Beauty Detective asks…What is the definition of a green product according to you?
The Left Brain responds:
As you know if you read our recent article on the Huffington Post, we don’t really believe there IS a good definition of a green product. (Or a “natural” or “organic” product for that matter.) The best definition we’ve seen involves the sustainability guidelines established by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
How can you tell if a cosmetic company is sustainable?
The GRI is a Netherlands-based organization that has established guidelines for companies who wish to report their impact on the environment. The report covers a number of factors that determine a product’s environmental impact including the following:
- Raw Materials (chemicals and packaging)
- Water sources (including amount recycled)
- Biodiversity (how well they protect the ecosystem)
- Greenhouse gas emission (CO2 and ozone depleting substances)
- Chemical waste (total amount as well as initiatives to mitigate environmental effects)
Even though these are just a few of the areas covered by the G3 report, it’s easy to see that this definition of “green” goes far beyond just asking “Are you using plant-derived ingredients instead of nasty synthetic chemicals?”
The Beauty Brains bottom line
If you want to know if the products you’re buying are “green” then you should find out if the company that makes them files a GRI G3 report. (Click here to search their data base of companies for reports.)
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the link for the gri g3 report is broken
http://www.globalreporting.org/ReportServices/GRIReportsList/
@Jamie: Thanks for the catch!!! I just fixed the link. (PS, you are awesome.)
i think you could tell on the content they are using, the waste disposal mechanism and how they value customer and the environment as well.
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