Sustainability: What it Means to Be NTA-Free

There's no end to using the term "sustainability" – so much so that it may arguably lose meaning. What does sustainability even look like? A sustainable cleaning product in the car care industry breaks down safely in the water without harming aquatic life.

Nextzett strives to be sustainable – it's part of our ethos expressed in our logo, with the blue arrow representing moving forward with water-based products and the green leaf, which has an obvious symbolism of environmental focus.

A few years ago, we began putting the statement "NTA-Free" on some of our products, such as W99 Degreaser, Lotus ISF, and Blitz APC. This statement is becoming more ubiquitous in Europe, where Nextzett is based (Germany).

It hasn't reached North American shores yet, but it's only a matter of time.

What is NTA?

NTA is an acronym for a word barely pronounceable: Nitrilotriacetic Acid, hence NTA. NTA is known as a chelating agent. The principal areas of application are pre-cleaners, industrial cleaners and shampoos. Chelating agents attract and bond to metal particulates, which helps break down and remove dirt and grime. The drawback is that when they enter the water systems, they bring heavy metals and other contaminants that pollute the waterways and harm the balance of the water ecosystem. Chelating agents like NTA, in turn, can affect the water we drink.

Chelating agents are like magnets that attract metal. Just because a magnet goes down the drain doesn't mean it stops working. It would continue to attract metal particles. That's the problem with chelating agents.

Seeing this as a risk, we removed NTA from our products starting in 2010. Why don't other companies do so? Because chelating agents like NTA are lower cost. We have the same philosophy as our choice to use ethanol instead of methanol in our products. Methanol is vastly cheaper than ethanol but highly toxic.

Balance

As I've discussed in past articles, creating a formula is a balancing act of many ingredients that must work in harmony to be effective while in use. However, we must consider how they perform in their "after-life" after they end up in water run-off and into our water system.

For Detailers and Enthusiasts

If you're a professional detailer, you're constantly exposed to a cornucopia of chemicals daily. It's important to consider what's in them and how they affect you long-term. Car painters who worked in the '60s are an extreme case, but they're a reminder of how everyday chemical exposure can add up. Today, it's much different, but our goal is to think more long-term about the health effects of our products on our customers.

You can assure your customers that you're using products that meet or exceed environmental standards when using our products.

For the enthusiast, while you may not be using our products at the same rate as a professional, you can be assured that we take great care in offering safe products for you and the environment.

Forward Development

Removing NTA and other chelating chemicals from our products is just one of many steps we take at Nextzett to move forward, including reduced packaging and a higher biodegradability rate.

Changes within our formulas are not always noticeable. Still, products like W99 or Blitz are not the same in 2025 as in 2000 and certainly not the same as when introduced decades ago.

Bottom Line

Chelating ingredients such as NTA are being removed and replaced with more environmentally friendly ingredients that benefit both our customers and the environment – without affecting performance. Incremental changes are always happening in the Nextzett range of cleaning solutions that balance performance, environmental sustainability, and user safety. Look for the NTA-Free label on your next bottle. Small choices lead to a cleaner future.