When Labels Aren't Hurtful

Why is Method, an eight-year old company that hawks household cleaning products, one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S.? And how has this San Francisco-based upstart taken on an industry filled with heavyweights like P&G, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever, and not only survived, but made the other guys pant to catch up?

Chutzpah has something to do with it. So does slick design: Method founders Adam Lowry and Owen-Wilson-look-alike Eric Ryan recruited product design superstar Karim Rashid to dream up one of their first, hour-glass-shaped bottles. But chemistry is also a big part of the story.

Anybody familiar with Method’s products knows that they’re made with nontoxic, natural ingredients. That’s the pitch and Method’s appeal. But Method got to this golden goose by using natural biological processes to create materials that are both safe for people and high-performing. This approach to product development is sometimes called green chemistry.

Green chemistry examines not only how a product is used, but where it comes from and what happens to it when it is thrown away. Many so-called green bioplastics, for example, need to be incinerated at extremely high heat in order to degrade, which makes them less green in the long run.

Besides the problem of where the stuff goes once you throw it away, there’s also the issue of safety. Since manufacturers aren’t required to disclose all of the ingredients used on their products, we could be killing ourselves with the very chemicals we count on to protect us from germs and kitchens spills.

Now that I’m a Dad, I’m much more worried out about what’s in the things I spray and pour around the house. That’s why I was glad to hear (can you feel it? Here comes my plug for a bill!) about the Household Product Labeling Act, a bill by — you guessed it — freshman Senator Al Franken, which requires household cleaning products to be clearly labeled with complete ingredient disclosure.

"Moms and dads have a right to know whether harmful chemicals are present in their kitchen cupboards," Franken said when he introduced the bill in Minnesota. "This is just a common-sense measure to help parents keep their kids safe and healthy."

Which brings me back to the folks at Method: To help promote the bill, Method has produced a sassy video “meant to be entertaining while also provoking viewers to think about the chemicals they are using and breathing.” Method also has both the House and Senate versions of the bill posted on this website.

Until recently, businesses didn't feel the need to care about the before and after of the junk they sold us. Consumers like you and me, however, have pushed them to think about the triple bottom line. Some entrepreneurs, like the Method guys, are listening.

Photo Credit: sciondriver