How We Assess If a Product Is Eco-Friendly
We don’t feature everything. Here’s exactly what we look at before something makes it onto GGG, and what we won’t overlook even if the branding is convincing.
Why This Page Exists
“Eco-friendly” has become one of the most abused phrases in consumer marketing. Brands slap it on products with no meaningful change to their ingredients, production, or supply chain. We’ve built a set of criteria to cut through that, and we think you deserve to know what they are.
This isn’t a perfect system. Sustainability involves trade-offs, and we note this on every product page where applicable. But we don’t feature products we haven’t thought hard about, and we don’t ignore inconvenient facts to make a cleaner story.
What We Look At
1. Ingredients and materials
The first question is what a product is actually made of. For personal care and cleaning products, we look for formulations free from unnecessary synthetics: parabens, sulphates, synthetic fragrances, phthalates, silicones, and other compounds that are either harmful to human health, to aquatic ecosystems, or both. We prioritise plant-based and naturally derived ingredients, and we look for transparency on the full ingredient list, not just a curated highlights reel.
For hard goods, kitchen products, and textiles, the same principle applies to materials. Stainless steel, glass, bamboo, organic cotton, and natural rubber score better than virgin plastics, synthetic fibres, and composites that can’t be separated for recycling.
We also flag what’s in a product that shouldn’t be there: misleading vegan claims, synthetic microplastics in rinse-off products, and animal-derived ingredients that aren’t disclosed clearly.
On palm oil: We don’t automatically exclude products containing palm oil. Palm oil grown under verified sustainable standards is meaningfully different from unverified sources. Where palm oil is present, we look for RSPO certification or an equivalent, and we state this on the product page.
On vegan and animal-derived ingredients: We aim for vegan products where strong options exist. Occasionally, we feature products that contain animal-derived ingredients, such as beeswax or lanolin, where we believe the product is otherwise genuinely worth recommending. When we do, we say so explicitly and suggest a vegan alternative where one exists. Cruelty-free is a different matter entirely. That one is non-negotiable. Every product on GGG is cruelty-free, verified by a recognised third-party body.
2. Third-party certifications
Certifications are a useful signal, not a requirement. Getting certified costs money and takes time, and many small or independent brands doing genuinely good work simply haven’t gone through that process yet. A missing certification doesn’t mean a product is greenwashing. It means we look harder at everything else: the ingredient list, the packaging, how the brand talks about what they do, whether their claims are specific and verifiable, and whether the product shows up on other platforms we trust.
Some of the best products we feature have no certifications at all. Some heavily certified products aren’t worth your money. We use our judgement, and we tell you what we found either way. When brand claims are externally verified, that’s our sweet spot. Here are the certifications we consider most meaningful:
Organic and natural standards
COSMOS Organic and COSMOS Natural (verified by bodies including Ecocert, Soil Association, and BDIH) are the benchmarks we trust most for personal care. Demeter and NATRUE are also well-regarded. These verify that ingredients are genuinely organic or natural, and that production meets defined standards.
Corporate accountability
B Corp certification requires a company to meet verified standards across environmental performance, worker conditions, community impact, and governance. It’s one of the few certifications that looks at the whole business, not just the product. We weight it highly.
Animal welfare
Leaping Bunny is the gold standard for cruelty-free. PETA’s cruelty-free certification is also credible. We look for explicit verification from recognised bodies rather than self-declared claims. As noted above, cruelty-free status is a requirement for every product we feature.
Packaging and plastic
Plastic Negative certification (rePurpose Global) and similar schemes verify that a company removes more plastic from the environment than it produces. We also note FSC certification on paper and card packaging.
Reef and aquatic safety
For sunscreen and rinse-off products, we look for Protect Land+Sea certification from the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, which requires actual lab testing rather than self-reported claims.
Energy and climate
We note where brands operate on renewable energy, offset carbon emissions through verified schemes, or hold recognised climate certifications, though we treat these as supporting factors rather than primary criteria.
