CARB-Compliant CARB

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulates emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a wide range of consumer and commercial products, including cleaning chemistries. VOCs are carbon-containing compounds that evaporate at room temperature and contribute to ground-level ozone formation, which CARB regulates as a precursor to smog. California’s VOC limits are stricter than the federal limits set by EPA, so a product compliant with the EPA threshold may still be non-compliant in California.

For cleaning products, the limits live in CARB’s Consumer Products Regulation (Title 17 CCR §94507 et seq.). The regulation sets maximum VOC content percentages for dozens of product categories — general-purpose cleaners, degreasers, glass cleaners, disinfectants, floor finishes, carpet and upholstery cleaners, and so on. A product sold or used commercially in California must either fall under the applicable limit or qualify for one of the regulation’s exemptions.

What this means for a commercial cleaning contractor:

1. Procurement. Every product on the truck has to be checked against the CARB limit for its category. National-brand products sometimes ship a California-compliant SKU separately from the national SKU — the formulation is different, the VOC content is different, and the labels make the distinction.
2. Substitution. Some traditional solvents — mineral spirits, certain glycol ethers, d-limonene at high concentration — are restricted or banned. We’ve reformulated several jobs over the years as products were CARB-listed.
3. Tenant air quality. Even within the CARB limits, a high-VOC-but-legal product applied in an occupied office can trigger complaints. We schedule heavy-VOC work (some grout sealers, certain coatings) for after-hours or weekend windows.

CCSD’s product catalog runs CARB-compliant by default. For specialty work that requires a borderline-VOC chemistry (commercial grout sealing, certain restoration coatings), we pre-clear the product and the application schedule with the facility manager.