Post by earl on Apr 30, 2009 13:27:06 GMT
I'm starting to have my doubts about carbon labelling. I like the idea in principle. Sure, let's give consumers as much information as they need to make an informed choice. But it can also lead to farce.
Tesco has just announced the latest of its products to receive a carbon label. Its own-brand toilet paper and kitchen rolls have joined its laundry detergent, orange juice, potatoes and lightbulbs in the group of 100 or so "lines" that now declare on the packaging how much carbon dioxide is emitted during their production and distribution.
Steel yourself, here's the news you've been waiting to hear: the carbon footprint of each lavatorial wipe you make. (It's certainly news that Sheryl Crow will be no doubt desperate to hear, given her previous thoughts on this issue). Drum roll, please: Tesco says that each sheet of its recycled toilet roll uses "1.1g of carbon" compared to 1.8g for its standard toilet roll.
Let's give that some sort of context. Google declared earlier this year that each Google search generates 0.2g of CO2. So now we know that using one sheet of recycled toilet paper has the same carbon footprint as performing five-and-a-half Google searches.
We now also know that you would have to get through 200 sheets of toilet paper before you matched the carbon footprint of one carton of orange juice. Or 773 sheets of toiler paper before you equalled the carbon footprint of just one washload's worth of biological washing powder. We know all this because the Carbon Trust, who do the sums for Tesco, tells us so.
The big question, though, is will this extra information motivate you to change your habits in any way? The next time you lurch towards the toilet-roll holder, will you choose to use a few sheets fewer to reduce your carbon footprint, no matter how infinitesimally small the saving might be?
What I really don't like about carbon labelling, though, is that is neatly passes the buck on to the consumer.
Meanwhile, Tesco gets to look all smug by boasting that it is doing its bit by empowering the consumer with such information. I would be far more impressed if it committed itself to removing from its shelves any product that doesn't cut the mustard in terms of environmental integrity. This is known in the trade as "choice editing" – namely, only offering "best in class" products rather than offering the good, bad and ugly and leaving it up to the consumer to scratch their perplexed heads as they stand there in the aisle mulling over the carbon footprint of, say, each type of toilet paper.
That's what "every little helps" should mean.
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/apr/29/tesco-toilet-paper-carbon-footprint-labelling
Tesco has just announced the latest of its products to receive a carbon label. Its own-brand toilet paper and kitchen rolls have joined its laundry detergent, orange juice, potatoes and lightbulbs in the group of 100 or so "lines" that now declare on the packaging how much carbon dioxide is emitted during their production and distribution.
Steel yourself, here's the news you've been waiting to hear: the carbon footprint of each lavatorial wipe you make. (It's certainly news that Sheryl Crow will be no doubt desperate to hear, given her previous thoughts on this issue). Drum roll, please: Tesco says that each sheet of its recycled toilet roll uses "1.1g of carbon" compared to 1.8g for its standard toilet roll.
Let's give that some sort of context. Google declared earlier this year that each Google search generates 0.2g of CO2. So now we know that using one sheet of recycled toilet paper has the same carbon footprint as performing five-and-a-half Google searches.
We now also know that you would have to get through 200 sheets of toilet paper before you matched the carbon footprint of one carton of orange juice. Or 773 sheets of toiler paper before you equalled the carbon footprint of just one washload's worth of biological washing powder. We know all this because the Carbon Trust, who do the sums for Tesco, tells us so.
The big question, though, is will this extra information motivate you to change your habits in any way? The next time you lurch towards the toilet-roll holder, will you choose to use a few sheets fewer to reduce your carbon footprint, no matter how infinitesimally small the saving might be?
What I really don't like about carbon labelling, though, is that is neatly passes the buck on to the consumer.
Meanwhile, Tesco gets to look all smug by boasting that it is doing its bit by empowering the consumer with such information. I would be far more impressed if it committed itself to removing from its shelves any product that doesn't cut the mustard in terms of environmental integrity. This is known in the trade as "choice editing" – namely, only offering "best in class" products rather than offering the good, bad and ugly and leaving it up to the consumer to scratch their perplexed heads as they stand there in the aisle mulling over the carbon footprint of, say, each type of toilet paper.
That's what "every little helps" should mean.
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/ethicallivingblog/2009/apr/29/tesco-toilet-paper-carbon-footprint-labelling
