Nature.is

Demeter

Demeter is the brand for products from Biodynamic Agriculture. Only strictly controlled and contractually bound partners are permitted to use the brand. A comprehensive verification process insures strict compliance with the International Demeter Production and Processing Standards, as well as applicable organic regulations in the various countries. This is done without a gap, through every step, from agricultural production to processing and final product packaging.
Motivated by Rudolf Steiner's, Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture and Goethe's, Conception of Nature, Biodynamic farmers view their farms as individually unique living organisms.

See further information on Demeter's website.

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Hazardous Chemicals / Synthetic Chemicals - guidelines

Products that people buy and use on a daily basis contain chemicals whose purpose is to enhance the life of the product, make them softer, decrease the risk of fire, etc. Our consumption pattern is reflected in the home in a way that most people do not realize. Það er til dæmis hægt að greina yfir 150 mismunandi efni í “rykrottum” á hverju meðalheimili. Many of those chemicals have been classified as harmful by the EC, that is, they are poisonous, lipidic and do not biodegrade in the body. The great amount of many chemicals in our home is the main reason that chemicals increase faster in humans than in the natural environment. Domestic chemical use is the main source of synthetic chemicals in nature.

With new legislation within the European Union in 1981, it became necessary to register, not evaluate, all chemicals that are produced and sold within the EC. Applications for registration were received for 100,106 chemicals. It is estimated that today there are up to 70,000 chemicals in use within the countries of the EC, and of those, there are around 30,000 which are produced in higher quantities than one ton per company per year. Only around 5% of the chemicals used have undergone some kind of risk assessment. Therefore our knowledge of the impact of chemicals in general on both human health and the environment is still severely limited.

Many people believe that the chemicals used today as constituents in, for instance, shampoo’s , clothing, construction materials, toys and other things are all carefully tested and accepted by the environmental and health authorities. It is more apt to say that those chemicals are not forbidden since there is no law or regulation in effect which demands that the producer check the danger of those chemicals before they are used in the product or sold in another way.

It is however the duty of public authorities to investigate the chemicals in use and if such is the case, prove that they can be harmful to human health and the environment. Then those chemicals can effectively be banned. The burden of proof, thus, lies with the public authorities not with the companies that market the chemicals. Nature.is considers it only natural that the general consumer is informed about the effects of the various chemicals that are or can be part of a product. It is, therefore demanded by law that the producer/seller list and report to the public authorities what type of classification and which safety and precautionary measures apply to the chemical in question based on current law and regulations. There is, therefore, only a demand that the producer/seller in question report to the authorities the information required by law that he has to report anyway, on, for instance Material and Safety data sheets or on the commercial labeling of products.

Information about classification along with safety and precautionary labels is to be found in regulation 236/1990 [pertains to the classification, labelling and handling of hazardous chemicals and consumer products which contain such chemicals)] with later changes. Here it is correct to point out that in some cases the producer of the chemicals has to supply MSDS (Material Safety and Data sheets).

Example:

Chemicals such as flame retardants with bromide found in electric appliances, electrical chords, textiles, curtains, tapestry and furniture are considered harmful to the environment and may also have an effect on fertility and in other ways impair the health of human beings.

Plasticizers, so called phtalates, used in glue, paint, varnish, cosmetics, perfumes, plastic in floor materials and in certain toys are considered harmful to the environment and they too may also have a detrimental effect on fertility and in other ways impact on the health of human beings.

Biological chemicals with TBT which is, for instance, found in boat paint, textiles, clothing, leather products and floormats, besides being harmful to the environment are considered irritants for the skin and eyes.

Surface active chemicals for example, in soap and detergents that are harmful to the environment can also produce eczema and other skin diseases.

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The Blue Angel

The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel) is the first and oldest environment-related label for products and services in the world. It was created in 1978 on the initiative of the Federal Minister of the Interior and approved by the Ministers of the Environment of the federal government and the federal states. Today about 10,000 products and services in 80 product categories carry the Blue Angel eco-label. In Iceland it is best known on various paper products and folders.

See further information on Blue Angels's website.

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FSC - Forest Stewardship Council

FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. Products carrying the FSC label are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations.

See further information on FSC's website.