3. Packaging
Packaging is one of the most visible sustainability signals, but also one of the most gamed. We look at:
Whether packaging is genuinely recyclable in the markets we cover (the Netherlands and Belgium), not just technically recyclable somewhere in principle. A product in a complex multi-layer laminate isn’t recyclable in practice, whatever the label says.
Whether a brand offers refills or concentrated formats that reduce packaging per use. Dishwashing bars, laundry sheets, and solid personal care products get credit for eliminating packaging almost entirely.
Whether secondary packaging (boxes, inserts, wrapping) is minimal and responsibly sourced.
We prefer glass, aluminium, and unbleached card over plastic. Where plastic is used, we note whether it’s recycled content and what percentage.
4. Supply chain and production
Where a product is made and under what conditions matters. We look for:
European or local production where it exists and is verifiable, as shorter supply chains generally mean lower transport emissions and stronger labour oversight.
Brands that manufacture in-house or maintain close, verifiable relationships with their suppliers, as these are more likely to have real visibility into conditions rather than relying on self-reported audits several tiers deep.
Fair Trade certification or equivalent verified labour standards for products sourced from regions where exploitation is a documented risk.
We flag products where the supply chain is long and opaque, even if the final product ticks other boxes.
5. Brand transparency
How a brand talks about its sustainability credentials tells you a lot. We’re more sceptical of brands that:
Use vague language like “natural,” “clean,” or “green” without defining what that means or which body verified it.
List certifications prominently, but bury the ingredient list or refuse to disclose manufacturing partners.
Make sweeping environmental claims (“carbon neutral,” “zero waste”) without explaining the methodology or which standard they’re using.
We’re more confident in brands that publish detailed sustainability reports, disclose their full supplier list, and acknowledge where they haven’t yet reached their stated goals.
When in doubt, we cross-check
Where our own research leaves questions unanswered, we cross-reference with other sustainability-focused platforms to see whether a brand has independently made its cut. These include The Good Trade, Good on You, Commons, LeafScore, The Good Shopping Guide, The Green List, Eco Life, and others. A brand appearing across multiple independent platforms isn’t a guarantee, but it’s a meaningful signal that its credentials hold up beyond their own marketing.
6. Product performance
A sustainable product that doesn’t work is not a recommendation we’ll make. Eco-friendly alternatives have historically had a reputation problem in this area, and some of it is deserved.
We assess whether a product performs comparably to its conventional equivalent for the stated purpose. Where it doesn’t, we say so. Where performance trade-offs exist (a bar shampoo that takes two weeks to adjust to, or a natural deodorant that works for four hours rather than twenty-four), we explain them clearly so you can make an informed decision.
7. Price and accessibility
Sustainable products often cost more. We don’t pretend otherwise. But we also try to include options at different price points where they exist, and we flag when a higher upfront cost leads to lower cost per use over time (reusables, concentrates, long-lasting formats).
We’re not building a list for people with unlimited budgets. We’re trying to make better options findable for people who have to think about what they spend.
What We’re Honest About
No product is perfect. In practice, most sustainable choices involve a trade-off: a product with excellent ingredients in suboptimal packaging, or a brand with strong ethics but limited third-party verification. We note these trade-offs on every product page rather than rounding up to a clean green story.
We also recognise that our criteria evolve. Standards improve, new certifications emerge, and brands change their practices. We update pages when we become aware of material changes, but we’re a small operation and we can’t guarantee real-time accuracy. Always check the brand’s website for the most current specifications, certifications, and availability.
What We Don’t Feature
For the record: we won’t feature a product that makes sustainability claims we can’t verify, regardless of how well it converts. We won’t overlook a meaningful problem (misleading certification claims, documented labour violations, unverified environmental claims) because the rest of the product is strong. And we won’t feature something we wouldn’t buy ourselves.
That’s the standard. It’s not complicated.