Verifying Environmental Product Claims

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing seems to be the new hot strategy for public and private organizations alike. Many environmentally preferable purchasers have had trouble validating environmental claims, and have turned to third-party certifiers to assist them. Third-party environmental claims certifiers validate the claim so that you don’t need to have the expertise or the time to do it yourself.

This article lists three types of third-party certifiers: organizations that develop standards and certify products for a wide range of products, certification schemes that focus on one product area, and organizations that focus on one environmental attribute.

Labelers and Certifiers with a Wide Range of Products

Green Seal is a private, non-profit organization that sets environmental standards and awards their environmental label to products that meet their criteria. Green Seal has certified a wide variety of products bought by businesses, including copiers, copy paper, and fluorescent lamps and ballasts. Green Seal charges the manufacturer or vendor to certify a product, and will give the applicant a cost estimate for the initial evaluation and ongoing annual reviews.

Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) certifies environmental claims related to recycled fiber, biodegradation, certified organic ingredients/pesticide residues, water efficiency “no smog producing ingredients,” and sustainable forestry. SCS also issues “environmental report cards” that give graphical information about the environmental impact of certain products.

Certification Programs Outside of the U.S.

The Global EcoLabeling Network page will direct you to ecolabel programs based all over the world. Most of these programs are supported by various governments and are similar to The European Union EcoLabeling Program hopes to work towards harmonizing the various ecolabels of Europe.

Certifications Based on Product Area

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has published criteria defining responsible forestry and accredits organizations that certify wood from responsibly managed forests. There are two FSC-accredited wood certifiers in the U.S., Scientific Certification Systems and Smartwood.

The LEED Green Building Rating System is a program of the US Green Building Council, a nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of green building practices, technologies, policies, and standards. LEED is a system for rating new and existing buildings based on environmental criteria. Building certification costs from $1200-$1500 and the standard is free for downloading, so businesses could use this standard when building a new structure or can use the standard when evaluating buildings to lease or buy.

The Chlorine Free Paper Consortium certifies paper products made without chlorine and lists chlorine-free products they have certified. Chlorine pollution from the paper and pulp industry has been identified as a major source of dioxin in the environment.

Certification Based on Particular Environmental Concerns

The independent, not-for-profit Chlorine Free Products Association certifies paper mills for chlorine-free and processed chlorine-free production. The auditing screen assesses energy and water consumption, use of harmful toxins like dioxin and furans produced by chlorine chemistry, and overall social and environmental responsibility. It also provides chain-of-custody certification for all fibers. Once audited, the mill receives a Certificate of Authenticity that lists its Sustainability Index rating on a scale of up to 1350 points. In 2004, CFPA introduced the Sustainable Manufacturing and Marketing Initiative (SMMI), an auditing process that aims to simplify the sustainability reporting of raw material extraction, manufacturing processes, and products.

The Energy Star program of the U.S. government allows products that meet certain energy conservation criteria to use the Energy Star logo. The types of products certified include fluorescent light bulbs, central air conditioners, computers, copiers, printers and electrical transformers, furnaces. Energy Star lists all certified products and stores that sell these products.