Not just any labels. We’re talking ecolabels, those symbols certifying that your bedsheets and laundry detergent are ecologically benign. Eco-labels aren’t big in America, where only a handful of items bear the imprimatur of Green Seal, Inc., or the cross and globe of its competitor, Scientific Certification Systems. Abroad, though, green consumerism is hot. Almost everyone in Germany recognizes the Federal Environment Office’s blue angel. The white Nordic swan is so popular that Swedish retailers insist on it. Even India has a seal for products whose manufacture, use and disposal are deemed least harmful to the environment. But where environmentalists tout progress, business sees a new form of protectionism. Says Scott Stewart of Procter & Gamble, “Eco-seals potentially create barriers to trade.”
Exhibit A: copy paper. Any-paper can be sold in the European Union’s 15 member nations. But to earn the EU’s eco-label, a flower with 12 stars for petals, copy paper must meet criteria covering factory pollution, forest management and recycled content. By no coincidence, U.S. papermakers say, few non-European paper mills qualify for the label. The eco-standard was approved on May 29, and so far it hasn’t affected a single sale. But if the EU follows through on its plan to use only eco-labeled paper, importers could be hurt.
In theory, eco-labels should lead to a cleaner environment. “It’s a very pure idea,” says Phil Evans of Britain’s Consumers Association. “The problems come in the actual practice.” Paper recycling, for example, might make sense in Holland, but requiring paper made in Canada’s sparsely settled west to use recycled pulp may consume more resources than it saves. Or take the EU’s eco-label for T shirts. U.S. makers claim the rules permit more pollution from plants that dump wastewater into the sewer than from those that treat it on site, as most U.S. textile plants do.
A problem? Even enviros admit that all-purpose stars and seals can be misleading. But a serious barrier to trade? No, responds Norman Dean of Green Seal, “it’s a consumer right-to-know issue.” U.S. trade officials are under the gun to launch a push for international eco-labeling rules this month. So far, though, the Clinton administration hasn’t figured out whether a green label is worth a bloody fight.
