The Carpet and Rug Institute said it has toughened the standards for those seeking its "Green Label" Seal of Approval on vacuum cleaners and cleaning chemicals. For example, a product’s performance must exceed old standards by 10 percent to earn bronze status. CRI said tougher standards apply to its other certification tiers as well. Gold status, for example, requires that a machine emit no more than 35 micrograms of dust particles. The previous standard was 100.

Working in partnership the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CRI has also updated its cleaning chemicals certification program and  increased the number of third party testing organizations used for the for Seal of Approval program.