Good Housekeeping Green Seal

Green Certifications: 
Good Housekeeping Green Seal

Though I compiled this information for a study on greenwashing and laundry detergent, the information pertaining to the label and certification may extend into other types of products. When in doubt, be an informed consumer and read, read, read! I try to link and reference all of my findings. - Janna

The Good Housekeeping Green label has a spot in my Green Washing laundry study because of the seven products listed on the GH site as having this certification, Tide Coldwater liquid laundry detergent is one of them. I was a little surprised, because of the many many Tide bottles I saw during this study, none of them had this seal. I tried images online, and none of the Coldwater bottles have it. Perhaps the certification expires; perhaps the seal is not something brands put on their labeling but something that serves as an in-house warranty for subscribers of Good Housekeeping. It's hard to tell how old the list of items is, as there is no date anywhere on the page... and the list is an 7 item slideshow. The seal was introduced in 2009, The seal seems largely based on how "green" the manufacturing process or material sourcing is.

The other items on the seal's list are Tena's adult overnight pads and disposable panties, Pamper's Cruisers, a LG refrigerator, Aveeno bath treatment. a Bissell portable carpet cleaner, and Benjamin Moore Natura paint.

I personally cringe at calling any disposable diaper green. Diapers are estimated to take 350-500 years to decompose, and 27.4 billion are thrown away each year in the US, making up 3.4 million tons of new trash in landfills. Good Housekeeping states these diapers are made in facilities that have reduced energy usage and waste in the manufacturing process. The materials are sources from certified sources, and some portion is post-consumer materials. Good Housekeeping notes that Proctor & Gamble, the parent company of Pampers, calculates its carbon footprint. These criteria earn the product the Green seal (GH, n.d.).

For the Tenas, the seal is awarded because the company scored well in the product having "reduced" energy use in manufacturing, sourcing materials from "certified" sources, and making distribution energy efficient. Also, the parent company of Tena, SCA, are housed in a LEED-Gold building (GH, n.d.).

They do have a few hard and fast rules that make a product ineligible. They can't contain ozone-depleting compounds, four ethylene glycol ethers, or be tested on animals within five years of the application submission date (unless required by a government agency or regulation). The product must earn 65 points from 12 categories, like Materials composition and ingredients (biodegradable? recycled content?), Animal testing history, Waste (reduction of industrial waste), etc. See the full list on their website.
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/about-the-institute/a19200/green-gh-seal-cleaning-products/

I don't know if I would completely throw this seal in the Greenwashing category, but it is not exactly NOT greenwashing either. Wanting to reward eco-conscious companies with a literal seal of approval is commendable, as is reducing waste in the manufacturing process, sourcing from responsible sources (what is a "certified source"?), and setting up shop in a LEED building. The certification categories address real issues like animal testing. Personally I don't think these are enough to call a product "green". They haven't continued to explore or rate products, unless they simply have ceased to update their database. If I had to make a final binary decision, and I can because it's my blog and my now-educated opinion, I'd call this seal Greenwashing, in some weird backward version of the Sin of Worshipping False Labels.

Sources:

Good Housekeeping (n.d.). Green Good Housekeeping Seal Directory. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/about-the-institute/g589/green-good-housekeeping-seal-directory/?slide=8

Good Housekeeping (n.d). Green Good Housekeeping Seal: Criteria for Cleaning Products. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/institute/about-the-institute/a19200/green-gh-seal-cleaning-products/