News from the CHSA: 2024 Scheme Performance announced

More than 140 audits completed and 36,000 products checked in 2024: the CHSA Accreditation Schemes guaranteeing standards

The Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers Association (CHSA) completed 89 audits of its manufacturing members and 52 audits of its distributor members in 2024. Members achieved high levels of compliance, guaranteeing ‘what’s on the box is what’s in the box’.

Conducting the audits, the Independent Inspector checked over 1,700 labels and 1,000 products across all our Manufacturing Schemes. Within the Distributor Scheme approximately 31,250 products from Accredited Manufacturers and over 4,000 products from non-accredited manufacturers were checked. The latter were classified as compliant with the relevant scheme at the time of audit.

Any member that falls below the required standard is issued with a warning notice. They are then re-audited to ensure the appropriate remedial action has been taken to maintain their membership. This occurred twice in 2024, and the members involved have now completed three consecutive successful audits.

Lorcan Mekitarian, chair of the CHSA, explained: “We offer buyers of cleaning and hygiene products an important guarantee. Our inspection process means they can trust our Accreditation Scheme Marks. It means the products that carry an Accreditation Scheme mark match the specification and are fit for purpose. ‘What’s on the box is what’s in the box.’

“Our Schemes have never been more important than now. Our industry is incredibly competitive, and costs are going up. Customers want more for less. It has led to the growing trend for open pricing on the web and intermediaries promising products at incredibly low prices while paying little or no attention to quality and performance. Buyers are finding themselves facing the issues that drove us to set up our Accreditation Schemes first place: product short on the count, width or length, that does match the specifications on the box or, importantly, is not fit for purpose. The mark of the relevant Accreditation Scheme, which is underwritten by our auditing process, is the guarantee buyers can rely on.”

The CHSA’s Accreditation Schemes are for manufacturers of paper-based products, plastic-based products, cotton-based products, and cleaning chemicals, and for distributors of cleaning and hygiene products.

The CHSA has integrated the Competition & Markets Authority’s Green Claims Code into its Code of Practice, which is signed by every member. It requires environmental claims to be truthful and accurate, clear and unambiguous, consider the full life cycle of the product or service, be substantiated and must not hide important or relevant information. Also, comparisons must be fair and meaningful.