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Eco-labelling – guidelines

Eco-labelled products have met criteria and fulfilled demands on quality and on the minimisation of environmental impact. The Nordic Svan and The Flower are guarantees for the consumer which indicate a high quality product, that has less impact on the environment than other similar products.

The purpose of eco-labels is “to help consumers choose products that have less impact on the environment than other comparable products”.  The eco-labelling of a certain product or service is a confirmation of the fact that the producer has met certain established criteria, when producing the product. For instance demands are made on the type of raw materials used, type of packaging, and concerning the environmental impact of the product through its entire life-cycle. This is then assessed by an independent certifying third party (not by the company itself or its clients).

It is important in this context to differentiate between a certified environmental label (eco-label) and the environmental labels used by the producers themselves. In this text we are only discussing eco-labels certified by a third party, as they are generally considered most reliable.

It is also not advisable to confuse the environmental certification of companies (environmental management standards) with eco-labels on specific products. The environmental management standards (ISO 14001) certify that in the company there have been established certain work procedures which take into account the environmental consequences of the company’s production. The environmental management standards of specific companies and producers give no information about the environmental effects of the products themselves which are being produced or sold by the company as such. For instance a producer of paint or sales agent can have ISO 14001 certification, but it does not say anything about the environmental consequences of the paint itself when it is being used or released into the environment. To say that a product is environmentally friendly because the producer is a certified company, is the same as insisting that gasoline is environmentally friendly because the oil company in question has an environmental management standard according to ISO 14001.

On the other hand, eco-labels concern the product or the service as such but have nothing to do with the environmental work performed within the company in other respects. Eco-labels and environmental management standards can interact when the label also covers service provided. However it can be difficult to differentiate between the service, itself and the company providing the service. It is for instance impossible to eco-label hotel services without setting criteria that affect the running of the hotel itself. The criteria, thus, establishes rules for the company that provides the service in order to ensure that the service is environmentally friendly.

Ecological Labels

An independent third party sets certain criteria and makes stringent demands on results or the environmental qualities of the product or service being eco-labelled. The product or service that meets the criteria receives an eco-label.

The Environmental Certification of Companies:

The company decides itself which are the main environmental components of its production. An independent third party makes an assessment and checks that the company has installed certain work processes in order to meet environmental standards. No assessment is made of the company’s products.

Environmental matters are often complicated; they involve complex environmental chemistry, global warming impact on ecosystems and so on. Eco-labelling makes it easier for the producer to channel information about his environmental performance to the consumer. The consumer saves both time and work, and does not have to verify the information from the producer himself. The Nordic Swan and The Flower are labels which consumers know they can trust, and they are now in force in various product categories. The demands on eco-labelling of products are also constantly being revised. For ecological food production and raw materials, the Tún label and the EU-organic logo are valid. These are examples of independent and responsible eco-labels, but there are many more. It is important to recognise the respective labels and to know what each label indicates.

Developing criteria for eco-labelling is really expensive. The eco-labels are financed mainly by taking a small fee of every sold product. For instance the Nordic Swan label functions thus that 0.4% of the retail price of the product goes to care, maintenance and marketing of the Nordic Swan up to a certain upper limit which is 200,000 IKR in Iceland. The Nordic Swan is the label of the Nordic Council of Ministers and is partly financed from there. The financing of other environmental labels is managed in a similar manner, through sales of the product or the service provided.

Other Undefined Labels

Product labelling of different kinds is becoming more and more common. There are all kinds of signs and symbols on products used to indicate this. This can make it difficult for the consumer to decipher the message, and to know what each label or each symbol really means. Labels that concern the environment can be divided roughly into three different classes: Firstly, acknowledged and respected labels, certified by an independent third party. Secondly, environmental labels which the producers themselves use to label their products and thirdly labels that have nothing whatsoever to do with the environmental performance of the company  and which can be directly misleading providing no information about whether and how the product affects the environment.

The two last categories can easily be confused with each other. The labels designed by the producers themselves are not as plausible and reliable as the respected labels, certified by an independent third party. Detailed information about which companies and products in Iceland have environmental labels and certified environmental management standards is available here in the Green Pages. Justu choose the valid category or insert a search term into the search engine. Each and every product on the Nature market is also connected to information about labelling, as long as the info exists and is available.

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