Nordic Ecolabelling are revising the criteria for office and hobby supplies and you are welcome to comment on the proposal by May 1st.
The consultation proposal is sent to a wide range of consultative bodies and the input will be used actively in the further work with the requirements.
The most important changes compared to the previous generation are:
- Product group definition: Office supplies in monomaterials (e.g. ruler) have been included in the criteria.
- Refill: The requirement has been changed for pens (O2).
- Recycled or bio-based plastics:
o Requirements (O6) for the minimum proportion of recycled content have been tightened from 30% by weight to 60% by weight.
o New requirement for testing for harmful substances in recycled plastic (O7).
o New requirement for raw materials for bio-based polymers (O8). - Wood, bamboo, paper and cardboard:
o Requirements for traceability and certified forestry have been updated (O11-O12). - Chemical products:
o Forbidden classifications have been updated (O17-O18).
o The list of prohibited substances has been updated (O19). - Quality:
o Requirements for writing length have been tightened for most types of ballpoint and rollerball pens (O26).
o New requirement for shelf life for marking pens, felt-tip pens and whiteboard pens (O27-O28).
o New requirement that leads do not break when sharpening pencils and coloured pencils (O29-O30). - Consumer information:
o New requirement that marking pens and felt-tip pens (incl. whiteboard pens) shall state on the products that they must be stored horizontally (O36). - Packaging:
o New requirement that the primary packaging must be of monomaterial and either 100% recycled or bio-based. In addition, a new requirement that labels on plastic packaging must consist of the same type of polymer as the packaging. (O39).
o New requirement that the packaging must be marked with pictograms for recycling according to the national pictogram system (O40).
We would like to have comments on the proposal as a whole and specifically on the following points:
- Requirement O6 Recycled plastic
- Requirement O7 Recycled plastic: Test for harmful substances
- Requirement O19 Prohibited substances
- Requirement O26 Ballpoint and rollerball pens with ink or gel
- Requirements O27 and O28 Marker pens, felt-tip pens and whiteboard pens (regarding shelf life)
- Requirement O29 Pencils and pencil leads (regarding sharpening)
- Requirement O39 Design of packaging
The proposed criteria have been prepared by Nordic Ecolabelling under the leadership of the Nordic product manager Lena Stenseng.
We appreciate your comments and we kindly ask you to send them to us no later than May 1st 2024, via the submission form on our website, by mail or to post@svanemerket.no. All consultation comments are reviewed, and a summary of the received comments will be available at Ecolabelling Norway.
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