The app helps you reduce the harmful environmental and health impact of your household management. What can you do with the app?
- by scanning the barcode of a product or by browsing, you can easily find out about the impact household cleaning products have on the environment and on your health.
- you can accept challenges;
- you can make your own list of favourites;
All products in the application were evaluated according to a unified method developed by experts. Based on the evaluation, the products were then classified into three categories. Data for the evaluation were collected directly from the product labels and from publicly available sources.
Which aspects define the environmental and health impact of a product?
The evaluation is based on the characteristics of the components:
- the health and environmental effects of the substances reported by the industry;
- if the substance are classified as very harmful by international professional consensus or legislation;
- if the usage of the substance is not permitted in ecolabelled products.
Additional product label information was also taken into consideration, namely:
- hazard pictograms (hazard symbols in a red frame);
- ecolabels assessed by third parties, in accordance with legal regulations. If holds a third party certified, legally regulated ecolabel, the product receives better scores than products with the same or similar components. This is to acknowledge the environmental advantages guaranteed by the ecolabel beyond the characteristics of the substances.
The substances and the hazard pictograms are identified on the basis of the safety data sheet.
Based on their components and characteristics, the less hazardous products are ranked higher, especially if they hold an ecolabel.
The category’s highest rated product is always classified as green, while the lowest rated is always classified as red. The classification of the other products is based on their results compared to the best product in the category. When a new product has higher scores than the best product so far, the category limits and the ranking of the close-to-limit products may change.
Great choice! These are the best products in the category. Choose these if you want to minimize the harmful environmental and health risks in your household. The detergents you find here are made of components which are milder in terms of their health and environmental impact; they are often ecolabelled.
Be careful! You’ll find gentler but also harsher products than these ones. Their composition may be less milder than those of other products classified as green. They may be hazardous and this might be indicated on the product by some kind of hazard label. Rarely you might find ecolabelled products among them.
Change! Red-rated products should be handled with care. You may consider abandoning or replacing them. Using red-rated products usually poses more serious environmental or health risks than using other products. It is likely that they are especially hazardous, and this is indicated on the product by a hazard label.
What if you do not find a product in our database? Take a photo of it and send it to us! app@tve.hu
The publication of the app as part of the Green&Safe LIFE-styles project is supported by the European Union LIFE program and co-funded by the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture. ENV GIE HU000622