Recently in Eco-labeling Category

Deborah Fleischer, founder and president of Green Impact, works with mid-sized companies to launch green initiatives . In a recent entrepreneur's coaching event, she observed three key challenges common to many of the companies she spoke with.

1. Lifecycle assessment (LCA): LCA is an approach that considers the cradle-to-grave lifecycle chain involved in producing, using and disposing of a product or service. It forces you to consider materials use, energy consumption and related greenhouse-gas emissions of your product, packaging and transportation decisions.

While larger corporations might have the resources to tackle LCA head on, across the board, the start-ups were struggling with easily accessing good data to help them estimate the key impacts associated with their entire value chain.

A few LCA resources for start-ups to consider include Sustainable Minds, Earthster and EIO-LCA.

2. Packaging: Many of these clean tech products require packaging and pushing for recycled content and avoiding plastic is a challenge for a CEO with twenty other competing priorities.

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition is a great resource on this issue.

3. End of life: Thinking about what happens to these new "clean" products at end of life is challenging. How do you create incentives to get consumers to recycle or return a product? One of the start-ups was considering a rebate program and another planning on using a mailer to make it easy to return the product at the end of its life.

Read more at Matter Networks

Deborah Fleischer, founder and president of Green Impact, works with mid-sized companies to launch green initiatives that encourage innovation and grow market share.

Independent Certifiers: 
third party certifiers with a stake in ensuring the transparency and credibility represent the future of ecolabeling.

• Underwriters Laboratories, the product safety giants who has announced a new claims certification and standards setting service (www.ulenvironment.com)
• GreenGuard, the indoor air quality certifiers (www.greenguard.org/)  GREENGUARD Environmental Institute governs the GREENGUARD Certification Program
• Forest Stewardship Council "FSC certified" wood-based products ( www.fscus.org/news/index.php?article=506)
• USGBC, with green building standards and professional certifiers (www.usgbc.org)
• National Association of Home Builders  green building standards (www.nahbrc.org/greenguidelines/).
  
  Read more: http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/definitions/green-home-labels#ixzz0O6P982Sc
  
   

Government Certifiers
The Federal Government fills gaps not being filled by NGOs or the private sector to label critical industries such as organic food, energy and water-using products, and transportation.

U.S. EPA,  creators of 

• Energy Star label for energy efficiency appliances, electronics, lighting, office equipment, heating and cooling, and even houses (www.energystar.gov/)
• Design for Environment label for green chemistry (used in many cleaning products)
• Smart Way label for transportation
• Water Sense, for water-using products (www.epa.gov/watersense/index.htm)

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture  (USDA)

• Organic (Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) - National Organic Program (NOP) home page: http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/)

U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy)

• Energy Star for energy efficiency
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The Public

• "trusted friends"
• "informed peers"

"The increased transparency that consumers are demanding these days - evidenced in ingredient disclosure, and access to the very farmers growing one's potatoes--will only fuel this trend. In the end, the power may rest with the people," says J. Ottman, Ottman Consulting.

Laboratory accreditation or certification

But certification goes beyond products.  It also affects the laboratories that evaluate products, chemicals, etc. 

The EPA also certifies laboratories through The NELAC Institute (TNI - National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference). The purpose of the organization is to foster the generation of environmental data of known and documented quality through an open, inclusive, and transparent process that is responsive to the needs of the community.    NELAC Institute homepage and standards from the following (http://www.nelac-institute.org/)

The Drinking Water Laboratory Certification Program, (http://www.epa.gov/safewater/labcert/index.html)

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): The National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP),   http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/210/214/214.htm  

Other laboratory accreditation programs are operated by:

American Association of Laboratory Accreditation   
http://www.a2la.org/

AOAC International
http://www.aoac.org

USDA's proposed BioPreferred eco-labeling program that will identify "bio-based" (i.e., made out of agricultural, forestry, or marine-based ingredients) products and packages.

The USDA "BioPreferred" list includes "BioPreferred" list include PLA-based plastics, vegetable oil-based cleaning fluids, and soaps made from natural ingredients--but not food or fuel.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making it easier for consumers to identify biobased products through the release of its proposed BioPreferredSM labeling rule. USDA's BioPreferred labeling program, published today in the Federal Register, intends to create a product label that would appear on qualifying BioPreferred biobased products. When final, this regulation will allow biobased product manufacturers to participate in a voluntary labeling program to identify biobased products on retail store shelves. "Increasing the purchase and use of biobased products is a priority of the Obama Administration because it helps increase our nation's energy security and independence by using American agricultural products, while spurring economic development in rural areas," said Vilsack. "Consumers want to make more informed product choice decisions and BioPreferred will help them. This label will help consumers, businesses and Federal government purchasers easily identify biobased products." Manufacturers will be able to utilize the BioPreferred label, when finalized, to help customers identify their products as biobased. Currently, USDA has identified more than 15,000 commercially available biobased products across approximately 200 categories, from cleaning products to construction materials. Biobased products are available to consumers today and the new label will help make these sustainable products more accessible and serve as a valuable marketing tool for manufacturers and vendors of biobased products. Biobased products are products that are composed wholly or significantly of biological ingredients - renewable plant, animal, marine or forestry materials. A BioPreferred designated item is one that meets or exceeds USDA-established minimum biobased content requirements.

This Federal Register notice announces the program's intent to create and make available a voluntary product label for increased commercial and consumer promotion of biobased products. USDA, through the publication of this draft rule, seeks to notify and gather feedback from interested groups and the public-at-large on this process. More information about BioPreferred's proposed labeling rule can be found at www.biopreferred.gov or contact BioPreferred at biopreferred@usda.gov. BioPreferred encourages interested parties to submit comments on the proposed rule until Sept. 29, 2009. To submit comments go to http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-17610.htm. The BioPreferred program was created by the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (2002 Farm Bill) as a preferred procurement program to increase the purchase and use of biobased products within the Federal government. The Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) expanded the program's scope to promote the sale of biobased products in other sectors.

BioPreferred is comprised of two programs: a preferred procurement program for Federal agencies and a voluntary labeling program for the broad scale marketing of biobased products. A complete list and detailed description of each BioPreferred designated item, and items for future designation, can be found at www.biopreferred.gov or follow BioPreferred at http://twitter.com/BioPreferred