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ECOMARK
ECOMARK
WHO IS A CONSUMER?
A consumer is a person who purchases or buys good or avails services for their
own and personal use for some consideration.
CONSUMERISM?
The big businessman are involved in unfair practices for their own monetary
benefit such as supply of substandard quality, adulteration etc. in order to
reduce the cost of production the manufacturers do not maintain a minimum
standard quality for products and tend to use harmful materials causing harm
not only to the health of the consumers but also affecting the environment.
It is awarded by third party that authorises the uses of environmental labels on products
indicating overall environment preferrablity of product within a particular product category
based on life cycle considerations.
Ecolabels are used to identify the overall environmental preference of a product or a service. The
main rivals to such ecolabels are “green” symbols or self-declarations developed by manufacturers
and service providers. However, these are often specious claims and today retail outlets continue to
be flush with herbal cosmetics, non-toxic soaps, eco-friendly detergents, CFC-free refrigerators, and
biodegradable cleaning solutions1 . Their authenticity is anybody’s bet, coming as they do without a
credible ecolabel.
Eco-labels and Green Stickers are labeling systems for food and consumer
products. . They are a form of sustainability measurement directed at consumers,
intended to make it easy to take environmental concerns into account when
shopping.
Sustainable Initiatives[edit]
During the UN Earth Summit[6] Conference in 1992, an international consensus was generated to integrate
environmental issues into manufacturing procedures. The idea was to manipulate consumption patterns in order to
achieve sustainable development. The result of this is as follows.
Currently in the developed world: Eco-labels and green stickers have evolved to play a vital role. They provide a
verifiable link between products and informed consumer wishes. This approach applies market pressure on industries to
minimize their environmental impact; this is evidenced by the growth in the population of informed consumers.
Marketing strategists are responding with Green Certifications and its abuse, Greenwashing.
Currently in the developing world: First consumers became concerned about the quality, safety and environmental
sustainability of food and supported demand for green foods, then focused on the environmental effects of agriculture
and globalization of food production, which led to the exposure of globally controlled food regimes. Consumer advocate
groups responded with a call for [Alternative Food Networks]. [7] This gives a new dimension to consumer demands and
corporate competitiveness.
ECO MARK
On feb 21, 1991, The Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Government of India
launched its own ecolabelling scheme called “Ecomark” for labelling of environment friendly
products and to set standards aimed at the least impct on the eco system.
The EPA (ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT 1986) was enacted under the provisions of art
253 of the constitution and empowers central government to take all such measures for the
protection and improvement of the quality of the environment.
The voluntary label is awarded to consumer goods, which meet the specified environmental
criteria and the quality requirements of Indian Standards.
Although the Ecomark is similar in many ways to ecolabels of other countries, it differs from
most in one important aspect; whereas ecolabels in most countries are awarded solely on
the basis of environmental considerations. In India, it is also linked with the quality of
products. In other words, in order to be eligible, products must meet both environmental
and quality criteria.
In Canada too, a similar approach was adopted, however it was not mandatory that an
environmental label should necessarily be accompanied with a quality label.
It is a certification mark and the logo is of an earthen pot.
• to encourage citizens to purchase products, which have less harmful environmental impacts;
and
• to improve the quality of the environment and to encourage the sustainable management of
resources.
• To encourage citizens to purchase products which have less harmful environmental impacts?
• Ultimately to improve the quality of the environment and to encourage the sustainable
management of resources.
• likely impact of the environment; 115 Int. J. Pharm. Med. & Bio. Sc. 2012 N S Raman et al.,
2012
• biodegradability
The first Ecomark was awarded some five years ago to a ‘Godrej’ product, “Ezee,” a liquid
detergent for washing special /delicate fabrics (such as silk and wool). Later, ‘Ecomark’ was
awarded to Bharat Paper Limited, Bilaspur for the two types of writing and printing paper. Apart
from this some hotels in India are opting for “Ecotel” a third party certification program for eco
friendly hotels.
There are 16 product categories that come under the scheme and 132 sub products. PRODUCT
CATEGORIES-
government officials and members of the Steering Committee (the makers of the Scheme)
viewed that the Ecomark started as a pollution prevention tool. At the same time, there
were differing opinions among industry leaders, some of whom felt that it was a leadership8
tool while others considered it was a marketing tool. In light of these differing positions, it
could be said that the Scheme was not positioned appropriately during the launch, and
neither was it marketed properly thereafter.
