- Operational Services Division
Ecolabels Help Buyers Identify Sustainable
Products and Services
Over the last several decades, there’s been a movement toward products and services that are gentler on the environment. This trend has been fueled by government legislation supporting climate action and elevated concern by consumers about health and sustainable practices. Today, we have more environmentally preferable options from which to choose and product quality and overall costs that have fallen in line with less sustainable alternatives.
The Role of Third-Party Certification and Ecolabels
A common question among the many buyers looking to purchase environmentally preferable products or services is, how does one effectively evaluate their environmental attributes?
A clear path is through third-party certifications – which mean an independent organization has determined that the product or service complies with specific standards for safety, quality, and performance. For those seeking environmentally preferable options, ecolabels are third-party certifications that are specific to the environmental space, focusing on one or more environmental specifications in areas such as energy efficiency, water efficiency, recycled content, toxicity, biodegradability, and durability, as examples. Ecolabels prevent buyers from falling victim to false or misleading product advertising, or greenwashing, and facilitate quick and confident environmental purchasing.
As a consumer, you likely have seen ecolabels on manufacturer packaging. One such ecolabel is ENERGY STAR, an ecolabel managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that helps consumers easily find appliances, electronics, lighting, water heaters, and many other products that meet strict environmental criteria focused on saving energy and protecting the environment. The EPA also sponsors the WaterSense ecolabel, which certifies hundreds of water-efficient products, including toilets, faucets, showerheads, and irrigation equipment. Other ecolabels include Safer Choice, Green Seal, and UL Ecologo, which help buyers identify low-toxic cleaners. The EPEAT or TCO ecolabels focus on sustainability criteria in technology products. If you’re interested in greener facilities, the LEED designation is a widely used sustainable building rating system focusing on more efficient, less costly building facilities. Find a comprehensive list of U.S. ecolabels here.
While ecolabels facilitate buyers’ day-to-day environmental purchasing, they also play a critical role in procurement. The Operational Services Division, for example, relies on the work done by environmental third-party certifiers to develop mandatory and desirable specifications for our Statewide Contracts, and we use ecolabels to validate environmental criteria in products and services offered by our Statewide Contract Vendors.
Learn more about ecolabels at mass.gov/epp.
