Clorox

The Clorox Company is a manufacturer of various food and chemical products based in Oakland, California, which is best known for its bleach product, Clorox.

History

The product and the company date to May 3, 1913, when five entrepreneurs, Archibald Taft, a banker; Edward Hughes, a purveyor of wood and coal; Charles Husband, a bookkeeper; Rufus Myers, a lawyer; and William Hussey, a miner, invested $100 apiece to set up the first commercial-scale liquid bleach factory in the United States, on the east side of San Francisco Bay. The firm was first called the Electro-Alkaline Company. In 1917, it developed a less concentrated version for household, rather than industrial, use, and sales took off.

In 1928, the company went public on the San Francisco stock exchange and changed its name to the Clorox Chemical Company. "Butch," an animated Clorox liquid bleach bottle, was used in advertising and became well-known, even surviving the 1941 transition from rubber-stoppered bottles to ones with screw-off caps.

During World War II, when chlorine gas shortages forced many bleach manufacturers to reduce the concentration of sodium hypochlorite in their products, Clorox elected to sell fewer units of a full-strength product, establishing a reputation for quality.

In 1957, Clorox was bought by Procter & Gamble, a purchase that was challenged by the Federal Trade Commission, which feared it would stifle competition in the household products market. The FTC won, and in 1969, Clorox again was made independent.

Brands

The Clorox Company now owns a number of other well-known household and professional brands across a wide variety of products, among them:

• Brita water filtration systems (only North and South America)
• Burt's Bees Natural cosmetics
• Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface daily sanitizing spray
• Glad storage bags, trash bags, Press'n Seal, and GladWare containers
• Green Works natural cleaners
• Hidden Valley Ranch, Kitchen Bouquet, and KC Masterpiece salad dressings and sauces
• Kingsford charcoal
• Lestoil, Pine-Sol, Tilex, and S.O.S cleaning products
• Liquid-Plumr clog remover
• Formula 409 hard surface cleaners
• Fresh Step, EverClean and Scoop Away cat litters
• ArmorAll and STP automotive products
• The iRobot Scooba floor-cleaning robot's standard cleaning solution is manufactured by Clorox
• Clorox 2

For historical reasons, in some markets the company's namesake bleach products are currently sold under regional brands. Clorox acquired the Javex line of bleach products sold in Canada, and similar product lines in parts of Latin and South America, from Colgate-Palmolive in late 2006. In Canada, where Clorox-branded products were not previously available, the acquired products have since been known as "Javex by Clorox", suggesting the eventual retirement of the Javex brand.

Environmental Record

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• Clorox recognizes the importance of conserving the environment and strives to find sustainable solutions.
• Clorox understands the fundamental importance of protecting the environment. Its scientists and other personnel strive to find sustainable solutions that include conserving energy and water, reducing packaging, eliminating waste and using recyclable and renewable materials.
• Clorox is committed to reducing its environmental footprint. In 2007, the company completed a comprehensive inventory of greenhouse gas emissions at its North America facilities and began collecting this information for international operations.
• Clorox works hard to make sure its products and business activities comply with, and often exceed, what's required of the company. In addition, Clorox requires all of its manufacturing facilities to establish and implement an environmental management system based on internationally accepted quality standards. Clorox’s goal is to be one of the sustainability leaders for the consumer packaged goods industry.
• Clorox works with a variety of organizations dedicated to environmental stewardship and sustainability:
• Clorox proudly supports and is a member of the EPA DfE Safer Detergent's Stewardship Initiative (SDSI) Program, promoting the use of safer surfactants. Information on EPA DfE (Design for Environment) Programs can be found at http://www.epa.gov/dfe/index.htm.
• Active member of the Consumer Specialty Products Association's Product Care program, which is a national, voluntary, industry-sponsored program that drives environmental stewardship as a core value.
• Founding member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWise program in 1995, which promotes the development of corporate recycling programs.
• Active member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. The nonprofit coalition's mission is to develop sustainable packaging solutions for today's consumers.
• Active member of two of Wal-Mart's Sustainable Value Networks: packaging and chemical-intensive products.
• Long-standing member of the Chlorine Institute and its Sustainable Technology Issue Team.
• Member of the Chamber of the Chemical and Petrol Industry – Argentina Responsible Care program, an industry performance initiative promoting continuous improvement in environmental, health and safety performance.
• Active member of the Grocery Manufacturers Association/Food Processors Association's sustainability leadership group that provides a forum for consumer packaged goods and food companies to address sustainability issues.
• Active member of Kentucky's and West Virginia's Chamber of Commerce environmental committees.
• Environmental stewardship partner with Keep America Beautiful, whose mission is to find solutions that prevent litter, reduce waste and beautify communities.
• Clorox’s Glad® brand participates in the American Society for Testing and Materials committee on plastics and its subcommittee on environmentally degradable plastics.
• Member of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, a nonprofit, worldwide professional society whose mission is to support the development of principles and practices for protection, enhancement and management of sustainable environmental quality and ecosystem integrity.

External links

• The Clorox Company
• Clorox (consumer products portal)
• Clorox ProResults Composite Deck Cleaner Demo (Easy2 Demo)