Ajax

Evaluation Completed: 
July 9, 2025
Adults
Kitchen
Bathroom

Ajax is owned by the company Colgate-Palmolive. Hilde evaluates parent companies rather than individual brands. You can read more about why we think this approach is more helpful for consumers on our blog.

Like some of the other multinational companies we’ve evaluated, Colgate-Palmolive presents a bit of a challenge. The company has a large number of brands and some of those brands have been acquired over time. Some of those brands may go a bit further when it comes to ingredient safety & sustainability. For example, Tom’s of Maine is a B-Corp. But the majority of brands owned by this company are not and are ultimately subject to the overarching policies and practices dictated by the company that owns them. And in this case, there are some foundational gaps when it comes to the issues we evaluate for parent companies like Colgate-Palmolive.

Hilde Status:

Avoid

Consider

Recommended

We try to avoid purchasing or using products made by this company or their brands in our homes.
We may decide to purchase or use products made by this company or their brands in our homes when other options are not accessible.
Hilde Ratings
Topic
Rating
Ingredient Safety
Environmental impact
People Benefits
Governance
Hilde Approved Certifications
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
Hilde Likes

Benchmarking ingredient safety practices

Nature & biodiversity protection

Public disclosure and reporting

Science-based climate protection goal

Solid responsible sourcing efforts

Opportunities for Improvement

Committing to fair wages

Accelerate progress on packaging waste reduction

Increasing use of lower-impact raw materials

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Improving ingredient safety substantiation

Aligning political activities

Transitioning to a more protective ingredient safety approach

Adopting a context-based approach to sustainability

Verification of ingredient safety efforts

Additional Information
Parent Company:
Colgate-Palmolive
Owned Brands:
None
Product Types:
Surface cleaning

Evaluation Summary

Basic
Advanced
Leadership
Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Hilde Likes

Benchmarking ingredient safety practices

It is helpful to see that this company has participated in the Chemical Footprint Policy to help benchmark their policies and practices against other companies but they should make the results public

Opportunities for Improvement

Improving ingredient safety substantiation

We think there is more going on behind the scenes with this company when it comes to ingredient safety and we’d like to have more information on their approach

Transitioning to a more protective ingredient safety approach

This company has built a solid framework for evaluating ingredient safety but we would like to see them move from a risk-based approach to a more precautionary one based on hazard

Verification of ingredient safety efforts

This company should start using or expand their use of trustworthy certifications that help verify their claims related to ingredient safety

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Hilde Likes

Nature & biodiversity protection

This company appears to have a holistic approach to identifying and managing impacts to ecosystems that provide important raw materials for their products

Science-based climate protection goal

We’re happy to see that this brand has publicly committed to reducing their carbon footprint in ways that are aligned with the latest science.

Opportunities for Improvement

Accelerate progress on packaging waste reduction

While we appreciate the initial progress, we think this company needs to take more aggressive action to reduce the potential environmental impacts associated with packaging waste

Increasing use of lower-impact raw materials

We would like to see this company increase their use of certified (e.g. USDA Organic) raw materials and ingredients

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

This company needs to rapidly reduce GHG emissions to achieve the reductions necessary to protect people & the planet and achieve their goals

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Hilde Likes

Solid responsible sourcing efforts

This company appears to identify the right priorities and have a credible approach to improving the sustainability of their supply chain.

Opportunities for Improvement

Committing to fair wages

This company has the policies and resources in place to make a formal commitment to fair or living wages for the people working in their supply chain

Foundational Gaps

The company does not meet sufficient baseline criteria for this category and has many opportunities for improvement.

Solid Baseline

The company meets most of our basic criteria and sometimes demonstrates a deeper commitment than other companies on issues in this category.

Strong Performance:

The company appears to be a top performer in this evaluation category and exhibits leadership on one or more of the issues we evaluate.

Hilde Likes

Public disclosure and reporting

This company provides helpful disclosure on their efforts through annual reporting on sustainability or ESG topics for consumers or other stakeholders

Opportunities for Improvement

Aligning political activities

We would like to see this company undertake and publicly disclose the outcomes of efforts to evaluate and align their political activities, issue advocacy, and trade association memberships with their publicly stated values and policies

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