Project LIFE GreenShoes4All, co-funded by the European Commission, will implement and promote a method to measure the environmental performance of each shoe and a green label. The project also seeks to propose and disseminate innovative green shoes ecodesign and recycling strategies, reports World Footwear.
We live in a fast-paced business and social environment. The Internet and the popularity of social networks have connected million of people across the globe and have brought to everyone’s minds concepts and ideas that were disseminated quickly but not always in the most effective way.
A new focus on sustainability and being sustainable has raised awareness on many concepts and aspects of our daily lives. There has been a proliferation of eco labels, green products and sustainable methods, which are in many instances mere statements and fail to be proven right or true. A majority of consumers says they wish to go greener and protect the planet and so they demand eco products and a lower footprint of the industry manufacturing their products which causes pressure on manufacturers. With an aim to respond to consumers’ wishes these can easily get confused. What is green? What is eco? How can we ensure a product is sustainable for the planet, the people living in it and the animals and nature?
With this in mind a new European project LIFE GreenShoes4All, led by the Portuguese Footwear Technology Centre (CTCP), the European Footwear Confederation (CEC) and other project partners will exploit a methodology that is expected to help footwear companies to be more efficient in the way they use the available resources and to reduce the discarded materials and the waste produced.
What is the project?
The project aims to implement, demonstrate and disseminate a Footwear Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology and to develop efficient eco-design, recycling and manufacturing solutions, in order to obtain performing shoes with a lower PEF. In particular, LIFE GreenShoes4All intends to achieve a Single Market for Green Products by promoting the great added value of the innovative PEF Category Rules (PEFCRs) methodology. The project is also intended to test and demonstrate new recycling routes in the EU footwear value chain and to establish and compare, through demonstrative experimentations, innovative eco-design concepts and eco processes for shoes manufacturing.
From aplf.com