What Makes A Product “Green”?

(This article appeared in the May '08 issues of Merchant Magazine and Building Products Digest.)

Last month’s Earth Day is now behind us and the media frenzy around all things green was truly impressive. Major retailers and manufacturers, from Wal-Mart to Clorox, sought to establish their “green” credentials, announcing initiatives, reformulated products, carbon offsets and renewable energy plans. As the news stories and advertising begin to subside, most of the rest of the retailing world is taking notice and asking what they can do to better address the rising demand for greener products and services.

In this, and future columns, we’ll seek to answer those questions in ways that help independent retailers in the hardware and home improvement channel win over new customers and reinvigorate relationships with existing ones. So let’s start with one of most frequent questions I’m asked: What exactly is a “green” product?

As with most questions of this sort, there are simple answers and slightly more complex answers. OK, simple answer first: green products pose no health threat to the user, are good (or at least not harmful) for the environment, and are made in ways that do not negatively affect the communities where they’re made or the workers who make them. This, of course, is an ideal that most “green” products approach but cannot attain if no other reason than most production and distribution requires energy in the form of fossil fuel, which carries with it some serious negative impacts in the form of air pollution and green house gas emissions.

So let’s look at a slightly more complex, more useful definition of what makes a product “green.” And to do that, we need to consider the context. Who’s buying the products in the first place? In our business, we generally serve two types of customers, building professionals and consumers, each with their own set of motivations and criteria.

For building professionals, the relevant context for products and materials are green building guidelines, such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), as well as numerous local and regional programs. These programs define design and construction criteria that make commercial or residential buildings energy and water efficient, healthy, and with minimal negative impact to the environment, specifying material and product characteristics that earn credits, or points. Building projects that gain enough points are awarded “green” status, such Silver, Gold or Platinum in the case of LEED. Using lumber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), for example, will earn LEED credits, as will using low-VOC paints, adhesives, and caulks, materials with renewable or recycled content, etc.

While the USGBC and other programs don’t identify specific product brands, other resources do. One of the best building product guides comes from Building Green, a well respected organization in the world of green building, who publishes the GreenSpec Guides. GreenSpec is also online at www.greenspec.com. These guides ostensibly cut through marketing noise to identify the best-in-class products for use in any green building project. If you’re a retailer with a strong pro customer base, GreenSpec is a must have publication for your buyers and contractor sales team.

For the consumer market, the task of identifying green products is a little more involved because there is no comprehensive program like LEED to guide product choices. A good place to start is with the consumers themselves. While green builders may be motivated by lower operating costs, enhanced rent and real estate values, or regulation, (building green is becoming mandatory in some communities,) consumers are increasingly motivated by concerns for the environment and personal health issues. It is this rising tide of shifting consumer attitudes that is powering the growth of Whole Foods, for example. These consumers tend to be skeptical of manufacturer claims, respond better to word of mouth than traditional advertising, and are willing pay a little more for a greener product.

Product certifications don’t yet exist to help us identify products in every category for the increasingly green consumers, but they’re catching up. Energy Star has been around for awhile, of course, with nearly universal recognition, and it’s expanding to include new electrical products, such as cordless power tools. The EPA recently introduced a similar program for water-related products called WaterSense, which covers High Efficiency Toilets (HET), faucets, showerheads and irrigation products. The growing popularity of organic foods and other products has helped to drive demand for organic supplies for the garden. Lawn and garden products that carry the OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) label have been certified to comply with the USDA’s National Organics Program. And of course, there are other products in these categories that would certainly be considered green but aren’t covered by these certifications, such as smart power strips that shut down phantom energy loads, solar lighting, water purifiers, and composters.

Identifying green product choices for the rest of your store gets a little trickier. Cleaning products, for example, is probably the most vexing category because there’s no trustworthy certification program and manufacturers are not required to disclose ingredients. Unfortunately, unverified claims can’t always be trusted and some claims, even if verified, might not be relevant. For example, a household cleaning product might be biodegradable, but may contain ethylene glycol, a chemical that studies have shown to be linked with reproductive harm. That’s obviously important since women are the primary users of cleaning products in the home. Non-profit organizations, such as the Center for a New American Dream (www.newdream.org) and Healthy Child Healthy World (www.healthychild.org) offer good background information on common chemicals and even make a few product recommendations.

There are a growing number of products coming to market that do represent greener choices for both consumer and building professional, outpacing the ability of certifications to keep up. By looking for products that conserve resources and promote healthier living, asking questions of your suppliers, and doing a little research, you can do a lot on your own to begin offering greener choices to your customers.