Find out what the logos and slogans on green products mean

1% for the Planet member (Back to top)

This product is from a company that's a member of 1% for the Planet -- which means the company gives one per cent of its sales (revenue) to one of 1,500 environmental charities. Charities include big names such as Greenpeace USA and local groups like Thames 21. How it works: the member pays an annual membership fee to 1% and gives its donation directly to a 1% charity of its choice.

BDIH Certified Natural Cosmetics (Back to top)

A German certification for natural body and beauty products. Every product with this certification is produced in an ethical and responsible manner, both in terms of fair trade and environmental matters, and is made from natural raw materials such as plant oils, fats and waxes, herbal extracts, essential oils and aromatic materials. All ingredients must be traceable and the production processes should be environmentally friendly and transparent. None of the products, or anything in them, have been tested on animals and all are free from GM ingredients, organic-synthetic dyes, synthetic fragrances, ethoxylated raw materials, silicones and petroleum products. Some preservatives are allowed in addition to natural preservatives: benzoic acid and its salts, ethylester, salicylic acid and its salts, sorbic acid and its salts, and benzyl alcohol. An independent body checks that these criteria are fulfilled before a product is awarded certification.

Biodegradable (Back to top)

There's no official labelling scheme for the term 'biodegradable', but it's usually used to describe products that can be broken down at end of life by living organisms (worms and other little creatures). Companies are increasingly labelling biodegradable products as compostable, though you should check whether they're suitable for home composting -- some are only suitable for industrial composting schemes. Biodegradable products are good green news because they stop products being sent to landfill as waste and creating greenhouse gases as a result. Biodegradable material can also create useful by-products if disposed of correctly -- either to make compost or, on an industrial scale, to create electricity through anaerobic digesters.

Carbon neutral (Back to top)

A product or service that's considered to have reduced the carbon dioxide it emitted in manufacture and use to zero. Usually this is done by carbon offsetting, but a product could also be considered carbon neutral in other ways. For example, a solar charger that creates enough carbon-free energy to balance the carbon used to manufacture it. It's worth bearing in mind there is no independent standard, labelling or certification scheme for carbon neutral products. Some companies' definitions of carbon neutral include the CO2 emitted by manufacture but not the daily use, and vice versa. The title is often self-awarded and should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Carbon offset (Back to top)

The carbon emissions produced by this product or service have been either fully or partially offset by a carbon-reducing programme -- look to see what percentage was offset. For example, Eurostar now offsets 100 per cent of all its passenger journeys by default. Usually the carbon reductions are achieved through tree-planting, energy efficiency (such as swapping incandescent bulbs for energy-saving ones) and renewables projects (such as creating carbon-free electricity and heat) in developing nations. This is no legally-binding standard for carbon offset products, though the government does have a voluntary set of standards which are met by Carbon Offsets, Equiclimate, Global Cool and Pure.

Donation to charity (Back to top)

This varies from product to product in the details, but the simple rule is that buying this product results in a donation going to charity. One high-profile example is the (RED) range of products, which give a percentage of profits to AIDS-fighting charity Global Fund. Such schemes are not usually regulated, but the donations should be going to Registered Charities (find out more at the Charity Commission).

Eco materials (Back to top)

This product is made from a material or materials that lessen its impact on the environment. That impact can take many forms -- carbon emissions, toxic pesticides and water usage are just three typical examples. Common eco materials include organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, biodegradable plastics, cork, FSC-certified wood, Merino wool and anything from a recycled source.

Energy Star (Back to top)

A product recognised as being very energy efficient by the US government's Energy Star labelling scheme. The scheme covers more than 50 product categories, from dishwashers to TVs -- you can see what products are covered and what the energy requirements on the Energy Star site. An Energy Star-badged fridge-freezer, for example, uses at least 15 per cent less energy than required by US federal law. Energy Star is similar to the EST Recommended badge in the UK.

EST Recommended (Back to top)

A product with this badge is deemed energy efficient by the independent UK-based Energy Saving Trust. Criteria vary between product categories, which include boilers, insulation products, fridges, dishwashers, washing machines, digital TVs and more. An EST Recommended fridge, for example, has to be rated A+ on the EU Energy Label scheme.

EU Eco-label (Back to top)

Any non-food products carrying this badge have been tested as greener than average by the EU. Exactly what that means varies between product categories -- Eco-label dishwasher tablets, for example, are limited to less than 10g of phosphates per wash, and have a minimum 80 per cent recycled card packaging. You can find out more by category on the EUROPA site.

Fairtrade (Back to top)

There are two key different types of fair trade -- uppercase certified Fairtrade and lowercase uncertified fair trade, a distinction we make in the text of our reviews. Official certified Fairtrade products are our preference, as they have been independently audited by a body such as the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK or the International Fair Trade Organisation. These organisations guarantee a premium wage for the product makers. If a product isn't certified -- lowercase fair trade -- then it's difficult to verify that producers are being paid a premium wage and you should treat manufacturers' claims sceptically.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified (Back to top)

You can buy wood products with this badge safe in the knowledge it came from a responsibly managed forest -- rather than, say, an illegal plantation in Indonesia. The FSC sends in certification bodies (auditors) who visit forests once a year to check a long list of "environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial" standards are met. The standards include protection of endangered species living there, enshrinement of indigenous peoples' rights, written guidelines on erosions, a ban on GM chemicals and a whole lot more (see the FSC site). Watch out for the difference between FSC-certified and FSC "mixed source", which carries the FSC badge but allows the 'good wood' to be mixed with unchecked wood.

