For more information or to get involved in helping reduce pollution in your community, contact:

Tanner Johnson

Environmental Programs Coordinator  

Phone: 907-310-6604 /

Email: tjohnson@akforum.org    

Alaska Forum Safer Choice Program: https://akforum.org/safer-choice/  

EPA Safer Choice Program: https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice/learn-about-safer-choice-label   

Pollution Prevention Program

Knik Tribe's Natural Resources Department

About the Program

Knik Tribe and Alaska Forum are working together to help Alaska communities reduce pollution at the source by encouraging the use of EPA Safer Choice certified cleaning products in schools, tribal offices, clinics, local stores, and other community spaces. This project combines practical technical assistance, public education, and local outreach to make it easier for communities to choose cleaning products that are safer for human health and the environment. This work is supported through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 

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For communities across Alaska, pollution prevention can begin with a simple purchasing decision. By shifting janitorial and household cleaning product use toward safer alternatives, communities can reduce routine exposure to toxic chemicals while also supporting healthier indoor spaces for elders, youth, staff, and families.

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What is Pollution Prevention?  

Also known as source reduction, Pollution Prevention (P2) is any practice that reduces, eliminates, or prevents pollution at its source prior to recycling, treatment, or disposal. P2 reduces both the financial costs of waste management and cleanup and the environmental and human health costs of pollution. P2 protects the environment by conserving and protecting natural resources, strengthening economic growth through more efficient production in industry and less need for households, businesses, and communities to handle waste.      

Why This Work Matters  

Everyday cleaning products can affect indoor air quality, waste streams, and routine chemical exposure in places where elders, youth, staff, and families spend their time. Pollution prevention offers a simple and practical path forward: reduce harmful inputs before they enter the home, school, office, clinic, landfill, or environment. Choosing safer products can help reduce exposure to chemicals of concern, while also creating downstream benefits for local environmental health and community wellbeing. Safer Choice certified products are an accessible source-reduction strategy that fits rural Alaska better than more industrial pollution-prevention models.

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Reducing pollution in Alaska communities does not always require a complex intervention. The effort can start with a practical shift in what products are stocked, purchased, and used every day. This program offers communities a simple opportunity to protect public health, reduce exposure to harmful chemicals, and build momentum for broader pollution prevention efforts across the region.

Why Safer Choice

Products carrying the EPA Safer Choice label are reviewed against health and environmental criteria while still meeting performance standards. Certified products can include detergents, surface cleaners, all-purpose cleaners, degreasers, and more, for which EPA scientists have reviewed ingredients for concerns such as carcinogenicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, aquatic toxicity, and environmental persistence. 

For communities, this means a simple question can have a real impact:
Are we using the safest, most effective cleaning products available for our schools, offices, and shared spaces?

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Opportunities to Participate

Communities, schools, tribal offices, local governments, clinics, and businesses can participate by working with the Alaska Forum and Knik Tribe to:

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• Identify safer EPA Safer Choice cleaning products already available in local stores or through purchasing channels.

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• Build a manageable transition plan for janitorial purchasing toward safer options in schools, offices, and other facilities.

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• Receive store signage, posters, one-sheets, and digital outreach materials to build community awareness.

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• Receive technical assistance to community leaders and partners on practical implementation steps.

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• Engage local businesses and stores to highlight safer options already available on their shelves, increasing sell-through and community engagement.

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Results from Prior Work

The previous grant cycle demonstrated that this approach can work across Alaska and that implementation can be successful across a wide array of communities and businesses. Project accomplishments included:

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• outreach in 65 communities 

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• 43 businesses contacted about participation

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• 190 tribal, government, and community organizations reached

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• public education signage delivered to 18 stores and 26 tribal/community entities

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• Digital outreach assets and toolkit materials were developed for use in social media, newsletters, and local education efforts – often in line with tribal IGAP workplan priorities.

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• Direct institutional product transitions – communities in Western Alaska to the Bristol Bay region shifted the majority of office cleaning products to Safer Choice-certified options.

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The work also produced direct community-level change. Numerous communities transitioned the majority of their office cleaning products to Safer Choice-certified items across multiple product categories, including surface wipes, floor cleaners, all-purpose cleaners, and whiteboard cleaners, demonstrating how institutional purchasing decisions can reduce toxics exposure while building longer-term community awareness. 

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Regional participation in western Alaska and other rural areas also demonstrates that this model can be adapted to local conditions and priorities, including work with tribal councils, city administrations, schools, clinics, IGAP programs, and local stores.