Green Seal Inc. has announced that the Green Seal Environmental Standard for Restaurants and Food Services, GS-46, has been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). GS-46 is the first Green Seal specification to be approved as an American National Standard.
Green Seal, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, has developed more than 40 standards and certified more than 3,300 products and services in an effort to guide consumers and purchasers to make the environmentally preferable choices.
First published in May 2009, GS-46 is based on real data on the environmental impacts of restaurants and food services including the impacts of food, energy and water use, and supplies. As a result, the GS-46 standard provides a comprehensive framework to guide operations on how to reduce their environmental impacts and is the basis for Green Seal Certification.
GS-46 was developed with input from more than 100 stakeholders including industry trade groups, operators, suppliers, academia and environmental and health organizations. In addition to its ANSI accreditation, Green Seal follows ISO 14024 guidelines in developing environmental standards and certifying products. Green Seal standards also comply with the Global Ecolabelling Criteria.