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified (Back to top)

Fish accompanied by a MSC badge can generally be considered 'happy fish'. Not happy they've been caught, obviously, but happy in the respect that the MSC's three main ethical principles have been obeyed during the catch. 1) Don't overfish and help depleted fish stocks recover. 2) Maintain the ecosystem, so don't make changes that could affect diversity. 3) Comply with local, national and international laws. Born out of WWF and Unilever, the MSC is now fully independent and -- like the FSC -- sends in certification bodies to check standards are stuck to.

No animal testing (Back to top)

This product and none of its ingredients have been tested on any animals. Some companies against animal testing decide to get certified by the Vegan Society. Others, such as Lush, declare they won't buy from any company that carries out animal testing. There are two different policies a company can follow if it says it is not using animal testing. One is called the Five Year Rolling Rule Policy, which means manufacturers can use ingredients from a supplier only five years after the animal testing has been done. Generally animal welfare campaigners do not endorse the Five Year Rolling Rule Policy. The second and more ethical policy is the Fixed Cut-Off Date. This means neither the ingredients nor the finished product has been tested on animals after a specified date. Some companies use the internationally recognised Humane Cosmetics Standard logo (a leaping rabbit) to show they don't use animal-testing. If a product carries the HSC logo, the company behind it must introduce a fixed cut-off date for ingredient purchasing. In the UK, the BUAV ensures HSC companies are not testing on animals.

Organic (Back to top)

All food and drink labelled organic in the UK must have been checked as organic by one of ten certification bodies, from the well-known Soil Association to smaller names such as Organic Farmers and Growers. Each body has slightly different standards -- the Soil Association is hot on respect for a farm's local environment and wildlife -- but there are minimum government ones. These include restricted use of pesticides (it's worth noting some are allowed), no GM, and a focus on soil health and crop rotation. The organic label also goes beyond food and drink, including cotton, beauty products and more -- in non-food cases, the rules are different but the focus is usually on limiting pesticide use.

Producer community benefits (Back to top)

There's no set definition or standard for a product that brings about community benefits, but one thing is definite -- the people who made it have benefited in some way. Sometimes this will be through the transfer of business skills to developing world producers, sometimes through more tangible projects such as schools or buildings. It recognises the grey area between fair trade and donations to charity. One example is chocolate company Malagasy, which promotes the concept of 'Equitrade'. This involves exporting a finished product (chocolate) from Madagascar to the UK, rather than a raw material (cacoa beans), thus creating more jobs and spin-off jobs in related industries.

Rainforest Alliance (Back to top)

Usually associated with coffee, this label can also be awarded to other food and drink products. It means that product was produced using a set of ecological and social criteria. Those include a ban on hunting wild animals on a farm, a ban on discharging industrial water into natural bodies of water, and a ban on the cutting or burning of natural forest cover to create new production areas (read the full list on the Rainforest Alliance site). It's worth nothing the Rainforest Alliance badge applies to the producing farms rather than a specific product or brand.

Recyclable (Back to top)

This product can be recycled into a new product or material. The eco benefits are two-fold -- you keep an old product out of a dump, and you also save on carbon emitted to produce brand new virgin material. All sorts of materials are recyclable today, from traditional ones such as glass, aluminium and cardboard to an increasingly extensive range of plastics. It's worth noting the manufacturer may not necessarily provide a 'take-back' scheme for the product, so you may need to find a recycle scheme yourself.

Recycled (Back to top)

A percentage of this product has been made from recycled materials -- to find out exactly how much, check the review. Buying a product made from recycled materials is usually good news as it means it has lower 'embodied energy' -- the carbon and resources required to make it -- and also encourages a market for further recycled products. That range is expanding all the time. You can now buy beer glasses made from old beer bottles, cat litter from recycled paper and fruit bowls from recycled plastic.

Sweatshop-free (Back to top)

The people who made this product have enjoyed reasonable working conditions, free of abuse, harassment, compulsory over-time and a dangerous working environment. They should also have been given the right to freedom of association and enjoyed a fair wage relative to their country. Though the UN has a list of basic standards, there is no definitive way to ensure a product is sweatshop-free. Products that come from a factory certified by the International Federation for Alternative Trading and Fairtrade Labelling Organisation should, however, theoretically be less likely to partake in sweatshop-like practises. High street shop Gap is also developing its own Sweatshop Free labelling system.

Utz Certified (Back to top)

The Utz label is only applied to coffee, and means it has been produced in a socially and environmentally responsible fashion. Like Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance, Utz is a certification scheme -- and in this case it certifies that your coffee was made by people who didn't have to work more than a 48-hour week, could join a union and enjoyed a stack of other basic worker rights. On the eco side, you can rest easy that the coffee has not resulted in trees getting chopped down without new ones being planted and should have been made with solar power when possible. You can read the full standards on the Utz Certified site.

Vegan Society (Back to top)

Any product endorsed by the Vegan Society includes no animal-derived products (for example, dairy) and did not result in animal testing (right down to tiny ones like water fleas). The society's badge also means there are no GM ingredients and -- in the case of food -- products must have been prepared separately from non-vegan grub.

Vegetarian Society (Back to top)

As you might expect, a product bearing the Vegetarian Society's seedling symbol is free of any animal flesh, which includes meat, fowl, fish and shellfish. It also means any eggs used are free range, there are no GM ingredients, no cross-contamination with non-veggie food and utensils, and no animal testing. To carry the badge, the company behind the product must sign a written agreement stating that its product meets the Vegetarian Society's criteria.

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