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AEAT Study for ANEC AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 ANEC2003/ENV/011 The Suitability of Eco-label Criteria to Derive Environmental Baseline Requirements Applicable to all Products on the Market A report produced for ANEC Phil Dolley, Louise Oldman & Jim Poll May 2003 AEAT in Confidence AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 ANEC2003/ENV/011 The Suitability of Eco-label Criteria to Derive Environmental Baseline Requirements Applicable to all Products on the Market Acknowledgements With special thanks to the following people who provided valuable input to this study: Kristian Dammand Nielsen, Miljømærkesekretariatet/Ecolabelling Denmark Kerstin Sahlen, SIS Miljömärkning AB / SIS Ecolabelling Dr. Tony Sagar, British Textile Technology Group (BTTG) NORMAN FALLA, THE PAINT RESEARCH ASSOCIATION May 2003 AEAT in Confidence AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 Title The Suitability of Eco-label Criteria to Derive Environmental Baseline Requirements Applicable to all Products on the Market Customer ANEC - Dr Franz Fiala (Project Supervisor) Customer ANEC2002/R&T/ENV/001 reference Confidentiality, AEAT in Confidence copyright and reproduction This document has been prepared by AEA Technology plc in connection with a contract to supply goods and/or services and is submitted only on the basis of strict confidentiality. The contents must not be disclosed to third parties other than in accordance with the terms of the contract. File reference ED24445/Final Report Report number AEAT/ENV/R/1460 Report status Final Report, Issue 02 AEA Technology Environment Culham Science Centre ABINGDON Oxfordshire, OX14 3ED UK Telephone +44 (0) 1235 463977 Facsimile +44 (0) 1235 463001 AEA Technology Environment is the trading name of AEA Technology plc AEA Technology Environment is certificated to BS EN ISO9001:(1994) Name Signature Date Author Louise Oldman & Jim Poll Reviewed by Louise Oldman Approved by Phil Dolley AEAT in Confidence AEA Technology ii AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 AEAT in Confidence AEA Technology iii AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 Executive Summary Ecolabel schemes set product related performance criteria at a high level so that typically only a limited percentage of products on the market can comply. Nonetheless, the process of establishing an ecolabel requires a wealth of information to be considered such that the broader spectrum of product performance can be identified. Access to such information is key to devising refined performance requirements. With this background in mind, the possibility exists for using ecolabels to help identify product minimum performance standards. If such standards can be identified and agreed, then the further possibility is that they can be used in the context of IPP to develop minimum product specific requirements. This study assessed the use of ecolabel criteria for establishing such requirements. There are 13 ecolabel schemes in Europe covering some 240 product groups. These include the following product areas: · Electrical/electronic · Cleaning products · Paper products · Garden and household products · Textiles · Items used in offices · Services and tourism. In this exploratory study devised to determine the suitability of using ecolabel criteria to determine minimum product requirements, it was necessary to select a much smaller but representative cross-section of products for assessment. Ultimately ANEC's objective was for five product groups to be studied. As a result it was necessary to filter product groups by: · Preferentially opting for products covered by the EU ecolabel scheme the development of which involves a wide range of stakeholder consultation, which aims to incorporate specific requirements (environmental or political) from EU Member States. In other words, a degree of consensus exists across Europe. · Selecting products where criteria have also been set by national ecolabel schemes and for which there have been a number of applicants. Again, the reasoning being that for such products one can surmise a degree of stakeholder consensus regarding the environmental impacts. · Eliminating criteria in which production related requirements prevail. The issue here concerns potential trade barriers. · Requiring that the criteria for a product should contain a sufficient number of specific environmental criteria so that even after elimination of some of those (e.g. production related) sufficient criteria covering a range of different issues remain for a minimum baseline to be developed. AEAT in Confidence AEA Technology iv AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 As a result of applying these filters the following five product groups were selected and approved by the ANEC project supervisor: · Dishwashers · Vacuum cleaners · Detergents for dishwashers · Paints and varnishes · Textiles. A detailed review of EU ecolabel requirements and background data on the current environmental performance for each of the five product groups allowed outline minimum requirements to be identified for each. This report presents the work as undertaken, detailing the method adopted and derivation of the baseline requirements. AEAT in Confidence AEA Technology v AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 PHASE 1: IDENTIFICATION OF PRODUCT GROUPS 2 3 OPPORTUNITIES AND ISSUES WITH USING ECOLABEL CRITERIA TO DEVELOP STANDARDS 5 3.1 ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS .................................................. 