POLITICAL WILL BEHIND THE ECO MARK
The activism of the Minister of Environment and Forests, Maneka Gandhi in 1990-91 was,
certainly, one of the major factors behind the constitution of the Scheme. Besides being a
politician, she was also an environmental activist. Her immediate successor, Kamal Nath,
was also very supportive towards the Scheme. However, his successors were not as active
and did not show the similar zeal and enthusiasm in implementing the Scheme. After that
only a few instances of interventions from politicians were traced; as a former Member of
Parliament felt, “no political party has had a clear cut agenda for pushing the Indian Ecomark
Scheme”11. This view is supported by the CPCB, consumer and environmental groups. This
indifferent attitude, shown by a majority of political leaders, was conceivably one of the
major reasons for the failure of the Ecomark Scheme.
Suggestions
The major recommendations include creating a market for products with Ecomark by the use of the government's
procurement policies giving preference to products with Ecomark, increase the involvement of non-government
organisations (NGOs) and consumer groups in generation of consumer awareness; to provide financial and
technical support to industry to adopt environment-friendly technologies.
In the interest of the Scheme the procedure for awarding licence for the eco-friendly products needs
to be simplified.
The requirement of the ISI mark should not be mandatory for the award of the Ecomark.
“Over the last few years, some service industries like hotels have been advertising the
environmentally friendly practices being pursued by some of their units such as Ecotel, Green Globe,
etc. Inclusion of such services might breathe life to the popularity of the Scheme”, remarked an
industry representative29. At para 2.1 above, it has been mentioned that in Germany and Sweden
train services have also been awarded the Blue Angel.
Lesser number of products but the products which impact the most on the environment. As 16
categories and sub are too large to begin with stringency of criteria is a double-edged sword and
unless handled properly could lead to difficulty in the implementation of the Scheme.
NGOs feel that unless and until awareness is created among the public at large, consumer demand
will not be generated
• Privatisation: There should be a reduction and prioritisation of the number of selected product
categories to be included under the Scheme. Intermediate goods should continue to be considered
under the Scheme. The product categories to be chosen should be based on certain measurable
parameters such as maximum adverse environmental impact, and high national consumption.
However, there should be a system that determines whether to include new product categories
under the Scheme given the dynamics of the environment.
Awareness: Last but certainly not the least, an effective National Awareness Campaign should be
carried out to raise both consumer and industrial awareness and demand for the Ecomark. The
campaign should be carried out on a continuous basis to set in motion a market for green products.
However, lack of information and ineffective regulation has resulted in ‘green washing’ -
corporations making misleading claims about the environmental benefits of their products or
organization. Vague and misleading claims leave the consumer confused and distrustful of such
labels.
Targeting and reaching consumers in a developing country like ours is an extremely difficult task
even today. It is because the population is still largely rural, poor and has less access to various
media than in more developed countries. As a result they have less information about new products.
More over because of poverty, ignorance and illiteracy they often prefer low quality and sometimes
hazardous products to fulfill their needs rather than take care of their environment
“The BIS is a monolithic bureaucracy that does not have the marketing skills necessary to promote
the Ecomark. The BIS has only succeeded through regulatory powers in areas like ISI (BIS) mark
where mandate has helped it. The BIS has not set targets, as yet, on the number of licences to be
issued per year, nor made efforts for attaining them. In the course of this study, some units either
claimed eligibility or expressed willingness for the Ecomark licence
Moreover, there is no consumer demand for the products with an applied Ecomark. Without the
incentive of greater demand for products, a manufacturer will not apply for an Ecomark licence,
especially for some products, since the possibility exists for greater investment to reach the high
stringency standards for acquiring an Ecomark licence.
n the interest of the Scheme the procedure for awarding licence for the eco-friendly
products needs to be simplified. The requirement of the ISI mark should not be mandatory
for the award of the Ecomark. This would facilitate a smooth launch of the Scheme
. Box 3: Godrej’s Tide Water and its ‘Ezee’ detergent – March 01, 1994 Tide Water Detergent
Company (a unit of Godrej) and Tata Chemicals applied for the Ecomark for “detergent for
woollen fabric” and “detergent powder” respectively, on January 25, 1993. Out of the two,
the Ecomark was awarded to Tide Water Detergent Company for its ‘Ezee’ detergent the
following year. In between, some amendments were made to the Scheme and it was
launched again on July 28, 1993. Immediately after the award of the licence, Procter &
Gamble acquired “Ezee” from Godrej. After the takeover, Procter & Gamble said they could
not use the Ecomark on “Ezee” due to their corporate regulations. This proved a significant
blow to the progress of the Scheme. While Procter & Gamble chose not to use the Ecomark,
the same company was found using ecolabels on products sold in Sweden under pressure
from the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, a Swedish NGO.