Toward an Eco-Label

Nutrition Facts Panels For a Healthier Planet

By Jeremy Faludi

How do high-fashion snobs judge the classy versus the trashy? With designer labels.

For sustainability-minded shoppers, eco-labels could be the equivalent of designer labels. But in an age of spin and green washing, what can a consumer trust?...the Blue Angel label?...Cradle to Cradle?...Demeter Certified Biodynamic?

Consumers need to know a label means something real, not just one group's opinion. Brand owners need to show consumers the numbers. Many marketers and consumer advocates shy away from this, worrying that consumers think numbers are scary and that they won't understand the data. But think about nutrition labels on food. They are chock-full of numbers—with chemical names no one can pronounce in the ingredients lists—and we're glad to have them there.

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An Environmental Facts label could be as effective as a Nutritional Facts label at educating consumers about the sustainable characteristics of the package and product.

Communicating trust

First, the nutrition label makes us feel safer because even if we don't understand the information, it reassures us that there's a level of honest disclosure between us and the producer. Secondly, if we do know and care about certain things (like sodium, calories, or fat), we can use the labels as a decision-making tool. Thirdly, even if we know nothing, reading the label helps educate us as to what is important nutritionally, just by seeing what is listed. We can then self-educate by comparing products side-by-side and seeing which is better; after a while we know what a "good" amount of calories are, without having to compare. Nutrition labels have not only been a boon to consumer decision-making, but also a boon to the nutritional awareness of the general public.

Shown here is a theoretical "Environmental Facts" label, where the text quantitatively lists production impacts and all ingredients—effectively a full life-cycle analysis of the product in summarized form. The graphic here is the product's and package's eco-friendliness at a glance, in four categories: energy, water, materials, and toxics. The graphic's four-level color scale would be relative—grading on a curve so that as industries improve the best products still stand out. The colors can be coded by category, so products from different categories can be compared together on their own scales. The text would include all ingredients and waste products (flagged as toxic or nonrenewable where applicable), energy, water, transportation, and labor practices.

All about the details

Gathering this level of detail is not a simple task, and it would require standards for the measurement and rating of different factors, just like nutrition labels. However, it is not difficult to get a rough estimate of a product's impacts, and after a few companies have been doing it for a few years it will get easier. The Federal Trade Commission already has guidelines for what may legally claimed as biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, etc. in a product label—factors such as embodied energy and toxin load disclosure cannot be far behind.

The consumer website for the Walkers line of potato chips in the U.K. has a special section to educate customers about what a carbon footprint means. Walkers worked with the Carbon Trust (www.carbon-label.co.uk) to calculate the carbon footprint of a standard package of Walkers Crisps by: drawing up a map of the key stages in their supply chain (from sowing potato and sunflower seeds, to getting the crisps on the shelves, to finally disposing of the packet); looking at the energy consumption directly involved in each of these stages and converting this into the resulting amount of carbon emissions; and adding up the carbon emissions from each of these stages to get the calculated value.

Frito-Lay has added the "Green-e" designation across the full line of SunChips snacks. Green-e is a designation from the Center for Resource Solutions used with certified renewable energy certificates (RECs). Frito-Lay's SunChips brand communication focuses on small steps as part of the brand's "Live Brightly" campaign, and Frito-Lay is now purchasing RECs to match 100% of the electricity needed to produce SunChips snacks in the U.S. Since 1999, Frito-Lay has reduced total fuels consumption per pound of snacks by 24%, electricity by 21%, and overall water consumption by 35%.

Timberland's new "Green Index" hangtag indicates a product's overall rating based on the average of three specific categories: Climate Impact (greenhouse gas emissions); Chemicals Used (such as PVC, chrome, or solvents); and Resource Consumption (percentage by weight of recycled, organic, or renewable materials). The "Our Footprint" label on Timberland's shoeboxes informs consumers about aspects of their environmental and community impact. The footwear boxes are made of 100% post-consumer waste fiber that use no chemical glues and only soy-based inks for label printing. Inside the box, a call to action asks consumers "What kind of footprint will you leave?"

The closest thing to an eco-nutrition label so far is Timberland's footprint label. It is a breakthrough, far above what anyone else has done, but it is only a beginning. It lists only energy, manufacturing location, community service, and has a blunt measure for labor practices. Katherine Probst, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future, has proposed a "global warming performance" label that would appear on the window of all new vehicles sold. Walkers Crisps will soon label it's packaging with the amount of carbon emitted in the making of their potato chips. Tesco, the fourth largest supermarket chain in the world, will also put a simple carbon label on its food—an icon of an airplane for food transported by air.

As companies look for ways of connecting with customers—helping them make good decisions—informative labeling provides another way to build product confidence. Rather than just be the first steps by the bold few, one day consumers should expect an "Environmental Facts" label. And they will wonder, for those who still don't "get it," just what it is they have to hide.

Jeremy Faludi is a freelance product designer and engineer specializing in eco-design. He has worked for Rocky Mountain Institute and The Biomimicry Institute, and he is a senior contributor to Worldchanging.com and Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century.