The European Parliament recently officially endorsed extending the EU's eco-label plan to new products, including processed food. They are one of the few to create these type of standards.
The EU assembly backed the Commission's July 2008 proposal to revise the voluntary eco-label plan with an overwhelming majority . The revised legislation aims to widen the number of products covered by the plan and reduce costs by cutting administrative red tape.
Under its eco-label plan, the Commission sets individual criteria for each product group before awarding the Community flower label.
Currently, over 3,000 products including detergents, paper and shoes have
received the recognition.
Food products will not only be assessed according to their production processes,
but also a lifecycle approach, including the environmental impact of transport,
the agreement states. Moreover, the Commission will consider only awarding the
eco-label to organic products, to make it easier for consumers to navigate the
label jungle.
The Parliament refused to budge on excluding products that contain substances that are toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic or otherwise hazardous to the environment.
It’s really about time we’ve seen this type of labeling happen. Hopefully, this continues to plant seeds for other countries to follow suit, especially the U.S. I agree that the more regulations we have, actually the easier it will be to market green products to consumers. You’ll spend less time proving your product is green and be able to spend more time educating and selling the consumer on why your green solution makes the most sense. I applaud the EU for creating these new standards for their eco-label.
Here is a list of other eco-labels that exist:
• Japan's Eco Mark
• Nordic Swan Eco-label
• Korea's Environmental Labeling Association
• India's Ecomark Scheme
• Singapore's Green Label Scheme
• Sweden's Good Environmental Choice
• France's NF Environment
• Australia's Environmental Choice
• United States' Green Seal
• International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
I’ll be talking about how eco-labels have an effect on consumer behavior in my next blog post.
Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends
Colette Chandler
