Green Seal Certification and Standards

Get Your Product or Service Green Seal Certified
FFind a Green Seal Certified Product or Service
Make a Donation
About Green Seal
Green Seal Certification and Standards
Green Programs
Publications and Resources
Newsroom
Contact Green Seal
Home

Back to Standards

Watering Hoses (GC-01)

Second Edition, April 4, 1994
Copyright © 1994 Green Seal, Inc.

  1. Scope
    This criteria document establishes environmental requirements for watering hoses.

  2. Definitions
    For the purposes of this criteria document, the following definitions apply:

    1. Post-consumer: Those finished products, packages or materials generated by a business or consumer that have served their intended end uses, and that have been recovered from or otherwise diverted from the waste stream for the purpose of recycling.

    2. Performance Requirements
      The product must be made in accordance with reasonable industry practice with respect to quality and performance.

    3. Environmental Requirements

      1. Criteria for Environmentally Preferable Garden Hoses: the product, when used according to instructions, shall emit water to the ground or under the surface through a very low-discharge drip or "tearing" process. The product shall be made of at least 65% recycled rubber from post-consumer motor vehicle tires.

      2. Criteria for Environmentally Preferable Sprinkler Hoses: the product packaging shall include instructions to consumers regarding those applications for which soaker hoses are preferable and recommends soaker hoses for such applications. It also shall explain those applications for which sprinkler hoses are designed. The product shall be made of at least 50% post-consumer rubber from used motor vehicle tires.

    4. Packaging Requirements

      1. Packaging shall not contain inks, dyes, pigments, stabilizers, or any other additives to which any lead, cadmium, mercury, or hexavalent chromium has been intentionally introduced.

      2. The sum of the concentration levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent chromium present in any package or packaging components shall not exceed 100 parts per million by weight.

    5. Labeling Requirements
      Unless otherwise approved in writing by Green Seal, the following labeling requirements shall apply.

      1. The Green Seal Certification Mark shall appear on the package. It may also be printed or embossed on the product by the product manufacturer.

      2. Wherever it appears the Green Seal Certification Mark shall be accompanied by the phrase, "Contains XX% post-consumer rubber from used tires. Meets or Exceeds GC-1."