Lightning Labels Blog

Baldwin's Bill Paves Way for Product Carbon Disclosure, Labeling in US

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) has proposed legislation that would pave the way for product carbon disclosure and labeling in the US.

"Nutrition labels have changed the way we think about food - giving us the measurements we need to make fully-informed, healthy choices," Baldwin said in a press release issued by her office Sept. 11. "Carbon disclosure will tell us how much energy is used to bring a product to market - allowing us to make smart, energy-saving, and environmentally-friendly choices."

Bill H.R. 3543 would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to initially conduct a study to establish a national program for measuring, reporting, and labeling the carbon content of products in the US. The agency would then be required to set up a national product carbon disclosure and labeling program based on the results of the study. Participation in the program would be voluntary, similar to other voluntary labeling programs such as ENERGY STAR. 

The ultimate goal of carbon labeling is to empower consumers to help reduce carbon emissions by choosing products with smaller carbon footprints over competing ones that use up more of our natural resources. The full text of H.R. 3543 can be read at THOMAS, the Library of Congress' website; or through the independent research websites GovTrack.us and Open Congress.

This is the first piece of legislation introduced in the US to promote product carbon disclosure and labeling. However, the concepts themselves are not new. In October, Lightning Labels predicted that carbon footprint labeling would become standard fare on product labels within the decade, if not sooner, after UK supermarket giant Tesco launched a major trial of carbon footprint labeling on some of its private label brands in cooperation with the Carbon Trust. And in July, Wal-Mart announced plans to develop a universal sustainability product labeling sytem.

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Wal-Mart To Develop Universal Sustainability Product Labeling System

Yesterday the world’s largest retailer announced a plan to develop a universal sustainability product index.

“Customers want products that are more efficient, that last longer and perform better,” Wal-Mart President and CEO Mike Duke said in a meeting with 1,500 of its supplies, associates and sustainability leaders at its home office outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. “And increasingly they want information about the entire lifecycle of a product so they can feel good about buying it. They want to know that the materials in the product are safe, that it was made well and that it was produced in a responsible way."

Consumers also want to be able to access such information conveniently, which is why the final step of Wal-Mart’s plan is to produce a simple rating tool such as a numeric score or color code. The tool will allow consumers to compare the environmental and social sustainability of competing products simply by glancing at their product labels, similar to the way they are currently able to compare the healthiness of food products against each other using nutritional labels.

Sustainability product labels would reflect how environmentally and socially sustainable products are over the course of their life cycles based on how close they come to meeting four broad goals:

• Reducing energy cost and greenhouse gas emissions
• Reducing waste
• Producing high quality,responsibly sourced raw materials
• Ensuring responsible and ethical production

In October, Lightning Labels predicted that carbon footprint labeling would become standard fare on product labels within the decade, if not sooner, after UK supermarket giant Tesco launched a major trial of carbon footprint labeling on some of its private label brands in cooperation with the Carbon Trust. With major retailers Tesco and Wal-Mart leading the way on both sides of the pond now, it appears that consumers can expect to see carbon footprint labeling on most product labels sooner rather than later.

Related Resources
Wal-Mart Sustainability Meeting Webcast
Carbon Footprint Labeling is Coming
Carbon Footprint Labeling

Carbon Footprint Labels Come to Australia

Last year I wrote about the new carbon footprint labels that have begun appearing on products in the UK. Well now the same organization, Carbon Trust, is partnering with the Australian environmental organization, Planet Ark, to introduce carbon footprint labels into Australia.

So why is this significant? It shows a growing interest that consumers have in knowing the total environmental impact of their product choices. In the UK, there are more than 2,500 individual product lines carrying these carbon footprint labels as companies see the advantages of sharing this information with their customers. It will only be a matter of time before such a program gets some traction in this country.

I expect within the next two years we will see a major initiative like this undertaken in the US. The most challenging hurdles will be in creating standards to measure each component of a product and its packaging. I wrote about Fat Tire Beer and their complete carbon footprint measurement project - the report ran to 37 pages.

Regardless of the complexity, this movement is inevitable and the companies that become the first to share the environmental impact of their products will be seen as the leaders. Of course, this information will have to take up valuable label real estate which will create another challenge for designers of product labels.

Related Links

Carbon Trust

Planet Ark

Carbon Reduction Label Australia

Carbon Footprint of Fat Tire Beer

Explaining the Plastic Recycling Numbers

If Dustin Hoffman's character in The Graduate had taken the one word of advice given to him in that iconic movie he probably would have done very well for himself. Plastics. They pervade our daily life in the 21st century more than ever before.

