Advertising and marketing literature often reveal numerous instances where companies promote the environmental credentials of their product. If manufacturers and retailers decide to make environmental ‘green’ claims for their products and want to be convincing, such statements need to be credible, based on sound principles and verifiable.
Many manufacturers emphasise ‘green’ claims, no matter how tenuous they are. For example, a factory producing T–shirts might label its product as ‘organic’ because some of the cotton used is sourced from a certified organic producer. The facility, however, may be very poor with respect to environmental performance.
Another familiar term used when talking about the environment is the ‘carbon footprint’. This is a metaphor for the environmental impact of an individual, group, organisation or product, based on emissions of greenhouse gases. There are six identified greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), produced during the combustion of fossil fuels in energy production, transport and heating, with the emissions being the measure of the ‘footprint’. This footprint can be calculated on a product basis or across the entire operation of the company. It may, however, include or exclude a number of contributions, such as those from distribution and air travel. Direct comparisons between companies can be difficult, as values may be derived using different methodologies.
There is a need for a product labelling scheme to make it easier for consumers to evaluate a product‘s environmental impact in a way more meaningful than a single label such as ’organic‘. For example, UK food labelling requires the description of a product‘s nutritional aspects in five categories: calories, fat, salt, carbohydrates and saturated fats. A similar five-factor approach could be used for other products to outline environmental impact through energy usage, material usage, presence of harmful chemicals, emissions during manufacture and end-of-life disposal. These values would be represented in a simple, easily–recognisable graphic label allowing different product comparisons.
SATRA has developed the basis of a sustainable product labelling scheme which it calls SATRA Sustainable Product Award. Discussions to form an industry working group began 16th June 2010.
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