HOME DEPOT GOES GREEN

Home Depot, the nation's second-largest retailer, recently unveiled their "Eco Options" label that identifies environmentally friendly products for customers. The company hopes to have 12% of their products labeled as such by 2009. According to Michael Barbaro of the New York Times, this is the largest green labeling program in United States retail.

Although Home Depot's efforts may seem to hold the potential for large-scale impact, environmental advocates point out that consumers in the United States tend to forgo purchasing "green" products due to higher cost and a fear that they will not work as well as the products they are meant to replace. Still, Eco Options products have been going strong in Home Depot's Canadian stores where the label was introduced three years ago.

In addition to this new labeling program, Home Depot has responded to past criticisms from environmentalists by promising "to eliminate sales of lumber from environmentally sensitive areas" and instituting a program to offset carbon emissions with tree planting.

Regardless of sales, Home Depot expects Eco Options products to raise environmental awareness on a large scale. "We see educating the consumer as being the highest impact of this process," says Ron Jarvis, Vice President for Environmental Innovation.

To read the article in its entirety, please go to Home Depot to Display an Environmental Label