What is Green Seal?

Green Seal is an independent, non-profit organization that strives to achieve a healthier and cleaner environment by identifying and promoting products and services that cause less toxic pollution and waste, conserve resources and habitats, and minimize global warming and ozone depletion. Green Seal has no financial interest in the products that it certifies or recommends nor in any manufacturer or company. Green Seal's evaluations are based on state-of-the-art science and information using internationally recognized methods and procedures. Thus, Green Seal provides credible, objective, and unbiased information whose only purpose is to direct the purchaser to environmentally responsible products and services.

Green Seal's specific programs include:

• Greening Your Government – technical assistance to all levels of government in their purchasing, operations, and facilities management
• Product Standards and Certification – development of environmental standards for leadership products in specific categories and certification of products that meet them
• Product Recommendations – technical reports (Choose Green Reports) on products in a variety of categories giving specific brand recommendations of those that meet screening criteria
• Greening the Lodging Industry – long-term project with hotels and motels to green their operations and purchasing, now including certification of specific properties
• Policy – leadership in green procurement policy, international policy for ecolabeling, etc.

Green Seal works with manufacturers, industry sectors, purchasing groups, and governments at all levels to "green" the production and purchasing chain. Among the tools Green Seal uses are product certification; purchasing guidance, including product recommendations; special projects and evaluations of products and purchasing; and policy recommendations. Thus, purchasers may use Green Seal's assistance in a variety of forms – certified or recommended products; manuals on best practices and product criteria; environmental specifications and standards for products; and evaluations of specific cases or situations.

How Products Are Chosen

Green Seal surveys the market to identify all leading brands distributed nationally. We then request information from each manufacturer, from all additional manufacturers listed by the U.S. General Services Administration, and from major regional manufacturers we learn of. We follow up with manufacturers to obtain this information and, where necessary, clarify it. Based on this data, Green Seal recommends specific brands and models that meet its criteria. A peer panel reviews these recommendations and they are published as Choose Green Reports. This is the only way that a product can be recommended.

Choose Green Reports are totally non-commercial. Green Seal accepts no fees or other compensation from manufacturers for listing in Choose Green Reports, and recommended products may not use Green Seal's recommendation in advertising, promotion or selling. Support for the program comes from government and foundation grants and from subscription fees from Green Seal's Environmental Partners Program.

Green Seal Recommendations vs. Green Seal Certification

Green Seal product recommendations provide guidance for institutional purchasers based on a careful environmental screening of available information on products currently on the market. The recommendations are based on a life-cycle approach to the environmental impacts of the category. The products recommended in Choose Green Reports appear to meet the prerequisites for being environmentally responsible based on data provided by their manufacturers. They provide a good pool of potential procurement choices for governments and other institutions. Green Seal accepts no fees from the product manufacturers and they are prohibited from using the recommendations in advertising, merchandising, and selling.

Green Seal standards, and certifications based on them, generally take a more comprehensive view of the product life-cycle. In performing a certification, Green Seal puts a product through a rigorous, thorough evaluation and testing of its attributes to ensure it meets all criteria in a standard. In addition, Green Seal audits the facilities at which the product is manufactured and monitors the product annually.

Certifications are conducted under a contract with the manufacturer, and there is a fee charged for the evaluation process. However, certification entitles a manufacturer to use the Green Seal certification mark on the product, in advertising, and in promotion.

To Contact Green Seal

Green Seal
1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 827
Washington, DC 20036-5525
USA

Phone: 202-872-6400
Fax: 202-872-4324

Email: greenseal@greenseal.org