New eco - labelling being trialled by some retailers

Some leading brands are trialling on pack eco-labelling. Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's and Costa are just a few names that have put themselves forward to work with the Foundation Earth programme, which the UK Government backs.

The labelling helps consumers see the impact the product has had on the environment. The traffic light system works similarly to existing food labelling methods and runs from green through amber to red. In addition, products will have a letter from ‘A’ for good through to ‘G’ for high impact on the environment.

The processes that used to evaluate the rating are arming, processing, packaging and transport.

It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the choices consumers make.