Sustainable-design labelling not only tells consumers how to make a responsible purchasing decision, but also builds trust between manufacturers and the public, Circular’s Chris Elliot writes.
More consumers than ever before care about the environmental impact of the products they buy – and that’s proving to be a big challenge for manufacturers and retailers.
Not only must they ensure the goods they are selling are sustainably produced and packaged, but they must also find ways of telling that story to potential customers.
So-called “green” labels are a method that many employ. These range from simple symbols – such as the LEAF Marque, which indicates food has been produced by farmers committed to improving the environment, or the Möbius Loop, which gives information on the recycling process – to more detailed eco-labels that cover a wide range of environmental factors across the lifetime of a product.
This includes what it is made of, how it’s made, and how it can be disposed of.
The Carbon Reduction Label, featuring a footprint with CO2 written on it, was created by the Carbon Trust, and verifies that a brand is making efforts to measure and reduce its carbon emissions.
John Newton, director at the Carbon Trust, told Circular: “Our label appears on hundreds of products in the UK, from food and drink packaging to ICT equipment, pharma, and many other sectors, and is based on internationally recognised standards.
“We carry out a conformity assessment to ensure that the footprint has been calculated in line with one or more of those standards.
“As part of this process, we review the calculation itself, and primary and secondary data against authoritative sources, supporting evidence, and the data-collection systems. This enables us to verify that the calculated footprint is true and correct.”
The European Ecolabel, featuring a flower symbol, is an official Europe-wide award for non-food products that minimise impact on the environment.
Products must be independently certified and meet strict criteria for all their main environmental impacts across their whole life-cycle. The label’s range includes cleaning and detergent products, paints, toilet tissue, textiles and clothing, and tourist accommodation.
The UK government has recently launched a project to develop a standardised approach to food and drink eco-labelling.
The Food Data Transparency Partnership – made up of representatives from Defra, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Food Standards Agency, as well as academics and industry leaders – will be seeking to achieve consistency.
In a statement, the government said: “There are no plans at present to introduce a mandatory eco-label, or to endorse an existing or new eco-labelling scheme. Currently, there is limited evidence that eco-labels have an impact on in-store consumer and business behaviour.
“However, where they are being used, we believe it is important that they provide a fair and accurate representation of a product’s environmental impact, so that genuinely more sustainable products can successfully differentiate themselves, and consumers are not misled.
“We first plan to address the quantification of environmental impact and improving the data on which this is based.”
Currently, there is limited evidence that eco-labels have an impact on in-store consumer and business behaviour.
New technology will be a key factor in future labelling. For example, the introduction by 2027 of a new 2D barcode – which can contain much more data than the existing barcode system – will allow consumers to access more information about food products through QR codes printed on labels.
One organisation working to help people navigate the green shopping landscape is OPRL, On-Pack Recycling Labels.
Jude Allan, OPRL’s interim managing director, said extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging includes a mandatory labelling requirement. Defra has just published a full draft of the EPR regulations, which should be brought before parliament later this year.
Allan told Circular: “By April 2027, every piece of consumer packaging destined for household waste – including plastic film and flexibles – must display a binary ‘Recycle/Don’t Recycle’ label. The labelled packaging must be in supply by 1 April 2027.
“While not all on-shelf products will feature recycling labels by this date, businesses must be able to show that processes are in place – recyclability will have been assessed and packaging designs under way. This clarification is important to ensure that any products already packaged are not wasted unnecessarily.
“Packaging EPR aims to improve recycling and reduce the negative impact of packaging, so many brands are already looking to reduce packaging or make it more recyclable. But this work will be wasted if confusion leads to consumers placing items in the wrong bin.
“Clear labelling aims to address this challenge, and OPRL has always opted for a binary label based on sound metrics, so we are looking forward to a UK-wide system that helps consumers to make the right choices.
“Under eco-modulation, businesses will be charged a higher rate for non-recyclable packaging. With this incentive to invest in new designs, it will be even more important to ensure that consumers do the right thing.”
More than half the respondents to an OPRL survey said they source their knowledge on how to recycle from packaging.
“Uncertainty represented the greatest barrier for consumers, the survey showed, so a move to standardised labels should have a significant impact on both recycling participation and the quality of material collected,” an OPRL spokesperson told Circular.
Environmental consultancy Design Conformity uses a software platform called Carbon Efficiency, created in 2023, to enable the furniture industry to work out, and reduce, the carbon footprint of the products it sells.
The organisation’s certification scheme helps manufacturers to come up with chairs, desks and all manner of other furniture, including display fixtures for shops, that are more sustainable – and to demonstrate in a label how that has been achieved.
The spur for the company’s efforts was growing evidence that a huge amount of furniture ends up in landfill, despite the fact that a high percentage can be re-used.
Design Conformity says: “The furniture industry faces a critical sustainability challenge. Twenty-two million pieces of furniture are discarded each year, the majority ending up in landfills. Engineered wood-based products, popular for their versatility, often contain materials that complicate recycling.”
Design Conformity’s Carbon Efficiency tool enables designers and manufacturers to evaluate all the environmental considerations involved in making an item of furniture, including materials, energy consumption, and construction methods, so adjustments can be made, if needed, early in the design phase.
“The platform promotes the circular economy across the product’s entire value chain, from design and manufacturing to end-of-life recycling and re-use,” the company says.
The data gathered is displayed in an eco-label, showing – among other evaluations – how sustainable a product is, how much of it has been ethically produced, and how much of it is re-usable or can be recycled.
If manufacturers have made contributions towards restoring biodiversity in tropical rainforests, or donations to community healthcare and education – or if they recognise third-party carbon-removal programmes by companies such as Ecologi – the label includes a badge showing this.
There is also a QR code, giving consumers a link to Design Conformity’s certification and product information, either directly of via a digital product passport.
One of the big businesses using the scheme is high street chemist Boots, which introduced a new design format in its shops’ beauty halls in 2019, leading to fixtures being made with 39% fewer carbon emissions.
Adam Hamilton-Fletcher, Design Conformity’s founder and director, says: “It’s all about designing to minimise waste and divert away from landfill.
“In retail, there’s a constant demand for low-cost, single-use display, and big retailers can use tendering platforms to drive purchase prices down, with little intention of managing the waste thereafter.
“But companies such as retail design company ITAB, which is one of our clients, have altered their business model so they can work with retailers like H&M to take back fixtures and fittings and repurpose them.
“We condense all the information normally put in our circular design certificate into an eco-label – and if consumers have all this information, it helps them understand their part in the product’s environmental impact.”
