Green Guides

Renewable Energy Policy Project. (1999). Your Green Guide to Electricity Choices (pamphlet). 

Here are a few sites we wish anyone buying a baby present for us would surf. Some sell (adorable) clothes and baby blankets others stock toys not made of plastic. Many of the nursery resources listed (page 119) also sell sheets, blankets, and baby clothes. If you don t need any more stuff, ask for a subscription to your parenting magazine of choice or our trusty resource, The Green Guide. 

Towards More Sustainable Construction Green Guide for Managers on the Government Estate, DETR, London, UK, 1999. 

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued new Green Guides, on Environmental Marketing Claims, to help marketers avoid deceptive environmental... 

The FTC Green Guides define competent and reliable scientific evidence as tests, analyses, research, studies or other evidence based on the expertise of professionals in the relevant area, conducted and evaluated in an objective manner by persons qualified to do so, using procedures generally accepted in the profession to yield accurate and reliable results . The evidence should be sufficient in quality and quantity, based on standards generally accepted in the relevant scientific fields, when considered in light of the entire body of relevant and reliable scientific evidence, to substantiate that [a] representation is true . 

In the USA, an independent, qualified third party, NSF International, certifies products as compostable in commercial and municipal facilities based on ASTM standard D6400 - as discussed earlier this is in compliance with the FTC Green Guides - the independent certifier uses the voluntary consensus standards from ASTM. However, third-party certification does not eliminate a marketer s obligation to ensure that it has substantiation for all claims reasonably commimicated by the certification. 

There is a provision in the FTC Green Guides to make an unqualified general compostability claim if the product can be converted safely to usable compost in a timely manner in a home compost pile or device. However, there are no standards or guidance on what constitutes a home compost pile - it could be a rotting pile in the garden or a poorly managed home compost pile that turns anaerobic. So it is unclear as to how one can provide substantiation for a compostability claim in a home compost pile or device. 

In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the lead agency responsible for ensuring that product-marketing claims are fair and not deceptive. The FTC has issued the Green Guides (69). 

According to the Green Guides, five conditions must be met (i) the entire product biodegrades (2) the residue from biodegradation consists of only elements found in nature (5) the complete biodegradation must occur within a reasonably short period of time (4) biodegradation must occur under conditions of customary disposal (5) the previous four points must be substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence. 

HS(G)66 Protection of workers and the general public during the development of contaminated land, HSE Books BR351 Green guide to specification. Building Research... 

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