In 1988 the Society of the Plastics Industry created the plastics numbering system that we use today in order to make it easier for recyclers to sort the different types of plastic. The numbers are officially called the resin identification codes and it is a national system with 39 states requiring their use on all plastic containers. We know that many of the product labels we print end up on plastic containers, so I thought it might be useful to provide an explanation of what the numbers mean:

1. PET or PETE - polyethylene terephthalate (referred to thankfully as PET) is the most commonly used plastic material. It is popular for soda bottles, bottled water and many types of food because it is light, clear and durable. It can be recycled easily into carpet, fleece, tote bags and furniture.

2. HDPE - high density polyethylene is a more durable plastic that is used in containers for detergent and household cleaners, also milk jugs, juice, shampoo, cosmetics and some shopping bags. It is typically recycled into motor oil bottles, plastic lumber, pipe, floor tiles, buckets and recycling bins.

3. PVC or V - polyvinyl chloride is an extremely tough plastic that weathers well so it used for piping, siding, window frames, medical equipment and cable insulation. It is rarely recycled but it can be recycled into more piping, decking, floor tiles, traffic cones and garden hoses.

4. LDPE - low density polyethylene has good toughness as well as flexibility which is why it is used predominantly in bags for groceries, bread, dry cleaning and garbage. It is also used in many squeezable bottles. It can be recycled into shipping envelopes, trash can liners, floor tile and plastic lumber.

5. PP - polypropylene is used in some yogurt containers as well as syrup and ketchup bottles, straws, bottle caps and medicine bottles. Polypropylene has a high melting point so it is also used for containers of hot liquids. It can be recycled into signal lights, battery cases, brooms, rakes, ice scrapers and bicycle racks.

6. PS - polystyrene is commonly used for disposable plates and cups, egg cartons, meat trays, CD and DVD cases and packaging peanuts. It can be recycled into thermal insulation, light switch plates, license plate frames, camera casings, and foam packaging.

7. Other - this means that the plastic is not made from any of the six main resins and it could be a combination of resins. Bioplastics such as PLA fall into this category as well as polycarbonate and nylons. Some recycling centers take number 7 containers and they are typically recycled into plastic lumber or custom-made products.

The vast majority of plastic bottles used today are either #1 or #2, and many communities will only accept these kinds of plastics for recycling. It is a shame that there is no national recycling program that would standardize recycling across the country and allow the recycling of all the different types of plastic. But that is a subject for a different day.

Additional Resources

The Daily Green

Plastic Recycling on Wikipedia

The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers

The American Chemistry Council guide to plastic packaging resins

Digital Printing - Better for the Earth

In celebration of Earth Day, today I am sharing some of the environmental benefits of digital label printing with the HP-Indigo technology. I have written before about how digital label printing creates less waste. Today I will share some of the other benefits of this great technology. Here are five ways the HP-Indigo label printing technology helps the earth:

1. No printing plates need to be manufactured
2. No toxic chemicals involved in the printing process
3. Inks are deinkable and recyclable
4. Uses less ink than other printing methods
5. Allows customers to order small quantities of labels economically

I believe the bottom line is this: digital label printing is better for the earth than traditional label printing. Many traditional printing presses use toxic chemicals in the manufacture of printing plates and in the printing process. And they produce far more material waste than digital.

As we celebrate Earth Day I am proud that we have HP as our printing technology partner. HP has been recognized as an industry leader when it comes to environmental stewardship and they are one of the 100 most sustainable corporations on the planet.

Happy Earth Day.

We are Replacing EarthFirst PLA with Natureflex

After extensive research we have decided to replace our EarthFirst PLA material with a product called Natureflex. This is not a decision we took lightly because we know many of our customers have been using the EarthFirst material and like it. However, there are several concerns about EarthFirst PLA: 

1. It is made from corn which takes away from the food supply for humans and farm animals, and has contributed to an increase in food prices for products with a corn component.
2. There are problems with the recycling of plastic containers with a PLA label - which means many such containers actually end up in landfills rather than being recycled.
3. Whole Foods is actively discouraging its suppliers from using PLA.

For these reasons we have been looking for an alternative for several months. We have found Natureflex to be an excellent replacement because none of these three factors apply. Natureflex is made from wood pulp manufactured from sustainably farmed trees and is gaining popularity as a more environmentally friendly label material. It also has similar visual and waterproof characteristics as the PLA material, so you should not notice any practical difference when labels are applied to your products. If you want to do a quote on the new Natureflex material then just use our instant online label quoter.

Here at Lightning Labels we are committed to being as eco-friendly as possible, and we are always looking for new materials that can reduce the carbon footprint of our customers. We feel that Natureflex is the best material available right now, but there are even better alternatives that are in development. These new materials are not available yet, some are several years off, but when they become available we will certainly be testing them out. Stay tuned. Any changes we make to our available materials will be announced here on the blog.

The Carbon Footprint of Fat Tire Beer

One of my favorite beers is a local Colorado beer called Fat Tire. It is made by New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins and they are well known as a company with a strong environmental conviction. So, they decided to measure the exact impact that their beer has on the environment by measuring the carbon footprint of a six pack of Fat Tire beer.

