KINGFISHER Green Star Products User Guide

: June 1, 2024
: KingFisher

Table of Contents

KINGFISHER Green Star Products
Choose A Green Star Product
Criteria
Reviewing and confirming
Documents / Resources
- Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
- Download This Manual (PDF format)

KINGFISHER Green Star Products

Choose A Green Star Product

What it means to choose a Green Star product
Products marked with the Green Star are designed to help customers identify items within our ranges with a focus on reducing environmental impacts. Customers can use the information provided to filter and understand more about the products they’re interested in or have purchased.

Why recycling plastic matters

The UN Environment Programme estimates that 400 million tonnes of plastic are produced globally yet only 9% is estimated to have been recycled. 11 million tonnes of plastics were estimated to have entered aquatic ecosystems.
The World Bank estimates that the plastic industry accounts for 6% of global oil consumption, extracted and processed using energy-intensive processes.
Keeping plastics in use and out of waste streams for longer can help to make better use of this material. Recycling plastics from packaging into durable, long-lasting products is one way to mitigate the impact of plastics.

Criteria

Criteria 1:

How we assess Green Star products
Before assessment, every Green Star product must meet:
- All relevant legal requirements
- All Kingfisher policy requirements

You can access the Kingfisher policies here. These include Human Rights, Supply Chain Workplace Standards and Sustainable Packaging.

Products are also checked against a Watch List. The watch list contains several criteria or features, relevant to the product type, that if present disqualify the product from being marked with a Green Star. The relevant Watch List can be found at the end of this factsheet. The Watch List is reviewed and revised annually.

Life cycle assessments have not been completed for every Green Star product, but by employing policies and the Watch List Criteria in Kingfisher’s Sustainable Home Product Guidelines, many factors in the life cycle of a product are considered.

The Green Star ‘made from recycled materials’ assessment focuses on the materials’ phase of the product’s life cycle for products where this is a significant potential impact. Green Star excludes products that may have other environmental aspects that are harmful linked to in-use or end-of-life disposal phases.

Criteria 2:

Green Star programme entry
The criteria for ‘made from recycled plastic’ is:
- It should contain 60% or more recycled post-consumer waste plastic.
- For products containing more than one material, the main material (determined by weight) is assessed. For example, a product where plastic comprises 20% of its weight should not be assessed for the criteria for “Made from recycled materials – recycled plastics”.
- For products comprising more than one material, the percentage of recycled plastic is calculated as the percentage of the whole product by weight.
- All recycled plastic must be safe to use. This can be done by Kingfisher by applying its Recycled Plastics Standard Operating Procedure which includes:
- Requiring participation of a specified third-party scheme.
  - GRS (Global Recycle Standard) is one example where the source of recycled plastic is checked as well as social impact.

Providing Criteria 1 and 2 have been met, a product can marked with the Green Star.

Reviewing and confirming

Reviewing and confirming Green Star status

****All products nominated and that meet criteria 1 and 2 are assessed internally by our sustainability team and submitted to NGO Bioregional for external validation.
****Once the external review is conducted, the product can then be confirmed and marked with the Green Star.
****A full review is conducted annually to ensure all products continue to meet the selection criteria.

To find out more about NGO Bioregional, click here

Watch List Criteria relevant to recycled materials
This list includes features or aspects of products that make them unsuitable to be marked with the Green Star:

****Recycled plastic where the plastic cannot be confirmed as being safe to use.
****Specified products that can have a negative impact if they enter the wider environment including:
- Glitter.
- Singe use disposable wipes.
- Artificial turf.
****Single-use products where there is an effective reusable alternative including:
- Roller tray liners.
- Products supplied with single-use batteries.
****Product with components made from paper or wood that do not meet Kingfisher’s Forest Positive policy.
****Products containing palm oil, cotton, rubber or leather with no evidence that the materials have been responsibly sourced.
****Products where the packaging contains PVC or expanded polystyrene.