EPA Highlights

Look for the Safer Choice Label This Spring Teacher Award Applications Due March 13 EPA Approves New Climate-Friendly Refrigerants Pollution Prevention Benefits of TRI Look for the Safer Choice Label This Spring

Finding products that are safer for you, your family, and the environment should be easy - that’s why EPA created the Safer Choice label. The new label helps you identify products with safer chemical ingredients, without sacrificing quality or performance. When you see a product with this new label, it means that every ingredient in the product has been evaluated by EPA scientists against our stringent health and safety standards. Look for products with the Safer Choice label in stores later this spring. Major producers and retailers like Clorox, Walmart, Jelmar/CLR, Earth Friendly Products, Bissel, Wegmans, and hundreds of others have agreed to start putting Safer Choice products on the shelves this year. Learn about the label and find a list of safer products here. http://epa.gov/saferchoice Read a blog post and watch a video by Administrator Gina McCarthy announcing the new labelhere. http://go.usa.gov/3x7Fx Teacher Award Applications Due March 13 EPA is accepting applications for the 2014-2015 Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators until March 13, 2015. This award recognizes K through 12 teachers who employ innovative approaches to environmental education and use the environment as a context for student learning.  Winning teachers receive up to $2,500 to further their professional development in environmental education. Apply for the award here. http://go.usa.gov/33Rwj EPA Approves New Climate-Friendly Refrigerants EPA recently released a rule that will increase options for climate-friendly refrigerants used in refrigerators and air conditioning equipment. As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, this rule will identify and approve chemicals that will offer better climate protection without harm to the ozone layer. EPA's Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) Program evaluates and regulates substitutes for ozone-depleting chemicals that are being phased out under the Clean Air Act. Learn more about the new climate-friendly refrigerants rule here. http://go.usa.gov/3xwkC Pollution Prevention Benefits of TRI The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) collects information to track industry progress in reducing waste generation. Recent updates to the TRI Pollution Prevention (P2) Search Tool makes it easier to learn which companies are taking steps to reduce their environmental footprint in the U.S. Learn more about how the P2 Search Tool identifies effective environmental practices and highlights successes here. http://go.usa.gov/3xAXP Watch a video on the benefits of reporting pollution prevention information to TRIhere. http://youtu.be/wSrlff7NRfo