Green Labels - Everything You Need To Know - Suspire

Green Labels - Everything You Need To Know

A green label is a trustworthy symbol that manufacturers can put on the products they sell to state which products are genuinely better for the environment than other products. They are a method of environmental performance certification and labeling that is practiced around the world.

You may have observed some labels such as FSSAI, ISO, or Ecomark on various household items you buy. 

Requirements and product categories can differ but all standards address multiple environmental issues which can include toxicity, air quality, energy and water use, recyclability, use of natural resources and many more.

Why use green labels?

A lot of us have gone through quite a few changes these last two years. We prefer a more sustainable lifestyle and want to make eco-friendly choices. With so much different information out there about sustainable living, it is difficult to make well-informed decisions and choices.

The use of eco-labels helps customers to make a greener choices and good purchasing decisions. When we buy new products, they help in knowing which product has the lowest environmental impact.

Green labels encourage a general raising in environmental performance and sustainable lifestyle, even among products that aren't labeled. In other words, if environmentally friendly products sell better, all manufacturers have an incentive to produce them—and standards rise overall, encouraging a sustainable lifestyle in return and making it more affordable for all.

Green labels aren’t always reliable!

While some claims and labels are reliable, others mislead consumers by stating environmentally friendly characteristics to unsustainable products or services. Some labels may state that the particular product is 100% recycled - which means it is made of recycled materials, but it fails to mention that there was no use of child labor, fair wages for workers, and others.

With a growing interest in ethical shopping, many manufacturers may provide misleading claims to sell their products. Here, instead of to creating awareness and encouraging green choices result is misleading and confusing the buyers. For this system to work, green labels need to be genuine, trustworthy, and simple to understand.

Some Green Labels In India

Ecomark

Ecomark is a voluntary eco-label that certifies environmentally safe consumer products. It is issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The scheme saw the light in 1991. It is voluntary in nature and helps in identifying eco-friendly products in the market. Ecomark covers various product categories such as appliances, organic food, forest products, packaging, textiles, cosmetics and personal care, etc.Its eco-labeling criteria follows a cradle-to-grave approach, beginning right from raw material extraction, to manufacturing, and disposal. This makes Ecomark different from other ecolabeling certificates that focus on environmental criteria only. The Eco-mark scheme falls under the ambit of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

GreenPro

GreenPro is a product certification granted by the Confederation of Indian Industry, a industry association that aims at helping environmentally conscious customers to make a greener choice. GreenPro helps the end uers in the building sector and manufacturing industries to choose right products, materials and technologies to reduce the environmental impacts during construction, operation and maintenance of buildings and factories. The certification follows a complete lifecycle approach for certifying products. This means that the product is scrutinized from the raw material to the end of product’s life.

India Organic

India Organic is a certification mark for organically farmed food products manufactured in India. India Organic – National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) is a labeling standard developed by the Government of India granted to organically farmed food. The certification mark was established in 2000. The India Organic certification standards ensure that the product or its raw materials used were grown only through organic farming, by following the norms of organic production, without any use of chemicals, i.e. fertilizers, pesticides or induced hormones.

GOTS

Green Label - Gots

The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) was developed with the aim to unify the various existing standards and draft standards in the garment manufacturing sector. GOTS defines worldwide recognized standards that ensure organic status of textiles from harvesting of the raw materials, through environmentally and socially responsible manufacturing up to labeling.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a globally recognized certification system with million hectares of forestland certified under its forest conservation standards. The performance-based standards encompass environmental, social and economic values, and are framed to ensure that the forests are managed sustainably.

FSC is the only wood products certification recognized by the Green Building Council under its LEED rating system and is the preferred certification for environmentally conscious companies.

GoodWeave

GoodWeave is working to end child labor in the carpet industry and to offer educational opportunities to children in South Asia. Through its monitoring and inspections program, GoodWeave is helping to combat the problem of exploitative child labor and to transform the handmade rug industry by certifying child-labor-free rugs and providing education and opportunities to rescue at-risk children. Most recently, GoodWeave has expanded into apparel, home textiles, fashion jewelry, bricks, and tea where its reach and impact continue to grow. GoodWeave’s impact goes beyond reach numbers as it has been a leading voice in positively influencing societal norms and behaviors to eliminate child labor.

Trust genuine green labels, but try to make sure you understand what they mean!

We at  Suspire, make sure all our products have the particular green labels on their tags and packaging. Like our sweatshirts, joggers and T-shirts are made of GOT certified organic cotton. This way we can ensure out customers that all our products are under the sustainable guidelines and ethical in nature.