GreenTick™ Certification is aimed at showing customers that a product has been independently certified as environmentally sustainable, by the use of the GreenTick™ brand on a product or product package.

Certification Brands

There are six Green Tick Brands to choose from:

GreenTick™ FAIR TRADER - the sustainable FAIR TRADER brand. This brand shows that a product meets the GreenTick™ Sustainability Standards, and that it is produced according to fair trading principals.

Certification Types

There are four types of certification.

Corporate certification – this is where a company wishes to have its whole operation certified.

Site certification – this is where a business site or manufacturing site is certified.

Product certification – this is where a product is certified, based on a life-cycle assessment of its environmental and safety impacts down its supply chain. Sites that manufacture the product will need to be certified. However, retail sites (such as supermarkets), need not necessarily be certified.

Service certification – this is where a service is certified, based on a life-cycle assessment of its environmental and safety impacts down its supply chain. Service site operations, such as professional offices, will need to be certified.
Generally, where a product is to be certified, its manufacturing site/s will also need to be certified.

Scope of certification

International standards for sustainability, auditing and advertising generally require that the scope (extent) of the certification, and the ‘start’ and ‘stop’ point of the life-cycle assessment be clearly defined in the audit.

Another general principle is that the applicant is held responsible only for the part of the life cycle and supply chain that they have direct control over. Some applicants choose to extend the scope of their sustainability management to include recycling of waste products, for example. In some jurisdictions, such as in Germany, this extended scope is a legal requirement.

Definition of Sustainability

The Green Tick™ definition of sustainability is that:

OPERATIONS OCCUR WITHOUT CAUSING PERMANENT OR NET HARM TO PEOPLE OR THE ENVIRONMENT.

Specific sustainability standards are then stated for each certification brand.

A Green Tick™ audit is generally based on an assessment of the life cycle effects of an operation down its supply chain. Any exceptions or deviations to this principle must be clearly explained and justified in the audit.

Green Tick™ focuses on the materiality of a company’s sustainability management – in other words, are the key elements of an operation that affect safety and sustainability managed to the point where they cause no permanent or net harm to people or the environment?

Evidence Required

A minimum of 12 months’ records of safety and sustainability performance must be provided to the Green Tick™ Auditor for inspection.

• Contact Us, or one of our authorised GreenTick™ Auditors, or:
  
• Apply On-line, and we will send you a tax invoice for your application fee.
  Once this is paid, your application will proceed, and we will respond to you within 2 working days; or,
  
• Print off and complete the Application Form, make a copy for yourself, then send the application form and fee to us, and we will respond to you within 2 working days.