Green Label Guide: What Is EcoLogo?
The EcoLogo label helps manufacturers and consumers easily identify environmentally preferred products. Photo: EcoLogo.org
EcoLogo is one of the oldest and most trusted eco-labeling programs that you’ve probably never heard of. So what is EcoLogo, and why should consumers care?
Established more than 20 years ago and acquired by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) in 2010, EcoLogo is currently the only North American eco-labeling program approved by the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN), an association of third-party labeling organizations dedicated to improving transparency in environmental products and services.
The label helps manufacturers and consumers easily identify environmentally preferred products and is used for everything from building materials and furniture to cleaning products, paper products and toys.
A multiattribute certification, EcoLogo tells the story of a product’s environmental performance throughout its entire life cycle. This allows shoppers to pinpoint holistically greener products and provides supply-chain traceability to manufacturers seeking to meet sustainability goals.
The voluntary standard indicates a product has undergone rigorous scientific testing, exhaustive auditing or both to prove its compliance with stringent third-party performance standards, according to UL Environment.
These standards set metrics for a wide variety of criteria including energy, manufacturing and operations, health and environment, product performance and use, and product stewardship and innovation.
Visit UL Environment online to learn more about the criteria for attaining EcoLogo certification, or check out their Sustainable Product Database to search for certified products.
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