The members of the Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers Association’s (CHSA) Accreditation Scheme for Cleaning Chemicals have signed a commitment to ethical marketing.
The commitment states members adhere to four ethical principles:
- All statements and claims are truthful.
- Supporting evidence, such as data sheets, reports and certificates, are available on request to substantiate all product and service claims.
- All statements and claims are transparent. For example, it is clearly indicated if the claim applies to the product, the packaging or both.
- All statements and claims are meaningful. For example, the term eco-friendly must be defined in relation to all aspects of the product and substantiated across the full lifecycle.
This formal commitment to ethical marketing was developed to address the growing problem of spurious, misleading and unsubstantiated claims being made about cleaning chemicals. Typical claims that lack supporting evidence relate to the efficacy of the products, and many environmental credentials are little more than greenwashing.
The development of the ethical marketing commitment follows the publication of the CHSA’s Glossary, which helps buyers differentiate the meaningful from the meaningless and make sure they buy the right product for the job in hand.
All members of the CHSA adhere to the requirements of the relevant Accreditation and have signed the Association’s rigorous Code of Practice, which incorporates the Competition & Markets Authority’s Green Claims Code. It means CHSA members:
- Trade ethically and sustainably;
- Provide supporting information for claims made;
- Provide quality, fit for purpose products; and
- Make sure what’s on the box is what’s in the box.
