Which packaging certifications are worth paying attention to
There are a dozen logos on packaging datasheets and they are not equivalent. Here is what each of the ones we score actually certifies, and what none of them cover.
A certification is a third party checking one specific claim. The useful question is never "is it certified" but "certified for what, by whom, and is it still in date". Our certifications pillar counts only certificates that are current and one per scheme, so renewals cannot be stacked, and a certificate that lapses lowers the score without anyone touching the listing.
What each one certifies
Cradle to Cradle is the broadest of them. It looks at material health, circularity, renewable energy, water and social fairness together, and it is awarded at levels. It is also the most work to obtain, which is why it is rare and why we weight it highest.
EU Ecolabel is a government scheme covering the product's whole life, with criteria set per product group. It is credible, well policed, and narrower than it looks: a label on one product line says nothing about the rest of the catalogue.
FSC and PEFC both certify that wood fibre came from responsibly managed forest. They say nothing about recycled content, carbon or end of life. FSC is generally the stricter of the two and we weight it slightly higher. Both come in grades — "100%", "Mix", "Recycled" — and the grade is on the certificate, so ask to see it rather than taking the logo.
OK Compost Home certifies that the item breaks down in an unheated garden compost bin, which is the only composting most people have access to. OK Compost Industrial certifies it for a heated commercial facility, which most buyers' customers cannot reach. The home version is worth half again as much in our score for that reason.
BPI is the North American compostability mark. It is a real certification; it is just answering a question about a different continent's infrastructure, so for a European buyer it is weaker evidence than the OK Compost marks.
What none of them tell you
No certification on this list covers the carbon footprint of the item, and most say nothing about the company that made it. That is why they are one pillar of five rather than the score itself: an FSC-certified box made of virgin fibre, shipped from the other side of the world, with no recovery route at the destination, is a certified box and a poor choice.
They also say nothing about the particular item unless the certificate names it. A supplier who is "FSC certified" as a business may be selling you an uncertified line. The certificate number, the scheme and the expiry date are the three things to get, and all three are on the listing where we hold them.
Reading a certificate without being an expert
- Find the number and check it on the scheme's own register. Every scheme here has a public one.
- Check the expiry date, and ask when it is next audited.
- Check what it covers — the product, the product line, or the site.
- Check the grade, where the scheme has grades.
On a listing in this catalog, a certificate we have seen and checked shows as verified; a claim we have not is marked as the supplier's own. How we score sets out what each scheme is worth and why the unchecked version counts half.
