News /

Home Depot’s Eco Options, Six Months In

Posted 25 October 2007 by Trevor Bowden to Ecolabel News.

Great interview by GreenBiz Executive Editor Joel Makower, speaking with Ron Jarvis, the Home Depot’s vice president of Environmental Innovation about Home Depot’s EcoOptions program.

While we’re pretty skeptical of private label certification schemes, we’re impressed by Home Depot’s focus on life cycle analysis, and recognition of the importance and value of globally recognized certification schemes like FSC and EnergyStar.

Some other highlights:

  • Home Depot did more on gut feel than market research (sounds familiar)
  • trust is an important issue – separating verifiable claims from marketing-speak, but price trumps all for consumers
  • life cycle analysis is key
  • consumer education and finding ways of facilitating decision-making is vital (no arguments here)

Listen to the interview (~10mins) at GreenBiz: Home Depot’s Eco Options, Six Months In and find some good background and questions in EcoSherpa’s “Eco Labels – 100 % Green?” post (written prior to this interview and the launch of ecolabelling.org).