One of the European Commission’s main objectives in dealing with the actual climate emergency that the planet is experiencing is related to transparency. As environmental education and consumer awareness grow, companies have taken advantage of it by communicating green claims or properties from their products or services whose integrity has yet to be demonstrated.
This type of practice, also known as Greenwashing is being faced by the EU through different legislations whose objective is to enhance transparency and give information to consumers, and initiatives such as the Ecolabel have arrived to add extra value to environmentally efficient products.
The ecolabel emerged 30 years ago, known as the “Community Eco-label” which tried to influence consumers to greener choices, providing a reliable guide towards environmental care. The former ecolabel has evolved and, nowadays, it is an award to products and services which have a lower environmental impact than their competence consumed in the EU market. we can find a wide range of products under these regulations:
- Cleaning products
- Clothes and textiles
- Coverings
- Do-it-yourself materials
- Electronic equipment
- Furniture and mattresses
- Gardening
- Vacation accommodation
- Lubricants
- Paper
- Personal and animal care products
All the products included in this list have the most environmental performance over the whole life cycle, and just 10-20% of the total products available on the European market fit its requirements.
Every sector has its special requirements and solutions to reduce its climate footprint and achieve the European Ecolabel. For example, the textile industry can bet on more innovative materials which reduces the industry climate impact, or can resort to deadstock fabrics marketplaces.
There is not just one single list of requirements that covers all the product categories included on the Ecolabel. Every category has its characteristics and climate impact, so its requirements are adapted to them.
Even if it is not possible to define a unique list of requirements, the criteria for them are common for all the products, following ethical and circular economy motivations, all of them devised using scientific data on the whole of a product’s life cycle, from product development to disposal. They cover environmental and climate impact, health, safety, social, and ethical aspects and promote durability, recyclability, and recycled materials used on them.
The textile industry become one the principles polluting reasons of the world, so promoting environmentally respectful practices on it is very important to reduce its climate footprint. The European Ecolabel has defined two separate directives, one that covers textile products and another one that covers footwear, whose validity will be from the 31st of December of 2025. That means that textile industry companies have almost 2 years to prepare and adopt circular economy solutions to achieve the Ecolabel for their products.
For the textile industry, the European Ecolabel guarantees:
- Natural-origin raw materials are sustainably managed
- Reduced pollution in production processes
- Minimised use of hazardous substances
- Tested for durability
On the other hand, the requirements for them are related with:
- Manufacturing
- Materials used during the production process
- Water consumption and emissions
- Hazardous substances
- Corporate social responsibility
- Components and accessories
- How energy-efficient is the production process
- Usability
- Packaging
- User information
- Durability
- Fitness for use
To ensure transparency and obtain for the ecolabel or to communicate to your consumers, data is essential. The data must contain information about the different parts that involve the whole product lifecycle, it is more than its composition.
At Recovo, we consider it, so we add information about fabric composition and other information related to its impact on the environment and traceability, such as water, CO2, and chemical emissions in every order at Recovo’s deadstock fabrics marketplace.
This information is not only useful for the ecolabel but also for the Digital Product Passport, which will also be introduced in 2025. This valuable extra information aims to materialize what we are achieving for the environment, adding realistic data about how this type of service can reduce the textile industry’s climate footprint personalized for any order.
Another Recovo service for the circular economy is the software to manage warehouse stocks to reduce waste and production costs CiMS. Reducing overconsumption is one of the easiest ways for companies to reduce their waste and production costs, reducing raw material extraction and manufacturing environmental emissions.
Recovo creates circular solutions for the fashion industry. We cover various aspects of the circular economy for brands:
Based in Barcelona, we have a global mission with our websites in Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, dutch, German
If you want to know more, please contact us
