Consumer Reports has an awesome interaction Eco-label website that provides information on what different types of “green” labels mean (organic, natural, free trade, and so on) and how meaningful they are in terms of indicating that a product is more environmentally friendly than other brands. For instance, you can search the label “organic” and get really detailed information about different organizations that certify products as organic and what their standards are. Or you can search by product (food, household cleaners, and so on) and get more information about the types of labels you’ll often see on them. Here’s a small segment of the page about “100% Vegan” labels under the household cleaners section:
The criteria they used to rate labels, such as transparency, consistency, and freedom from conflicts of interest, are available here.
The website would be great for a discussion of greenwashing (claiming to be environmentally friendly as a marketing technique, with little significant changes in production practices) and how eco-friendly is defined, but it’s also just useful if you’re interested on a personal level.
Comments 13
Ali — May 19, 2009
gwen, I think that should be fair trade or free range instead of free trade.
Ali — May 19, 2009
but yeah, that looks like an interesting and informative resource!
kate — May 19, 2009
that's really disappointing because there ARE definite, concrete standards to determine whether or not something's vegan, and the idea that a product can be labelled "100% vegan" and not be without repercussions because apparently there are no facts associated with the term = FAIL.
John — May 19, 2009
Going to the website, one can find that certain types of cleaners are 100% vegan... Does this mean that they can be ingested? I don't think so...
Of course, "vegan" is associated with general "goodness", but you don't have to be fair trade or organic in order to be vegan.
Allie — May 20, 2009
free trade is legit!
Allie — May 20, 2009
oops, i mean fair trade.. wow, there are so many terms i can't even keep them straight! so yeah, i think you meant to say free range.
Vidya — May 20, 2009
"Going to the website, one can find that certain types of cleaners are 100% vegan… Does this mean that they can be ingested? I don’t think so…"
Well, no, but I think it's widely recognized that 'vegan' is not just a dietary term, but refers to an animal-product-free and animal-testing-free lifestyle. Regardless, it's unfortunate that these claims are being made without 'proof', and yet, a system requiring 'proof' might be prohibitively costly.