5 3.2 CLEANING PRODUCTS ........................................................................ 7 3.3 PAPER PRODUCTS............................................................................. 8 3.4 PAINTS AND VARNISHES ..................................................................... 9 3.5 TEXTILES, MATTRESSES AND FOOTWEAR ..................................................10 3.6 SOIL IMPROVERS ............................................................................10 4 IDENTIFICATION OF FIVE SELECTED PRODUCTS 11 5 PHASE 2: DEVELOPMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL BASELINE REQUIREMENTS 13 5.1 DISHWASHERS ..............................................................................13 5.1.1 LIFE CYCLE CONSIDERATIONS ..................................................................... 14 5.1.2 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DISHWASHERS .................. 15 5.1.3 OTHE R ISSUES....................................................................................... 18 5.1.4 OPPORTUNITIES FOR ESTABLISHING ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS FOR DI SHWASHERS.... 18 5.2 DETERGENTS FOR DISHWASHERS..........................................................20 5.2.1 LIFE CYCLE CONSIDERATIONS ...................................................................... 20 5.2.2 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DETERGENTS FOR DISHWASHERS............................................................................................. 21 5.3 VACUUM CLEANERS..........................................................................26 5.3.1 LIFE CYCLE CONSIDERATIONS ...................................................................... 27 5.3.2 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF VACUUM CLEANERS............ 27 5.3.3 OPPORTUNITIES FOR ESTABLISHING ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS FOR VACUUM CLEANERS 30 5.4 INDOOR PAINTS & VARNISHES ............................................................31 5.4.1 LIFE CYCLE CONSIDERATIONS ...................................................................... 32 5.4.2 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INDOOR PAINTS & VARNISHES 34 5.4.3 OPPORTUNITIES FOR ESTABLISHING ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS FOR INDOOR PAINTS & VARNISHES....................................................................... 37 5.5 TEXTILES.....................................................................................39 5.5.1 LIFE CYCLE CONSIDERATIONS ...................................................................... 40 5.5.2 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TEXTILE S ......................... 42 5.5.3 DIVERSITY OF TEXTILES...................................................................... 47 6 CONCLUSIONS 50 AEAT in Confidence AEA Technology vi AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 Appendices APPENDIX 1 Chemicals with potential for negative effects on the environment (Textiles) APPENDIX 2 Overview of European Ecolabel Schemes AEAT in Confidence AEA Technology vii AEAT in Confidence AEAT/ENV/R/1460 1 Introduction The European Commission has instigated a discussion on Integrated Product Policy (IPP) aimed at the reduction of environmental burdens by taking into account all stages of the life cycle of a product. A green paper on IPP has been published in order to launch a public discussion. So far, there has been limited development of practical measures to implement the general principles. It would be helpful if clear-cut requirements could be embodied in European standards. As a consequence, the issues of establishing environmental baseline requirements need to be addressed. Existing eco-label criteria may provide the foundation for addressing this issue. Research and data collected over the past ten years has enabled criteria (often with specific compliance values) to be set for a range of products, commending those with significantly reduced environmental impacts (those products normally fall in the top 5- 25% of their group). However, although eco-label criteria provide a method for identifying the products with reduced environmental impact, the overall impact of a product group can be reduced if those products with the greatest environmental impact are removed from the market. This means that a review of current eco-label
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