Green Goods To Become More Mainstream, UK

Main Category: Water - Air Quality / Agriculture
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 22 Jul 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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New reports outlining action being taken by the UK Government and industry to improve the environmental performance of products and their supply chains have been published.

Green goods will need to become the mainstream, while those with a big environmental impact will have to improve their green credentials. As the changes will be led by industry, much of the time, customers may not even notice the difference.

Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said:

"We know people are concerned about their effect on the environment, but they don't get to see the full picture of what goes into producing the goods they buy - and they don't see what happens after they've thrown them away.

"It needs to be easier for people to buy products that will save them money and reduce their impact on the environment - and that's exactly what we're doing. There are real savings to be made - through this action to green the products and materials we use, UK households could save £5 billion a year on their bills."

The Sustainable Products and Materials report details, for the first time, action already underway to help make a wide range of products groups including food, electrical appliances and clothing products more sustainable throughout their production, use and disposal.

It also sets out a vision for future work on making products more sustainable, and encourages further debate about how this could be achieved.

Alongside this report the Government is publishing 'Policy Analysis and Projections' which set out how the environmental performance of products such as light bulbs, refrigerators, boilers and consumer electronics will need to improve between now and 2020.

Updated 'buy sustainable - quick wins' outlining tightened minimum standards for public sector procurement, and a summary of progress made since the May 2007 Waste Strategy have also been published.

-- Sustainable Products and Materials progress report
-- Waste Strategy progress report
-- Market Transformation Programme "Policy Analysis and Projections"

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
http://www.defra.gov.uk