Emanuels™ Eco Guide Emanuels™ Eco Guide describes our products environmental profile. The guide is based on a high-level product analysis and an Eco Guide Questionnaire, that Emanuels™ ask all suppliers to answer. In addition, we do our own research, and encourage our customers to add relevant knowledge The goal is to enable the consumer to take informed decisions that can contribute to more environmentally friendly consumption. The aim is not to provide a detailed analysis of our products' total environmental impact of production, consumption and elimination What is eco-friendly consumption for us? Emanuels™ seeks to promote consumption that: 1) Minimizes environmental impact, CO2 emissions and over consumption 2) Contribute to responsible disposal of old products 3) Sets the environment before everything else
Emanuel's mission is to find the best solutions for cradle to cradle product development, green chemistry and CO2-neutral production. Consideration for design and function are also in focus because it is essential for total product lifetime and lifecycles Often the side benefits of environmentally friendly and sustainable products are that the products are organic, fair trade-based or the like. Another important benefit is that there are fewer or no harmful chemicals in our products beneficiary for our own and our children's health Why eco-friendly consumption? Environmentally friendly consumption reduces: 1) The threat to natural ecosystems 2) Health risk of using products 3) CO2 emissions and therefore stop climate change
When a product's life is over, responsible disposal as important as the resource management and production processes. The alternative is increasing amounts of waste at landfills, waste export and waste incineration, which contributes to soil contamination and high levels of CO2 emissions and toxic gases from incineration Product Analysis Our product analysis is based on a Eco Guide Questionnaire designed around six themes:
# 1 - Raw materials and production
# 2 - Product afterlife
# 3 - Energy conservation or production
# 4 - Green Certificates
# 5 - Packaging
# 6 - Transport We summarize the results of product analysis in an Eco Guide for each product # 1 Raw materials and production General environmental concerns:
The use of materials and their processing in the production interact often negatively with the environment. The extensive use of hydrocarbons in the production process - both in gaseous (natural gas) and liquid form (oil) - causes particularly extensive damage to the environment. Combining hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides becomes particularly polluting and CO2 emitting (GHG), which negatively affects: 1) Residential areas and nature 2) Emission of greenhouse gases contributing to global warming 3) Regional air pollution problems like acid rain and forest degradation 4) Soil and water pollution 5) Local air pollution threatens human health, animal and plant life There are different consequences for the environment depending on the material used. The typical basic materials, plastic, wood, textile and metal, has the following environmental impacts: Plastic - Plastic Type and the combination of added chemicals is vital for the functionality of plastic but also affects the environment. Plastic is petroleum based and use of plastic therefore consumes the earth's resources. Most plastic is resource-intensive to produce, difficult to break down (in nature) and a potentially significant pollutant both in production and afterlife Wood - arboriculture and what kind of paint used has an influence on several levels. Basically, we should not consume more wood than nature can reproduce. Forest destruction may lead to loss of plants, animals and microorganisms. The forest also helps keep the air clean and captures CO2. Go for the Forrest Stewardship Council (FSC label), which assures safe care for animals, people and nature, from the Scandinavian coniferous forests to tropical rainforests. Paints can contain harmful and endocrine disruptors to humans. Excess paint is often thrown out, and that means pollution. Go for water-based paint and low VOC laque, which reduces indoor polution
Textiles - Agriculture, coloring and added chemicals gives reason to some of the same environmental concerns as with wood. Farmers often uses pesticides which harm soil and water Metals - Ore production and metallurgical activities pollutes water and destroys the earth and nature. Aluminium is particularly costly to produce and are really slow to decompose. In contrast, aluminum's long life time can also be an advantage - if pro-longing product lifetime or the consumer recycles responsible We wish to inform the consumer about what the product contains and what manufacturing the product has gone through. We seek to select products produced with responsible sourced resources, recycling and biodegradable materials, minimal use of chemicals and minimize CO2 emissions or the like. In short, we go after products have been produced with respect for the environment! We ask our suppliers:
Use of materials, use of chemicals, use of recycled materials and initiatives to save energy or raw materials during the manufacturing # 2 Product afterlife Overall environmental concerns:
What happens to a product when its useful life is over? This is relevant to assessing a product's overall environmental impact. The most familiar forms of environmentally friendly elimination of useless products include bio-degration or recycling Even if a product is relatively environmentally friendly, there may still be some drawbacks. F.ex. the environmental impact of degradable plastics is not yet fully elucidated, and turning old products into new products (products designed with reuse in mind) may be particularly costly in terms of energy, raw materials, additives, etc. Alternatives such as Cradle to Cradle design are worth considering and so many of our products are C2C certified
Finally, one should consider whether it is possible to repair the product you are about to move out. Unfortunately, many products designed to be thrown out after a shorter or longer period We ask our suppliers:
Biodegradability, recycling programs and other # 3 Energy conservation or production Overall environmental concerns:
It has become easier for ordinary people who are not artisans or do-it-yourself people to use devices that reduce or produce energy. Water, heat, electricity saving products can be found easily Energy savings can also come from behavioral changes. For example, a real-time energy meter help to enhance the user's thrift The energy used to manufacture a product release CO2 into greater and lesser degree, and therefore we are interested in products that reduce energy consumption and / or optimize natural energy (eg use of solar energy)
Environmentally friendly energy production can come from wind or solar We ask our suppliers:
Energy-saving features, the production of neutral energy and Other # 4 Green Certificates Certification gives the user an insight into a product bevilligede recognized environmental certifications. For example, FSC, the Swan, the flower, the red island, EU Ecology Brand, Organic Food Chain, Others We refer to www.greenerchoices.org for more information about the various certifications # 5 Packaging A product's packaging, faces the same environmental concerns as with disposal of the product. We want to sell products where the supplier focuses on environmentally friendly packaging We ask our suppliers:
Reflections on environmentally friendly packaging # 6 Transportation A product's transport contributes to it's carbon footprint. We aim to find products produced within the EU We ask our suppliers:
Basic Material The origin of assembly, storage place and initiatives to compensate for CO2 emissions from ifm. transportation | 