Last year they hired the Climate Conservancy to create this very comprehensive report that goes into great detail on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during the lifecycle of a six pack of Fat Tire beer. Of most interest to me was the impact of the paper labels. The impact of the paper material was 9.2g of CO₂ and the adhesive was 7.6g of CO₂, which includes the shipping of the beer labels to the bottling plant. So, a total impact of 16.8g of CO₂ for each six pack of Fat Tire produced.

The report is 37 pages long and it most likely is the most comprehensive study done by any brewery on the environmental impact of beer. The total average CO₂ emission to produce a six pack of Fat Tire and transport it to its destination in a liquor store is 3,189g. It is good to know the label only contributes around 0.5% of the total.

I expect to see more companies doing these kinds of studies in the future and eventually this information will make its way on to product labels. In case you are wondering, New Belgium produces a Sustainability report that details how it tries to mitigate the large amounts of CO₂ that is emitted as part of its beer production process.

Photo by Shiokuma.

Carbon Footprint Labeling is Coming

The large UK retailer Tesco has become the world's first supermarket chain to launch a major trial of carbon footprint labeling on some of its private label brands. But first a definition - what exactly is carbon footprint labeling? It is an attempt to measure the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during the life of a product including production, use and disposal.

Right now there are no regulations anywhere in the world demanding companies include this information with their product labels. But many companies aren't waiting.Tesco, in partnership with the Carbon Trust (a UK government funded organization dedicated to reducing carbon emissions), developed this pilot carbon footprint labeling system. The GHG emissions are given as carbon dioxide equivalents in order to provide a comparison of the total environmental impact of a product. Tesco included their store brand orange juice, light bulbs, potatoes, and laundry detergent in this initial trial. They have recently announced plans to label all products on their shelves with these carbon footprint labels, although no timetable has been set.

If Tesco really follows through with this it will be huge. It means that every company supplying products to Tesco will have to measure the carbon footprint of its products. I can't even begin to imagine the complications and expense this will cause many companies. It reminds me of Wal-Mart's Sustainable Packaging Scorecard which began earlier this year and is really driving sustainable packaging forward. There will be challenges along the way but companies like Wal-Mart and Tesco are so big they can dictate rules in this area that can really create permanent change.

I expect that some form of carbon footprint labeling will become standard fare on product labels within a decade and probably sooner. Once a formula is agreed upon all companies will just measure their carbon footprint in a similar way to how they measure profits today, and it will become second nature. Then consumers will be able to make truly informed choices. Do I want this expensive laundry detergent with a low carbon footprint or the cheap one that has a high carbon footprint?

Of course, this will mean valuable product label real estate will need to be devoted to this carbon footprint information. But we will all adapt. Food manufacturers adapted to the mandatory nutritional information on food products and consumers now find this information invaluable. With carbon footprint labeling we will not only be able to make choices for the benefit of our own health, but for the health of the entire planet.

New Hope for Plastic Recycling

When I first saw the chart above from the Container Recycling Institute I thought it was very depressing. While our recycling rate for PET beverage bottles (this includes most bottled water and soda bottles) was going up, the number of bottles thrown into landfills was going up at a faster rate.

Then I read this article last week from Packaging Digest and it provides some hope. Scientists at University College Dublin in Ireland have discovered a plastic eating bug that can convert low grade PET bottles into a more valuable and biodegradable plastic called PHA. What this will do is make the PET bottles much more valuable to the recycler and should lead to more economic incentives to recycle these bottles.

We are probably years away from any commercial application but it is a positive development nonetheless. We are landfilling over 100 billion (yes, that is billion) beverage cans and bottles every year, this gives us hope that one day we can use these PET bottles as the raw material for a biodegradable bottle.

New Bioplastic Made from Native Grass

Switchgrass, a type of grass that is native to the North American prairie is being converted into plastic by Metabolix, a company based just outside Boston. They just recently concluded a greenhouse trial where switchgrass yielded significant amounts of what is called PHA, a polymer that can be used to make bioplastics.

The most common form of bioplastic available today is EarthFirst PLA which is made from corn, which we stock here at Lightning Labels. However, PLA is not an ideal replacement for petroleum based plastics because it takes away from the food supply. Corn that is used for ethanol and bioplastics has been partly responsible for the large runup in food prices recently.

There are many benefits of switchgrass. It is a native prairie grass that is easily grown in many areas of this country and it grows well in hot, dry conditions. So it needs much less water and fertilizer than corn and unlike corn it is a perennial. And of course, switchgrass is not an integral part of the food supply.

It may be a while before we will be able to order label material made from switchgrass, but it is an interesting development nonetheless. Right now, PLA from corn is the only viable alternative to petroleum based plastics, but that will likely change in the near future.