Green Seal, the nation's premier nonprofit ecolabel, is excited to announce that the first products certified to its Standard for Environmental Innovation (GS-20) are a complete line of floor-care pads from Americo Manufacturing Company. The certified products include all of Americo’s Full Cycle^® Floor Pads, both abrasive and non-abrasive, which have been proven to offer enhanced biodegradation in landfill conditions and to contain 100% recycled content and natural fiber.

“Green Seal is delighted to have Americo’s Full Cycle^® Floor Pads lead the way as the first products to earn GS-20 certification,” stated Arthur B. Weissman, Ph.D., Green Seal’s President and CEO.  “The pads are a stellar example of what happens when sustainability, innovation, and performance combine in product design,” he added.

Americo’s Full Cycle^® floor pads are made with 100% recycled PET fiber or a combination of that and natural fibers. The company also uses water-based latex in the manufacturing process, avoiding phenolic-based resins. The pads have been tested by an independent lab to demonstrate that they biodegrade at a faster rate than conventional floor pads in a simulated landfill environment. The enhanced biodegradation helps to reduce landfill volume over time. In addition, this significantly shorter time frame allows landfills  that  have  methane-to-energy collection  systems  in  place  to  capture  landfill gas and convert it to energy. Americo provides end-of-life instructions to the market for disposing of the pads in landfills that capture landfill gas and convert it to energy atwww.americofullcycle.com/waste-to-energy.

"With Green Seal being one of the most well-known and respected environmentally based certification organizations in our industry, Americo is proud to be recognized and awarded with their first GS-20 Environmental Innovation certification for our Full Cycle^® floor pads,” stated Richard Rones, President of Americo Manufacturing Company.

In order to become certified under GS-20, Americo submitted an application to Green Seal describing its product line and the environmental benefits it claimed for validation.  Green Seal examined these benefits in a life-cycle context and also determined whether the product line could be considered innovative, as defined by the standard.

Additional information about the GS-20 standard, the certification process, and the full list of criteria developed for this specific product group can be found at www.greenseal.org/GS20.