De-code Green Labels

Marketers have jumped on the green bandwagon. Furthermore, they're trying to steer it by utilizing a wide array of labels to boast a product's eco-friendly feature. Educate yourself by finding out what the labels mean and which are essentially meaningless. Consumer Reports teams up with Greener Choices to provide an eco-label search engine and evaluation.

For example, the label Free Range scores very poorly. According to the report, Free Range is not a meaningful or verified label. In poultry, the USDA requirement for free range chickens is that they have access to the outdoors, but there is no guideline for the duration of access.

There are some meaningful and verified labels out there. A highly rated label is Fair Trade Certified. It is rated highly meaningful, the meaning of the label is consistent, the standards are publicly available as is information about the organization.