If you manufacture products you
may wish to display an
Eco Label on those products to help the consumer
learn of your efforts. Eco Labelling that relates to
Sustainability can involve a great deal of supply chain
analysis, embodied carbon values for labelling can be
particularly time consuming to prepare.
The EU Eco Label left,
is a internationally accepted form of eco label which is
based on assessing your product on established criteria,
an alternative to the EU
Eco Label is the EPD label
which relies on the publishing of product specific
environmental information.
The Carbon Trust publish free standards that you may
wish to read. We can help with the embodied carbon calculations, which
can be a time consuming process, as it involves examining your
supply
chain in detail.
Each stage of manufacture, transport and disposal might account
for the total
emissions of a product. Before viewing these figures you may
have considered the distribution to be the most carbon intensive
part of the process, but in fact it is the farming. Which has
the cuddliest image of all!
The graph to the right shows the embodied
carbon values for three type of potatoes. They all have similar
carbon foot prints (Organic baby new potatoes being the lowest
at 140g), but look at the percentages . . . in use (light blue)
which for a potato is cooking! the King Edwards produce
significantly more carbon than the baby potatoes, this is
probably due to the fact that the baby potatoes cook quicker due
to a proportionately large surface area. So if you were to eat
them raw the King Edwards would be the green option!
Labels such as the EPD label, will be gained by bring your operations in
to compliance with an organisations guidance, and then having an audit
take place to validate that your operations are satisfactory. Most
labelling system work on combinations of the following factors:
Eco Label
News
1 - Sustainability
2 - Ecological Footprint
2 - Energy Use Profile
4 - Materials Used
Although many organisation who offer accredited labelling scheme will
have there own staff to assist in applications it will often work out
more cost effective to engage an independent consultant.
Please feel free to telephone the office for an
informal discussion regarding any of the services we provide. Detailed
written quotations can be provided upon request.
