By Alex Garner
‘It gives a lot more weight to it to have a third party certify that
we have recycled content,’ says Lena Mitkey, ESG director at
Bemis.
SHEBOYGAN FALLS – Building on a history of sustainable practices, Bemis Manufacturing Company received third-party certification for the recycled content of its wooden toilet seats. GreenCircle Certified, a third-party certifier that verifies sustainability claims for products and operations, certified that 100% of the wood used in Bemis’ enameled wood toilet seats is recycled pre-consumer wood waste. The overall recycled content by weight for the finished toilet seats is 71% for seats with plastic hinges and 66% for seats with metal hinges.
“Consumer suspicion on sustainability related things is running high, even though there’s a lot of interest,” said Lena Mitkey, director of Environmental, Social and Governance at Bemis. “People just really want reassurance that they’re making a good purchasing decision. It gives a lot more weight to it to have a third party certify that we have recycled content.”
GreenCircle’s certification process requires review of production information, including suppliers.
The certification process took six months, requiring collaboration from the ESG, purchasing, operations, marketing and product engineering teams at Bemis. Sara Risley, certification officer at GreenCircle Certified, said companies typically approach GreenCircle aware they have some amount of recycled content in their product, and they want the data verified.
GreenCircle verifies production information, like where a company sourced its recycled material, also reaching out directly to suppliers, and the type of material. Risley said staff also track how the recycled content is used during the production process, following the mass balance method to ensure the amount of recycled material received from a supplier could actually match the percentage of recycled content being claimed in the product. This is done with the review of a year of production data.
An on-site or virtual facility visit is also conducted to visually verify the production process.
After this, Risley said a company receives its final report, certificates and marketing support, including permission to use GreenCircle’s label.
A GreenCircle certification is valid for one year. Risley said it’s important the certification is only for a short period of time because products and supply chains may change. GreenCircle wants to make sure the product is the same or incorporates any changes into its certification process. A site visual is conducted every three years.
“It is not common for that to change,” Risley said. “It’s more common for the supply chain side to change.”
GreenCircle offers certifications for a variety of environmental product claims, like carbon footprint reduction, recyclable material and energy savings.
Dozens of companies have received certification for recycled content this year alone, according to the GreenCircle Certified Product Database, including Wisconsin companies like Rockline Industries, for having a wet floor mop tub and lid with 30% recycled content and a canister with 20% recycled content.
At one point, Kohler Co. also had four GreenCircle certifications for its declare labels, similar to ingredient labels on food products showing the product’s material composition, that covered more than 52 products.
Matt Sanchez, general manager for the WasteLab, Innovation for Good and Transparency at Kohler Co., said the company is working with GreenCircle on its cyclical review after the certification expired and hopes those certified declare labels will cover more than 4,000 products next year.
He said third-party verification of the declare labels helps provide trust that customers can rely on.
“Our mission at Kohler is to help people live gracious, healthy and sustainable lives,” Sanchez said in a statement. “It’s important to us to provide transparency around our product environmental footprint and material makeup to help our consumers make informed purchase decisions and shop products that align with their own values.”
Third-party verification of environmental claims can build trust and combat greenwashing, experts say.
Many consumers are calling for more transparency and adoption of sustainable practices. And that comes with more scrutiny and distrust over claims.
John Arendt, director of the Environmental Management and Business Institute and sustainability at the University of Wisconsin- Green Bay, said third-party certifications can help companies create trust with consumers and avoid suspicions of “greenwashing,” a deceptive claim that a company is engaging in environmental friendly practices or products when it’s not.
This can include claiming a product is made with “natural” ingredients; changing the colors, product packaging or labels to green; or citing misleading data related to materials or carbon footprint.
“They (consumers) don’t want to listen to the company telling them that they’re green,” Arendt said. “It’s gotten to the point where we want to hear some other expert tell us they’re green.”
Nancy Wong, a consumer psychologist and professor of consumer science at UW-Madison, said it’s difficult for consumers to understand or verify the sustainable claims that companies make about their products.
She said third-party certification can be a starting point for companies to try creating more credibility, but not all certification programs have the same integrity and have different standards.
“Unless you really understand the process, it kind of comes down to, ‘OK, can I take your word for it?’” Wong said. “To consumers, this is just one point of information and to what extent they would accept it or if it makes a difference to them, it’s an open question.
