Green Consumerism

The Green Consumerism projects of SSNC cover several approaches to deal with environmental aspects of consumption. Our main areas are ecolabelling and consumers oriented campaigns.

The active members that devote their interest to local activities are of vital importance to the work with green consumerism and ecolabelling. Together they form the nation wide Shop and Act Green Network.

Together with the great mass of consumers and forward-looking companies, the SSNC has achieved things like the removal of unnecessary chemicals from laundry detergents, has succeeded in eliminating the chlorine bleaching of paper and has introduced eco-labelled food.

Ecolabelling

Bra Miljöval is the ecolabel of SSNC. It is referred to as "Good Environmental Choice" in English. SSNC started ecolabelling in 1988 on laundry detergent and paper. Currently the system covers 10 product areas, as well consumer goods as services, for example electricity, transport, grocery stores, chemical products and textile. See more about the ecolabelling and the work to get the market forces to take the environment into account.

Campaigns

Miljövänliga Veckan, Shop and Act Green Week in English, is one of SSNC’s largest collective activities and takes place during week 40, first week of October. The general objective of the campaign is to spread awareness of the role of consumption in environmental problems, and to make consumers aware of the opportunity to make a difference by advocating a concrete, consumer-oriented environmental issue. The Shop and Act Green Week is made possible by thousands of volunteer members all over Sweden.

Each year the campaign focuses on one specific environmental and consumers orientated issue, coordinated by the SSNC´s head secretariat. For 2011 the focus is on fish and seafood. During the year several reports or similar documents will be issued to reinforce the theme, some of them will be translated into English.

Focusing attention on one issue simultaneously in many places has been shown to be an effective way to increase awareness about environmental problems associated with consumption. However, it is not just the problem that is highlighted, but also solutions. The Shop and Act Green Week always has the aim of demonstrating alternatives that individuals can choose in order to live in a more sustainable manner. This can be a question of choosing another product when shopping, reusing instead of buying a new product or changing a habit.

Other examples of campaign themes over the years are clothing, food and climate, coffee, bananas, chlorine-bleached paper, organic food etc. To the right you can find some documents, reports, supporting facts and brochures of earlier Shop and Act Green Weeks. You can also find a guide to the volunteers for the campaign on meat 2009: Food for a better climate, which shows examples of how to make a successful campaign.

The Green Action Fund

Together with Consumers International (CI), we have made funds available for CI members in developing countries, to carry out short-term awareness-raising campaigns about sustainable consumption, with an emphasis on environmental issues.

The Green Action Fund is inspired by SSNC’s Shop and Act Green Week. The theme for 2011 is the promotion of sustainable fish and shellfish. The environmental impact of unsustainable fishing practices resonates with consumers around the world, and applicants to the Green Action Fund are encouraged to follow this theme. Although not mandatory, the ability to link with other activities in other countries can provide real added value to national campaigns.

Green Action Day

The one-day campaign, Green Action Day, on a Saturday in April, has taken place since 2008. By means of this day, the SSNC wants to demonstrate how simple actions at individual level can contribute to concrete environmental improvements. The day focuses on reuse rather than consumption. 2011 as well as 2010 the campaign theme is clothing and textiles. At the 9 of April 2011 the SSNC arrange Sweden's largest clothes swap meet party, together with members and volunteers around the whole country.