headquarters malle belgium products ecological cleaning products 1 slogan get nature on your side website www.ecover.com ecover is a belgium based company that manufactures ecologically sound cleaning products made from plant based and mineral ingredients . 2 contents 1 history 2 products 3 ecological factories 4 awards 5 controversy 6 sponsorship 7 references 8 external links history edit the company was founded in 1980 by frans bogaerts to create phosphate free cleaning products to reduce the environmental impact of cleaning agents . 1 following expansion to support sales through supermarkets it ran into financial difficulties during the early 1990s . 1 3 the business was sold to bogaerts son and rescued by gunter pauli a member of the company s board since 1990 . citation needed pauli in turn enlisted in 1992 the financial clout of now deceased danish investor 4 j rgen philip s rensen through the private investment company skagen . 5 the company s relaunch commenced with the construction of a ecological factory followed by investments into research projects for the purpose of developing appropriate plant based and renewable raw materials for cleaning products . citation needed ecover is part of the skagen conscience capital 6 a global organisation . aquaver 7 and the change initiatives 8 are other companies of skagen conscience capital . in 2012 ecover bought method products a san francisco united states headquartered manufacturer of biodegradable natural cleaning supplies with a focus on minimalist product design to assist its entry of the north american market . the new group had annual revenues of 200 million at that time and were the world s largest green cleaning products company by sales . 5 9 method had been founded in 2001 by eric ryan a designer and marketer and adam lowry a chemical engineer . 10 11 method opened a factory in the pullman neighborhood of chicago in 2015 . 12 13 products edit ecover comprises the following brands ecover domestic detergents cleansing agents and personal care products . held domestic detergents and cleansing agents . techno green professional detergents and cleansing agents . ecover professional professional cleansing agents . wellments personal care products 14 a number of ecover products washing up detergent domestic and professional fabric conditioner laundry detergent and multi surface cleaner are available from a container refill service customers reuse the products original container to reduce the overall environmental impact of distributing the product . ecover refill locations have previously been limited to independent health food stores and small local cooperative schemes with the company having stated that it will expand its reach in this regard . 15 16 ecological factories edit ecover built the world s first ecological factory in malle belgium with a green roof extending over more than 6000 sq m square meters . the factory opened in 1992 and was featured on television news programs 17 that allowed the company to feature the recycled and recyclable materials that make up most of the structure . in 2007 ecover opened another factory based on the same ecological premise in boulogne sur mer northern france . 18 and also secured ownership of a factory in steffisburg switzerland through the acquisition of the private held ag company manufacturer and distributor of ecological washing agents in 2003 19 awards edit in 1993 unep awarded the global 500 roll of honour to ecover for outstanding achievements in the protection and improvement of the environment . in 2008 time magazine honored ecover ceo mick bremans with the title hero of the environment together with 29 other eco pioneers working for a green future . 20 in 2010 ecover earned a finalist nomination from the european business awards for the environment for a pioneering project in green innovation in the process category . 21 controversy edit in 2007 the vegan society withdrew the vegan trademark registration from ecover products due to the company s use of daphnia water fleas to test the effects of its products on aquatic life plus rabbit blood to test stain removal . daphnia are not vertebrates and therefore are not classified as animals according to eu animal testing rules . however the vegan society s definition incorporates the entire animal kingdom which is inclusive of invertebrates as part of its vegan trademark registration criteria . 22 ecover continues to use the daphtox acute toxicity test that observes daphnia behaviour to calculate the ec50 values of their products so it can assess the environmental quality of its products . 1 23 ecover had previously been criticized for not subscribing to the british union for the abolition of vivisection s humane household products standard which requires a fixed cut off date on animal tested ingredients . ecover stated that a fixed cut off date means that we wouldn t be able to improve our products on what we have today . we do not believe that it is necessary to carry the humane household products standard to uphold our core values of transparency honesty and integrity . 24 however in october 2012 ecover was awarded the buav s leaping bunny logo . ecover ceo philip malmberg said being accepted into this program is an absolute privilege for ecover and a great way to show the world that we care . ecover has been animal friendly since the day it was founded in 1979 . the decision to align with leaping bunny and provide our customers with household cleaning and laundry products that are certified as safe and cruelty free was an obvious next step . 