Kraft does organics right
News from the 'pleasantly surprised' department.

We like to give praise where it’s due, and today I’m happy to dole out my allotment to Kraft. Yes, that Kraft.

When I stumbled across the Kraft Organics promotions page, I was greeted by straightforward explanations of ‘organic’, certification, verification, labelling, and regulation.

If everyone was so clear, we’d be out of a job.

No Comments » | Tags: food, organic, retailer
Posted by Trevor on Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 | Permalink |

Home Depot’s Eco Options, Six Months In
Joel Makower (GreenBiz) + Ron Jarvis (Home Depot) = EcoOptions state of the world

Great interview by GreenBiz Executive Editor Joel Makower, speaking with Ron Jarvis, the Home Depot’s vice president of Environmental Innovation about Home Depot’s EcoOptions program.

While we’re pretty skeptical of private label certification schemes, we’re impressed by Home Depot’s focus on life cycle analysis, and recognition of the importance and value of globally recognized certification schemes like FSC and EnergyStar.

Some other highlights:

• Home Depot did more on gut feel than market research (sounds familiar)
• trust is an important issue - separating verifiable claims from marketing-speak, but price trumps all for consumers
• life cycle analysis is key
• consumer education and finding ways of facilitating decision-making is vital (no arguments here)

Listen to the interview (~10mins) at GreenBiz: Home Depot’s Eco Options, Six Months In and find some good background and questions in EcoSherpa’s “Eco Labels - 100 % Green?” post (written prior to this interview and the launch of ecolabelling.org).

No Comments » | Tags: retailer
Posted by Trevor on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 | Permalink |