Eco Xax — Environmental labels and eco claims on | ecoxax.com
Which labels are checked by someone independent, and which are checked by the company that profits from them? This page lines the main schemes up side by side.
Start with the strongest tier. The EU Ecolabel, created in 1992 by Council Decision 92/481/EEC, is a Type I label under ISO 14024: criteria are set and audited by an independent third party. When the logo appears on a household product, someone other than the manufacturer has verified compliance.
One tier down sits ISO 14021, the standard for Type II self-declared claims. 'Recyclable' and 'refillable' are its textbook examples: the manufacturer writes the statement and no third party audits it. The claim may be accurate, but the pack carries no proof of that.
Type III declarations take a third route. Instead of a pass mark, they publish verified, quantified environmental data about a product. They are useful for comparison but do not certify that a product is 'green' — there is no threshold to pass.
On narrow screens, swipe or scroll the plate sideways.
The EU energy label sits outside the ISO family entirely. It is a regulatory label: since 1 March 2021 washing machines, dishwashers and fridges have carried a simple A–G scale instead of A+++ to G, lamps followed on 1 September 2021, and every label carries a QR code that opens the product's entry in the EPREL database.
Two symbols are routinely misread as verification. The SPI resin codes, introduced in 1988, run from 1 to 7 and name the resin — 1 PET, 2 HDPE, 4 LDPE, 5 PP, 6 PS, 7 other — not whether your kerbside bin accepts it. And a bare 'biodegradable' claim names no test at all; the measured alternatives are on the Biodegradable vs Compostable Standards page.
The homepage verification table condenses this page into eight rows, and the five-step routine on the How to Check an Eco Claim page turns the comparison into something you can run in the aisle.
Further reading