Summary

Region / Country

  • Global

Environmental standards

Yes

Social and ethical responsibility standards

Yes

Is there a label to put on the product?

Yes

Who can hold accreditation?

  • Printer
  • Ink manufacturer

Who / what has accreditation

  • Product

Independent verification / audit

Yes


Accreditation information

Key stats

Relevant to book industry?

  • Printers

Where in supply chain?

  • Printer

Key stakeholders?

  • Printer
  • Ink manufacturers

What type of entity is the badge certifying?

  • Printing inks

Organisation/management procedures & outcomes?

ECOLOGO Certification for inks – packaging inks have received UL ECOLOGO® Certification for meeting printing inks sustainability standard. This certification enables corrugated converters to meet their brands’ requirements for sustainability and reach new target audiences who seek green-related manufacturers. Ecologo


Environmental Attributes

Identifying the key elements

  1. What are the applicable environmental attributes?

Products are certified from a life cycle perspective, considering material and energy inputs, manufacturing and operations, product stewardship and innovation, and disposal. Individual environmental and health and safety parameters are assessed within these areas such as minimum levels of VOCs, heavy metals etc., use of recycled and recyclable packaging.

  1. Does the badge intend to assess social aspects & how are they related to environmental attributes?

Proves absence of materials of concern to child safety i.e. heavy metals and phthalates – ‘Manufactured using socially responsible practices’

  1. Which Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are the accreditation aligned to? How would receiving the certification help an organisation to achieve these goals?

Not defined at this time.

  1. Is it recognised on an international, European or country level?

International

  1. Does the badge have mutual recognition with other labels?

Conforms to ISO standards for testing.

  1. What are the benefits and practicalities to the organisation receiving the accreditation? 

On product or website badge aimed to demonstrate the product has a reduced environmental impacts with links to explore the further attributes evaluated. Explicitly aims to tackle greenwashing through ensuring a comprehensive assessment of a product’s impacts through the entire life cycle and effects across a range of environmental and social indicators.

  1. a) Cost 

Not defined at this time.

  1. b) Time to achieve certification 

Not defined at this time.

  1. c) Do the certified bodies have to publish your progress every year ?

Not defined at this time.

  1. d) Response times for audit outcomes, reports and recommendations 

Not defined at this time.

  1. Is the accreditation tiered?

No


Assessment criteria

Governance Quality

  1. What is the overarching objective of the accreditation body? 

For profit

  1. a) How is the badge verified? 

Managed by the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) – an assocation of independent labelling organisations. ECOLOGO Certifications are voluntary, multi-attribute, life cycle-based environmental certifications that indicate a product has undergone rigorous scientific testing and exhaustive auditing to prove its compliance with stringent, third-party environmental standards.

  1. a) i. Independent body 

Against third party environmental standards

  1. a) ii. Governing body 

Follows ISO auditor standard qualifications.

  1. a) iii. Self-regulating 

Not defined at this time.

  1. b) What are the criteria used to be recognized as the above? Considering human resource, technical expertise and financial input 

Not defined at this time.

  1. a) How often are the certified products/organisations/projects re-evaluated? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. b) How often are the assessment and certification practices re-evaluated? 

ECOLOGO standards are reviewed and updated every three years to keep pace with improved environmental awareness and understanding.

  1. c) What input do stakeholders have to the governance structure and certification processes? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. d) How responsive is the certification body to this feedback? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. To what extent are the answers questions 2 and 3 made transparent to consumers, the certified organisations and any other stakeholders? 

Limited information immediately available through the public website.


Governance effectiveness

  1. What environmental performance metrics are used – consumption data, emissions, life cycle analysis etc.? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. a) How complete and accurate are these assessments? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. b) How are these benchmarked? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. c) What is the scoring system used? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. In what form are the outputs of certification delivered? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. Are clear, actionable recommendations delivered and implemented? 

Not defined at this time.

  1. To what extent do end-users understand what the badge is certifying? How visible is this on an end-product e.g., through a label? 

No research in this area has been identified.


Social Responsibility Attributes

Key elements

  1. What are the key social performance areas the accreditations assesses? For instance, community involvement and human rights

Not defined at this time.

  1. Do the above social performance areas interlink with achieving any positive environmental impacts?

Not defined at this time.

  1. Does the accreditation have different requirements for SMEs compared with larger organisations?

Not defined at this time.


Governance Effectiveness

  1. What indicators are used to assess the social impact areas?

Not defined at this time.

  1. Are the above indicators a complete and accurate reflection of these social impacts?

Not defined at this time.

  1. How does the certification weight these indicators according to their effect on social value?

Not defined at this time.