Product ecolabels and manufacturers' self-declarations-a proposal for a rational and practical approach for the global marketplace

Ecolabels have been used for many years as a market incentive to drive improvements in the environmental performance and impacts of products. Recently office equipment, such as PCs, monitors, copiers and printers, has been added to the list of products covered or proposed to be covered by ecolabels. A number of different national, regional or local ecolabel programs and criteria can create problems for manufacturers who market products worldwide. Examples of these problems include: the diversity of criteria and/or test methods, complex "all or nothing criteria" and the administrative demands associated with the application and approval processes. An increasing number and diversity of environmental information requests from individual customers have created similar problems and demands. In some cases, manufacturers are unable to respond accurately and objectively to these environmental questionnaires. As a result of these problems and concerns, some Information Technology (IT) manufacturers' associations have proposed a manufacturers' self-declaration of environmental performance or attributes. These proposals include parameters and test protocols that would standardize the reporting of product environmental features. A proposed set of guiding principles for ecolabels and/or manufacturers' self-declarations is presented and discussed. The pros and cons of ecolabels versus manufacturers' self-declarations from the manufacturers' as well as the end user's viewpoint are explored and discussed.