Owner Sunshine Makers, Inc. Markets All-purpose cleaners | Introduced 1979 | |
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Simple Green is a brand of cleaning products produced by Sunshine Makers, Inc. Their best known product is Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner, which in 2004 totaled sales of at least $5.7 million USD.
It is advertised as an environmentally friendly, non-toxic, and biodegradable cleaner. It received critical attention from environmental safety activists because of the toxicity concerns of 2-butoxyethanol (EGBE), which was in the formula at under 4%. As of 2013 Simple Green all-purpose cleaner removed 2-butoxyethanol, and has a NFPA/HMIS rating of 0/minimal for Health, Fire, Reactivity, and Special. The company stands by its safety, stating that it is backed by over $3 million in safety testing.
Environmental uses
Simple Green has been re-listed as an approved Surface Washing Agent per the EPA's National Contingency Plan after being de-listed in 1995. The new 2013 re-formulation, SW-65 was re-listed with the EPA on 7/09/2013 EPA toxicity testing reports that Menidia beryllina and Mysidopsis bahia survive slightly better in a water solution of 1:10 mixture of Simple Green with crude oil#2 (LC50 = 8.30 ppm for 96 h and 4.40 ppm for 48 h) than in a water solution of crude oil #2 (LC50 = 6.50 ppm for 96 h and 3.70 ppm for 48 h).
In 2001, Crystal Simple Green was used to clean up an oil spill in the Baltic Sea. In 2005, laboratory testing on rainbow trout indicated that Crystal Simple Green by itself did not affect the survival of rainbow trout adults or larvae. Crude oil #2 did not affect adults but did increase the mortality rate of larvae to 36%. Crystal Simple Green combined with crude oil #2 did not affect adults but did increase the mortality rate of larvae to 46%.
Simple Green has also been used for soil remediation projects.