| Sumario: | Ozone safe, recyclable, biodegradable: Manufacturers' claims for environmentally friendly products have become part and parcel of marketing. Since the late 1980s, however, much progress has been made in standardizing the terms and distinguishing product categories. “Between 1988 and 1993, third-party environmental certification programs emerged both in the United States and elsewhere around the world...to...independently certify environmental claims made by manufacturers about their products,” says Julie W. Lynch, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics in Washington, D.C. While the fuel-economy rating on cars is mandatory, Energy Star Computers is an example of voluntary third-party labeling. This is “a voluntary initiative designed to reward industry partners that manufacture desktop computers, monitors, and printers capable of ‘powering down’ to a low-energy state,” Lynch says. Whether mandatory or voluntary, these labeling schemes work because environmentally aware consumers wield tremendous power in the market place. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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