October 1, 2007—The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) said it will begin certifying vacuum cleaners that improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and green cleaning products.
The CRI Seal of Approval program identifies superior carpet cleaning products that remove soil and stains without damage to the carpet. The Institute’s long-established Green Label vacuum cleaner program uses an independent laboratory to measure soil removal, containment of dirt and dust within the machine and carpet fiber protection.
The new Seal of Approval/Green Label vacuum program is a tiered program with bronze level requiring a 10% improvement of cleaning performance over the existing Green Label program.
A gold level machine must also meet a higher dust containment standard. The new gold standard requires that a machine has no more than 35 micrograms of dust particle emission. The old standard allowed for 100 micrograms of dust particle emission.
To certify that approved cleaning products do not damage the environment, CRI is partnering with Green Seal and the US Environmental Protection Agency’s “Design for the Environment program.” CRI intends to add nationally recognized green product partners so that Seal of Approval manufacturers have a choice of certifiers.