“Risley said GreenCircle stands out from other certifiers because it is accredited by the American National Standards Institute, which provides an impartial check on organizations’ standards. GreenCircle is audited every year to make sure it is following a repeatable, consistent certification process.
She said the company is also different than other certifiers because it only focuses on sustainable certifications, which calls for making updates to its standards every year and incorporating more services, like recently launching a greenhouse gas emissions verification.
“It’s our mission to create that market transformation (and) bring sustainable products to the market,”
Risley said. Arendt said third-party certified companies also benefit from reputation support and marketing, especially if they’re boosted by other recognizable brands.
GreenCircle is an approved certifier in Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly Program, a program launched in 2020 that promotes sustainable products on its website. It collaborates with a handful of certifiers, like Energy Star, Fair Trade Certified and the Rainforest Alliance. GreenCircle is included for products with recycled content, certified energy savings, certified environmental facts and life cycle assessment optimized.
Products saw a 12% sales lift within the first year of joining the program, according to Amazon. A study also found that the program badge led a significant increase in the number of sales and prices.
“I think that’s amazing because it means consumers are searching,” Risley said.
Wong said there may be a larger opportunity for people remodeling or upgrading their home to include a more sustainable product like a toilet seat, in which certifications should be included the product description.
But consumers may not always have or make the choice to include those products, like a specific toilet seat, in their homes. A contractor may favor other sustainable products on the market, like solar panels or energy efficient appliances; consumers may juggle other considerations in their decision-making, like cost or color that outweigh their desire for a sustainable product.
Arendt said if sustainability is an important value in a customer’s purchasing decision, a product like Bemis’ toilet seats with recycled material would be a good choice.
“You can feel pretty good about buying that product,” he said.
Bemis has long history of sustainable practices recently shared in first ESG report
Arendt said companies may be motivated to pursue more sustainable practices from both leadership interest and consumer demand.
The 2024 Sustainable Market Share Index from New York University’s Stern Center for Sustainable Business found that products marketed as sustainable accounted for about 40% of market share growth in consumer packaged goods from 2013 to 2024.
At the minimum, Arendt said companies may want to reduce waste streams to reduce overall costs. Waste reduction, energy efficiency and reducing carbon footprint have been major focus areas for companies.
Bemis has engaged in sustainable practices for years, like switching to water-based sealers for its painted wood seats in 1990, recycling scrap material back into the production process in 1996, and starting to use Forest Stewardship Council certified wood in its wood seats in 2010.
These practices were highlighted in its first Environmental, Social, Governance report for 2024, showcasing how the company manages its environmental impact, relationships with employees and communities, and company leadership.
“Although we had all these great activities that we knew we were doing because they were the right thing to do, we recognize that’s also important to communicate that externally,” Mitkey said.
In 2022, the report said Bemis conducted a Life Cycle Assessment to understand the environmental impact of its products, from suppliers to production to consumer use. The company analyzed factors like energy and water use and disposal, and it plans to release data on water use, resource depletion and human health impacts in the 2025 report.
The assessment found that Bemis’s total GHG emissions were 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, 94% of which was attributed to indirect sources, largely from the supply chain, produce use and end of life.
The report said the results have led the company to identify where GHG emissions can be reduced in areas of the lifecycle phases.
Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@usatodayco.com.
Source: These practices were highlighted in its first Environmental, Social,
Governance report for 2024, showcasing how the company manages
its environmental impact, relationships with employees and
communities, and company leadership.
“Although we had all these great activities that we knew we were doing
because they were the right thing to do, we recognize that’s also
important to communicate that externally,” Mitkey said.
In 2022, the report said Bemis conducted a Life Cycle Assessment to
understand the environmental impact of its products, from suppliers
to production to consumer use. The company analyzed factors like
energy and water use and disposal, and it plans to release data onwater use, resource depletion and human health impacts in the 2025
report.
The assessment found that Bemis’s total GHG emissions were 1.1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, 94% of which was attributed to indirect sources, largely from the supply chain, produce use and end of life.
The report said the results have led the company to identify where GHG emissions can be reduced in areas of the lifecycle phases.
Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@usatodayco.com.
Source: Bemis toilet seat earns third-party certification for recycled wood