By Mari
The weather has finally turned cold on the east coast and my daily-cup-of-joe habit is rapidly evolving into a routine of two cups or more a day. If nothing else, the warmth from the coffee mug keeps my mitts toasty for a while.
Coffee isn’t the greenest of habits (though coffee and tea seem to come out about even), but if you’re a coffee fan there are eco-friendlier options. There’s simple stuff like sticking with a reusable coffee filter, and then there are more advanced tactics like determining how the coffee you’re drinking is grown and processed. Fortunately, there’s one coffee that meets the requirements across the board for a designation of environmentally preferable. And you don’t have to do the work of verifying its claims.
The Merchants of Green Coffee developed something called the Sustainable Coffee Program (SCP) back in 1999, and the program ensures that they meet certain criteria - like using natural water filtration ponds and composting systems - in producing their coffee. In addition, Merchants of Green Coffee received EcoLogo certification, for which the requirements are remarkably stringent. Some requirement examples:
- General production methodologies must not use genetically modified organisms or products thereof
- The area in which the coffee is grown must be at least 40% shaded at any time
- No more than 70% of shade trees should belong to a dominant tree species, with these species being native to the local area
- Fertilizing methods must not use any synthetic products including inter alia growth regulators, dyes and synthetic fertilizers
- Drying of the coffee can only be done by solar means All coffee pulp must be composted
How’s that for green?
If you want to taste the Merchants of Green Coffee, there are retail stores in Canada, or you can check out the online store. Better yet, point your office manager to the Green Merchants URL. Get your whole office on a green coffee kick.
By Mari
Shortly after Terrachoice came out with the Six Sins of Greenwashing report in November, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced it would be reviewing its “Green Guides” a year earlier than planned. If you’re not familiar with the Green Guides, they were developed by the FTC to provide guidelines for environmental marketing. They were due to be reviewed in 2009, but so much has changed since 1998 (the last time the guides were reviewed) that the FTC has decided to start its regulatory review this coming January.
There are several reasons to update the Green Guides. First, new claims are being made with regard to issues like renewable energy and carbon offsets that the current version of the guides does not address. Second, the growing enthusiasm for green marketing has led to a significant increase in greenwashing. With new guidelines in place, the FTC can help marketers be more precise with their eco-friendly claims.
The EcoLogo Program and Terrachoice will be actively involved in the FTC review, and will use the principles behind the Six Sins of Greenwashing report to provide recommendations to the regulatory agency. Concepts like the “Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off” are highly relevant to the issue of ongoing uncertainty around environmental marketing claims. If we can help the FTC address these concepts, it will go a long way towards helping consumers make genuinely greener purchasing decisions.
By Mari
Last year New York became the first state in the US to mandate eco-friendly cleaning products in schools (accepting, among select others, EcoLogo-certified cleaning solutions). And while New York’s leaders clearly want to demonstrate their love of Planet Earth, the biggest catalyst for the state law was the desire to reduce people’s exposure to harmful cleaning substances.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor pollution can be two to five times more hazardous than outdoor pollution, aggravating allergies and other respiratory problems. I’m lucky that I’ve never had to deal with a respiratory illness, but my friend’s asthmatic son was admitted to the hospital just days ago for labored breathing. While I certainly wouldn’t blame his school for the hospital admission, the incident has made me wonder what in my friend’s son’s environment might be making him sick.
In light of the health benefits, it seems that schools (and states and countries…) everywhere should be motivated to make a quick transition to green cleaning. And given that so many green alternatives are available in the cleaning sector, it’s hard to understand why other states wouldn’t follow New York’s lead.
Perhaps a good New Year’s resolution?
As for school procurement offices, there’s no reason not to start buying green cleaning supplies on your own, and demanding green cleaning from your vendors.
By Mari
Office Depot recently announced its fourth Green Book Catalog of “environmentally preferable” products. I’m thrilled to see Office Depot promoting green sales, and I hope office managers everywhere are aware of these types of green resources. Having worked in many small offices, I’m a veteran of the monthly purchasing cycle where a supply catalog is passed around and worker bees note the items they need. Never was I given a catalog with green options.
While I would prefer that all of the products in the Office Depot catalog be selected based on multiple environmental considerations and be certified by an outside party, the green markets are not mature enough yet for that to be realistic. Office Depot does, however, do a very good job of explaining why products were selected for its catalog. According to the company’s site, products are selected for meeting at least one of three main environmental benefits: reduced waste, reduced energy and reduced chemical use. In other words, if a product is made with recycled content, it’s considered environmentally friendly. While EcoLogo requires additional environmental considerations and actual third-party certification, this level of transparency is an important first step.
As always, it’s important to consider multiple attributes when labeling a product green. Here is a sample of products with EcoLogo-certification that made Office Depot’s list:
By Mari
Welcome to the new EcoLogo blog. It’s always hard to know where to start with an endeavor like this, but it seems sensible to begin with an explanation. Ecolabels are growing like kudzu (with huge growth in the last year particularly), but each label is different and has its own way of defining product certification – from the factors that make a product eligible, to the process for certifying, to rules for enforcement. EcoLogo has its criteria like any other label. Out of the detailed EcoLogo documentation, here are three points that are fundamental to the EcoLogo program.
- An open, transparent process for defining standards: EcoLogo standards are developed with a broad base of stakeholders including user groups, purchasers, producers, scientists and more.
- Multiple-attribute standards: No EcoLogo standard is based on a single attribute, such as recycled content or chemical makeup. Instead EcoLogo considers a wide array of factors that go into making a product environmentally friendly, ensuring that any product with an EcoLogo label is green in as many areas as possible for the product category.
- Regular product inspections: While some certification programs operate with little oversight, the EcoLogo program regularly inspects all of its certified products to make sure they have maintained compliance with EcoLogo standards. Any product that does not meet inspection cannot carry the EcoLogo label.
There is so much information coming out of the EcoLogo program that it only made sense for us to start a blog. In the coming months we’ll be sharing details about new product certifications, information on the standards creation process, and our own commentary and analysis on green happenings. If you’re curious, check out our “About” section for more background on this blog. And if you’re a follower of the green industry, add us to your subscription list, or just check back regularly. We’re excited to be joining the online conversation.