25 in 2010 which reported that ecover was amongst a number of companies that made green claims not supported by convincing evidence . 26 27 ecover responded several days later . 28 in 2014 ecover confirmed that it was trialling oil derived from algae . 29 in response 23 environmental consumer and farmers groups called on ecover to drop the algae . 30 some of the groups launched a petition and web site declaring that synthetic is not natural in reference to ecover s marketing which relies heavily on words like natural and eco friendly . the petition collected thousands of signatures calling on ecover to stop using synthetic algae citing a lack of regulation and knowledge about synthetic organisms and effects on farmers . 31 ecover claimed that the algal oil it is using employs the natural mutation process of algae and standard industrial fermentation 32 and would be less destructive than the palm kernel oil it currently uses 33 a claim disputed by some of the opposing groups because the algae was fed sugarcane which is also associated with biodiversity destruction . 34 sponsorship edit ecover sponsored yachtsman mike golding . 35 golding skippered the ecover sailing team in the 2009 ishares cup a selection of races all over europe sailing catamarans in competitive races against world leaders in the sport . the races took place in venice hy res cowes kiel amsterdam and almeria . 36 references edit a b c d neil jaques 12 october 2009 . the big interview mick bremans ecover cleaner cleaning . ethical corporation . retrieved 15 january 2014 . meet the world s most well known brand of sustainable household products . naturens dag . 26 october 2009 . archived from the original on 2011 07 19 . hilary osborne 17 november 2006 . spick n span ethics . the guardian . london . retrieved 9 june 2011 . rich list 2010 6 10 jorgen philip sorensen 620m 630m . birmingham post . 3 february 2010 . retrieved 30 april 2012 . a b philip blenkinsop 11 june 2013 . eco friendly soaps method vs. ecover which brand is greener . reuters . huffington post . retrieved 14 january 2014 . ecover group aquaver the change initiative jennifer thompson 4 september 2012 . ecover cleans up with us acquisition . financial times . retrieved 14 january 2014 . walker rob 2004 02 29 . consumed method . new york times magazine . retrieved 2007 07 13 . white martha c. 18 july 2011 . eric ryan co founder of method how he s getting consumers to buy green cleaning products by marrying high end design with environmental science . slate.com . http chicagotonight.wttw.com 2015 06 16 method factory http www.greenbiz.com article methods saskia van gendt honing operations ecover united kingdom the ecover group uk ecover united kingdom refill ecover united kingdom reiniging home . ecover . 2013 07 23 . retrieved 2013 09 03 . bienvenue sur ecover ecover . ecover.fr . retrieved 2013 09 03 . zusammenschluss von held und ecover in german . held ag . 2003 04 17 . retrieved 2008 10 18 . heroes of the environment 2008 . time . 24 september 2008 . european commission environment european business awards for the environment . ec.europa.eu . retrieved 2013 09 03 . ecover loses green backing over animal tests on a 0.2 mm flea . evening standard . 11 august 2007 . retrieved 28 september 2011 . frequently asked questions aquatic toxicity . ecover . archived from the original on 2012 04 24 . retrieved 28 september 2011 . simon birch sep oct 2008 . ecover . ethical consumer . retrieved 9 june 2011 . ecover is awarded the leaping bunny logo . buav . 30 october 2012 . retrieved 23 october 2013 . the greenwashing files green cleaning products . which . 28 april 2010 . retrieved 14 january 2014 . tesco sainsbury s and ecover products lack evidence for green claims which . the guardian . london . 29 april 2010 . retrieved 9 june 2011 . ecover hits back at greenwash allegations . london . 4 may 2010 . retrieved 20 oct 2013 . stephanie strom 30 may 2014 . companies quietly apply biofuel tools to household products . new york times . retrieved 9 june 2014 . open letter to ecover method re decision to use ingredients derived from synthetically modified organisms . retrieved 9 june 2014 . synthetic is not natural keep extreme genetic engineering out of natural products . retrieved 9 june 2014 . the genetic modification process used by the supplier of our algal oil employs the natural mutation process of algae and standard industrial fermentation . retrieved 27 june 2014 . algal oil the alternative to palm oil . ecover . retrieved 9 june 2014 . synthetic algae doesn t solve palm oil problems . retrieved 9 june 2014 . golding to retire from velux 5 oceans race . sail world . 4 december 2006 . retrieved 2008 10 18 . ecover extreme 40 sailing team . ecover sailing team . july 30 2009 . external links edit ecover aquaver the change initiative retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ecover & oldid 737966262 categories cleaning productscompanies of belgiumorganisations based in antwerp province mallehidden categories cs1 german language sources de all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent 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