The Green Leaf logo has become a familiar sight in Singapore houses and offices, and plans to expand its reach to the region as well.

Singapore, 16 March 2012 – The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) today commemorated the 20th Anniversary the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme (SGLS), Singapore’s leading eco-labelling scheme. The lunchtime celebration ceremony, held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Ballroom, served to thank SGLS’ clients, sponsors and partners for their support, commemorate the progress and achievements of the scheme to date, and also mark the beginning of the next chapter of the development of the scheme – regional expansion.

The Guest-of-Honour, Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts & Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, praised the scheme for playing a significant role in helping consumers make informed decisions about their purchases and also expressed confidence that the Green Label “can grow even more in its stature as a trustworthy benchmark of environmental-friendliness and quality for everyone”.

Clients of the Scheme also lent their support to the event, and acknowledged the benefits that the Green Label certification had brought to their businesses. Mr Liew Kah Mun, CEO of Archicom Pte Ltd explained: “Getting our products certified under theSingapore Green Labelling Scheme has been a decision that opened up many new markets and opportunities for us. It has enabled us to capitalise on the national shift towards green construction, and we have gained a marketing edge because of the Green Label certification. We’re very happy to give back by coming on board as the Gold Sponsors for this event”. Archicom distributes products such as Aluminium Honeycomb Panel, Aluminium Composite Panel, FR Aluminium Composite Panel, Aluminium Coated Coil, Aluminium Embossed Coil and Stone Wool Panels.

Regional Expansion Plans

Thanking the Council’s clients, partners and advisors for their support, Ms Isabella Loh reflected: “We could not have crossed the 20 year mark with such success without the support of our government partners, clients, and advisors. Thank you all once again for supporting the use of environmentally-preferable products”.

Elaborating on this sentiment, she shared SEC’s plans to expand the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme into the region. “The next step for the Green Label is regional expansion,through a two-pronged approach. First, we will reach out to companies in countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, where our scheme already enjoys considerable success. There is also another group of countries with untapped expansion potential, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. As awareness about ecolabelling within these countries is slowly growing, SEC is excited to reach out to manufacturers and consumers within these countries”.

SEC has a variety of strategies in place to expand the scheme regionally. It plans to utilise its membership in the Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN) and accreditation under the Global Ecolabelling Network's Internationally Coordinated Ecolabelling System (GENICES) to develop mutual recognition agreements that allow SGLS products to be accepted for import into other GEN countries, and collaborate with GEN members in the region to develop new criteria for products in the region. 

SEC also intends to work with the Singapore Accreditation Council to have their endorsement on the quality of its certification process to enhance the credibility of the scheme at home, and worldwide. Strategies that enhance marketing capabilities, such as the development of a QR Code System, revising the Green Label existing product criteria, adding new criteria to meet market demand, and a revamp of the Green Label website to enable paperless applications are also in the pipeline. 

For more information about the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme, please visit www.sec.org.sg/sgls.

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