The Ecolabel Story

The Ecolabel Story - by Aslotel and its factory in Italy.

There are many ‘green’ label schemes in Europe. Each one has been created for specific environmental issues such as biodegradability, recycling and energy effectiveness and some of these labels may well be recognised in their country of origin however in some cases there are producers of goods who promote their products under a ‘green’ label without being awarded the requisite certification.

The European Ecolabel is a voluntary system for promoting products and services that are recognised as being kinder to the environment and that are symbolised with the Ecolabel ‘Flower’ logo – as seen at top. The flower logo – unlike other similar initiatives - is synonymous with ecological quality and is recognised in the EU, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. Ecolabel considers the total environmental impact of the product from the raw material extraction through to product disposal.

Ecolabel is available for:

Manufacturers
Services suppliers
Importers
Retail or wholesale dealers selling their own Ecolabel products

The criteria for Ecolabel are:

Reduce or minimise consumption of products
Reduce or minimise pollution
Waste reduction
Ecolabel products are the best in their category and the flower logo symbolises this and gives assurance to users of products that the above criteria have been met.

Aslotel through its production factory is very aware of environmental concerns and researches the best way to combine quality products whilst respecting the environment and taking into account technological developments and continually improving the entire cycle of production.

Eco Cosmethic

Eco Cosmethic is the first 30ml hotel line awarded the Ecolabel Flower Symbol and was launched by Aslotel in 2009, it comprises:

Hair shampoo
Bath foam
Hair conditioner
Soap
The line also comes in 50ml.

In addition to the products listed, Aslotel is currently working on certifications for hair & body wash and conditioning shampoo to further increase the range.

Also, improvements are being made to Eco Cosmethic Amenities with complementary products that come in eco friendly paper boxes derived from well managed forests and that come with the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) mark and printed with specific inks that carry the Eco offset mark.

Certification

In order to achieve certification, the company had to prepare a dossier and ecological card of each product. The dossiers were submitted for examination to the independent competency institute involved, which in this case was ISPRA (higher institute for the environment protection and research) for Italy, which is where the factory is based.

ISPRA then had 60 days for verification that the product was compliant to the Ecolabel criteria for its market category and then to inform the national committee for Ecolabel who then informs the European Commission. From there the national committee and the applicant stipulate the terms and conditions specified for Ecolabel use. In this case it was validated on 20 November 2008 whereby Ecocosmethic was registered.

The requirements for certification:

Consider the products environmental performance
Classify criteria to obtain Ecolabel approval
The scientific data and the entire product lifecycle

Throughout this process it is the most significant environmental aspects that are considered in particular:

The impact on climate change, nature and biodiversity, energy and resource consumption, generation of waste, emissions in all environments, pollution through physical effects and release of hazardous substances.

The aim of the EU Ecolabel is to substitute hazardous substances with safer options wherever technically possible.

The scheme is intended to promote products that have a high level of environmental performance. The flower symbol indicates this.

The Ecolabel commission identifies the market categories (product groups) that are eligible for certification and attaches specific criteria to them.

Market Category

With regards to the market category ‘soap, hair conditioner and shampoo' the following 3 ecological criteria must be met:

Minimal impact on aquatic ecosystem: a critical dilution volume of toxicity, which must not be exceeded, is calculated for each ingredient and for the whole product.

Biodegradability: All the substances/materials used in the product must be readily and highly biodegradable. Further, the ingredients not readily biodegradable shall not exceed certain levels of presence, toxicity and bioaccumulation potential.

Limitation of packaging waste: The weight/content relationship (WCR) must be less than 0.30g of packaging per gram of product, considering both primary (bottle/cap/label) and secondary (outer carton, internal sheet) packaging; to achieve this result for certain sizes (example less than 50ml) you must use only recycled and recyclable plastic.

The above criteria appear with the Ecolabel flower symbol are represented on the product label as follows:

minimal impact on aquatic ecosystem
fulfils strict biodegradability requirements
limits packaging waste

The quality level and product performance have to be demonstrated through laboratory tests and consumer tests, which compare the applicant’s product with a widely used product in its market category. Ecolabel products are proof that ecologically produced products are of equal, if not superior, quality of those produced using traditional manufacturing.