cleaners, sanitary cleaners)
- Hand dishwashing detergents: 390.

6. Current criteria and focus areas for revisions (non-exhaustive)LD
IILD DD
IIDD
APC
HDD
Measurement threshold
Functional unit
Reference dosage
Dosage requirements
Toxicity to aquatic organisms: Critical Dilution Volume (CDV)
Biodegradability of organics
Biodegradability of surfactants
Specified excluded ingredients
Hazardous substances and mixtures
Biocides
Corrosive properties
VOCs
Enzymes
Phosphorus
Weight/utility ratio (WUR)
Phtahlates regulation plastic packaging
Labelling of plastic packaging
Fitness for use
Points system
Consumer information
Information on EU Ecolabel
Not yet studied
Existing criterion
Area under consideration

7. Preliminary screening of LCA studies Laundry and dishwasher detergents
Findings of relevance for both scope and criteria areas:
The use phase has the most impact on energy and water use: temperature of water, size of loads,
Surfactants and builders have the most impact from the POV of ingredient sourcing, concentrated detergents help reducing the impact,
Packaging and transport impacts are generally low (1-3% of all impacts, each),
End of Life: focus on toxicity to aquatic organisms and biodegradability of ingredients.
 Need for precise data on laundry detergent composition for further LCA studies – please send in contributions.

8. Toxicity evaluation: CDV vs USEtox
Toxicity to aquatic organisms is a criterion in all EU EcoLabels linked to detergents
Currently toxicity evaluation is performed by using Critical Dilution Volume (CDV)
CDV is a pass/fail assessment method with absolute toxicity thresholds and not a ranking method
USEtox has been proposed as an alternative to CDV for EU EcoLabels; it is already the recommended method for French environmental labelling
USEtox is an LCA based method and therefore used for comparing products using the best available average data
 sent to CBs (26/05) asking for feedback about measuring toxicity to aquatic organisms in national Ecolabels and what changes should be brought in the EU Ecolabel – currently no replies.

9. Toxicity evaluation: CDV vs USEtox
Tentative list of steps necessary to include USEtox as a method to assess toxicity to aquatic organisms for the EU Ecolabel:
Assess benchmark formulations with the "biggest acceptable impacts" that can be EU ecolabeled (all applicants must show their products are less impacting)
Create a database containing verified data for the most commonly found substances in detergents (make it easy to import into the USEtox)
Provide an easy-to-use manual for the USEtox method, covering in detail the case where a substance is not in the list mentioned above (which databases to use, how to calculate the different characterisation factors, etc.)
Use USEtox as a complementary (alternative?) method to CDV, at least in this revision
The following recommendation on the potential scope extension can be made on the basis of the analysis of legislation and existing labels and on the preliminary screening of market information and LCA studies for furniture,:
Furniture often seems to consist of different materials. The most common materials used in the furniture sector are wood and wood-based materials, followed by metals and plastics. Therefore the product group should be expanded in order to allow for the inclusion of types of furniture most commonly used. However, it should be noted that this proposal might result in the use of materials that are not desirable from the environmental point of view.
According to the LCA screening, it will be important to set criteria for the different material types which may be used in furniture. The focus should be on the most important environmental impacts associated to wood and wood-based products (such as sustainable forestry), metals, plastics and any other critical material identified along the project. Glass should be not excluded "a priori" from the scope, due to relevant impacts associated with the use of this material.
Although 56% of the production volume is classified as wooden furniture; few products are composed of at least 90% by weight of wood. Consequently, the current scope does not cover the significant share of the wooden furniture in the market. No matter the scope is widened or not to cover other materials, it is proposed to reduce the wood content weight threshold for wooden furniture. For instance, the minimal threshold could be set to 50%, as in the Blue Angel.
For the definition of the scope it is important to take into account the types of furniture with the greater market shares (e.g. furniture for dining rooms, living rooms and bedrooms, kitchens, seats, office furniture). Specific types of products whose primary function is not to be used as domestic or office furniture should be excluded from the scope (e.g. streetlights, bike-parks, playgrounds, building products - steps, walls, panels , sanitary equipment, carpets)

10. Needed feedback Generic formulations of different detergents:
- laundry detergents (especially industrial formulations),
- dishwasher detergents (both domestic and industrial),
- hand dishwashing detergents,
- sanitary cleaners.
Deadline: mid-July 2014
(in time to be analysed before the drafting of the criteria scheduled for July 2014)

11. Thank you Project website:
Galyna Medyna
Project website: