Sustainability continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing businesses, both large and small. Adopting products and services that have the minimum impact on the environment continues to be a top priority. It’s not surprising that sales and marketing messages shouting about ethical and environmentally sustainability are seductive.
We developed our Roadmap to Sustainability to support our members. It is founded on the principle of treading lightly in all areas of the business. It comprises five pillars:
- Product as it is received, used and disposed of by the end user.
- Packaging, covering all the packaging of a product, throughout the supply chain.
- Transportation.
- Social values, including mental wellbeing, personal development and the overall ethical approach of the business.
- Corporate environmental impact, covering waste, emissions and water.
Our members, manufacturers and distributors, have now come together to offer guidance to buyers and end users on how to navigate the complexities of environmental and ethical sustainability. They addressed three key questions:
- How can buyers identify and avoid greenwashing?
- What are the major carbon-reduction initiatives in the industry?
Identify and Avoid Greenwashing
Buyers need to know and understand legislative developments.
They also need to know the true meaning of terms like ‘biodegradeable’, ‘compostable’, ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘natural’. For example, ‘biodegradable’ as it is applied to cleaning products, is defined in current legislation (Detergent Regulation (EC) No 648/2004 and corresponding UK post Brexit legislation).
All claims should be substantiated with reliable third-party comparative research, which is easily accessible by the user or buyer, including those that claim a comparison to other ‘toxic’ or ‘harmful’ products. The use of the phrase ‘non-toxic’ in the marketing narrative, can be misleading. Buyers or end users may interpret it as zero risk, despite warnings on the product about eye and skin irritation. It’s crucial to always consider context and Classification Labelling and Packaging (CLP) warnings on labels and product data sheets. When marketers use terms like ‘non-toxic’, they should have reliable scientific evidence to back up their claims. Transparent and accuracy matter.
Buyers must also consider the whole lifecycle. Greenwashing claims often focus on one aspect of the product’s lifecycle while ignoring others such as transport, disposal or the use of hazardous materials. Never take sustainability claims at face value. Challenge them. Ask for evidence. In particular, beware absolute claims. It is impossible to have, for example, zero environmental impact or be 100% sustainable and no plastic sack is made from 100% recycled material.
The Major Carbon-Reduction Initiatives
Major carbon reduction initiatives focus on the move from a linear mode of ‘take, make, use, throw’ to a circular economy of re-use, re-manufacture, repair and recycle. Product design needs to minimize raw materials and support recyclability at the end of a product’s lifecycle.
The two big areas of focus for transport and distribution are the vehicles themselves and delivery efficiency. Investment in expensive electric vehicles may be attention-catching but there are important cumulative wins by improving delivery efficiency. Efficient route planning software can reduce transport miles and buyers accepting large, less frequent and less urgent deliveries can make a big difference.
Many manufacturing processes are energy intensive. Buyers need to seek manufacturers who are adopting renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power and investing in technologies and processes that improve energy efficiency. Measurement is also crucial. Manufacturers need to understand their baseline if they are to reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Conclusion
Ethical and environmental sustainability is a complex and challenging issue, but one that must be addressed. We are asking buyers of cleaning and hygiene products to put ethical and environmental sustainability at the heart of tenders. We ask them to require a sustainability strategy, which includes a life cycle assessment of carbon emissions, quantified and measured independently where possible. Asking about the resources committed to the strategy will indicate the serious suppliers. Our goal is that with this approach our industry will be a leader in ethical and environmental sustainability.
Click here to view the white paper.
Content provided by Lorcan Mekitarian, chair of the Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers Association. For more information visit www.chsa.co.uk.
@CHSACleaning