Background report to the guide for the use of the EU Ecolabel criteria in the green public procurement of absorbent hygiene products

Green public procurement (GPP) is a powerful tool to achieve environmental objectives by means of the incorporation of green requirements into public sector purchasing contracts. Public authorities, by promoting “green” purchases, incentivise environmentally beneficial outcomes and foster market innovation as well as the transformation towards a sustainable economy model. In order to “green” the market, it is essential for producers to be able to make certifiable and credible green claims about their products and for customers to know what to ask for. While the EU Ecolabel policy can provide environmental references or standards for the former, the EU GPP policy can provide for the latter. The EU GPP recommendations placed in this document are based on the EU Ecolabel criteria and intend to provide authorities with guidance on how to use ecolabels, and in particular the EU Ecolabel, in the procurement process. This report aims to bring these two policies together in order to find synergies between the supply-side EU Ecolabel policy and the demand-side EU GPP policy – specifically for the procurement of absorbent hygiene products such as baby diapers, sanitary towels, panty liners, tampons, nursing pads, or incontinence products. In addition to a brief introduction to the EU Ecolabel policy, to the EU GPP policy and to procurement procedures as a whole, research is presented to support JRC recommendations to public procurers about exactly what green criteria to set when trying to procure environmentally friendly absorbent hygiene products. The recommended environmental criteria are categorised into the five most appropriate areas (addressed in detail in 9 technical specifications and 10 award criteria) based on their link to the subject matter of the procurement, ease of verification (in cases where there is no EU Ecolabel) and relevance to the environmental impact., as follows: 1. Fluff pulp sourcing and manufacturing (referring to the impacts associated with upstream processes for cellulose fibre sourcing and processing, i.e., emissions and energy consumption); 2. Man-made cellulose fibre sourcing and manufacturing (referring to impacts associated with upstream processes for cellulose fibre sourcing and processing i.e., emissions and viscose process efficiency); 3. Cotton and other cellulose seed fibre sourcing and manufacturing (referring to the impacts associated with upstream processes for cotton fibre sourcing and processing i.e., bleaching); 4. Material efficiency in the production of the final product (in terms of the impact associated with material recovery in the core process); 5. Packaging (referring to the impact associated with materials circularity and resource efficiency in the downstream processes i.e., packaging recyclability and minimum content of recycled material). Where relevant, further information about the why the criteria are relevant and what other ISO 14024 type I ecolabels may be considered as equivalent is provided.