Developing a green register of Eco-labeled products in Romania

The green products market is growing up fast, but there is still a strong need to provide clear and verified information about their environmental performances in order to create a real consuming preference. The main preliminary results of a market survey conducted in Romania in 2010-2013 within the LIFE+ project -Promoting green products, aimed at evaluating the availability of eco-labeled products and at promoting their use, are presented in this paper. A national Green Register of type I eco-labeled products available in eight main Romanian supermarket chains was implemented and the main technical, environmental and financial characteristics were analysed for each product and product category. While the price difference between eco and non-eco products for the non-electric and non-electrical equipment products is very limited (<1%), for the eco products entailing operational costs it is significant (>13%) and still supports the widespread opinion that green products are more expensive. Further investigation is being carried out to draw a detailed comparison on the “real” costs of green products analysing their possible competitiveness in terms of operational costs an payback periods.