The safety and wellbeing of people is the industry’s over-riding priority. As part of our commitment to raising awareness on the safe use of our products, A.I.S.E. runs Product Stewardship Programmes (‘PSPs) for specific product categories which promote best practices that go beyond the legal requirements that regulate our industry.
The commitments of the industry’s product stewardship come into place over and above legal compliance with legislation such as CLP, REACH, the Detergent Regulation, the Dangerous Substances Directive, or the General Product Safety Directive to mention a few. Product stewardship also builds on existing voluntary initiatives in the areas of safety assessment and sustainability (for example, the Human and Environmental Assessment Scheme (HERA), the industry’s safe use icons, or the A.I.S.E. Charter for Sustainable Cleaning).
There are currently programmes in place for two product categories, namely air fresheners and liquid detergent capsules. Any company which places these products on the market in Europe can sign up to the PSP and commit to apply a voluntary set of rules and standards focused on good manufacturing, safety and communications practices.
Ensuring the safe use of air fresheners
A.I.S.E.’s product stewardship of air fresheners
A.I.S.E.’s Product Stewardship Programme (PSP) on Indoor Air Emissions from Air Fresheners is implemented by the major European manufacturers of indoor air freshening products Reckitt, SJ Johnson and P&G and has been in place since 2007. The PSP is a powerful tool for companies to show their commitment to responsible marketing of air care products. It combines best practices in all relevant areas, including advertising, labelling, safety assessment and education to consumers and goes beyond regulatory requirements.
The PSP is open to companies operating in Europe and manufacturing non-combustible air fresheners e.g. sprays – including aerosols, mini and pump-sprays, liquid wicks, gels, potpourris, electrical devices and car fresheners, as well as perfumed and non-perfumed candles. The commitments involve good safety and communication practices in the areas of design, manufacturing, marketing and communication. The commitment of each participating company is monitored by A.I.S.E. according to key performance indicators as well as external third-party audits.
The most recent audit indicates that more than 439 million air freshener products manufactured or placed on the market in Europe are compliant with the A.I.S.E. programme.
Ensuring the safe use of liquid detergent capsules
A.I.S.E.’s product stewardship of liquid detergent capsules
The safety of consumers is a top priority for A.I.S.E. and its member companies involved in placing liquid detergent capsules on the European market. Liquid capsules were introduced into European markets in the early 2000s as an innovative, easy to use compact detergent format for laundry, machine dishwashing and floor cleaning. In 2012, A.I.S.E. launched its first voluntary product stewardship programme (PSP) for liquid laundry detergent capsules (LLDCs) with the aim to help significantly reduce incidents involving these products such as ingestion or eye exposure by young children.
The LDC PSP is open to all companies placing liquid detergent capsules on the market in Europe and involves additional commitments over an above compliance with EU legislation for the product category that includes (not exclusively) the EU Regulation on Classification Labelling and Packaging (CLP) and the Detergent Regulation.
Today, most major manufacturers of the product liquid detergent capsules are signatories to the PSP, driving best practices in safe use communication for the product. This includes Henkel, Procter & Gamble, McBride, Persan, Reckitt, SmellWell and Unilever. The commitments undertaken by the companies include product specifications, child impeding measures, visible industry-wide safety icons and labelling and an advertising code of conduct.
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