Ecolab Named One of the World's Most Ethical Companies for Seventh Consecutive Year

ST. PAUL, Minn., March 6, 2013 /3BL Media/ - For the seventh consecutive year, Ecolab Inc. (ECL) has been named one of the world's most ethical companies by the Ethisphere Institute. Since 2007, the Ethisphere Institute has awarded the annual designation to companies throughout the world that demonstrate the highest ethical standards.

"Every day Ecolab's 41,000 associates strive to make the world cleaner, safer and healthier," said
Douglas M. Baker, Jr., Ecolab chairman and chief executive officer. "This purpose guides us to manage our global operations with integrity and care for the health, safety and prosperity of our associates, customers, communities and the environment."

The Ethisphere Institute is a leading international organization dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, governance, anti-corruption and sustainability. Ethisphere reviewed a record number of nominations from companies representing 36 industries and more than 100 countries.

"We are seeing more companies like Ecolab be proactive and create new initiatives that expand ethics programs and cultures across entire industry activities," said
Alex Brigham, executive director, Ethisphere. "We are excited to see the 2013 World's Most Ethical Companies take these leadership positions, and embrace the correlation between ethical behavior and improved financial performance."

The methodology for the ranking includes reviewing codes of ethics, litigation and regulatory infraction histories; evaluating the investment in innovation and sustainable business practices; looking at activities designed to improve corporate citizenship; and studying nominations from senior executives, industry peers, suppliers and customers. For more information, visit www.ethisphere.com/wme.

About Ecolab

A trusted partner at more than one million customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources. With 2012 sales of $12 billion and 41,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions and on-site service to ensure safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world. For more Ecolab news and information, visit www.ecolab.com.

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Ecolab Inc.
Roman Blahoski, 651-293-4385
MediaRelations@Ecolab.com

Source: Ecolab Inc.