ABOUT

The Ecolabel Centre has been established by a team of UK experts in ecolabelling and product sustainability. 

  • Its aim is to provide a point of first contact for information and advice on green or sustainable products, green public procurement and sustainable consumption in the U.K.
  • Its focus is on ecolabelling services for manufacturers and producers in the UK and around the world.
  • Its scope is Type I and Type III labels defined by the ISO 14024 and 14025 standards, respectively, for both b2c and b2b users.

Paul Vaughan BA MSc

After a career in accountancy and management consulting, Paul joined the UK Government’s Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) moving onto Oakdene Hollins in 2008. In 2017 Paul set up his own consulting business specialising in ecolabel advice and research. Since then he has continued to deliver the EU Ecolabel scheme with UK Ecolabel Delivery and assisted in developing sustainable forestry criteria for the GPP and the EU Ecolabel schemes for DG Env. His work with the EU Ecolabel scheme over 10+ years has included technical advice on criteria development, representing the UK in Brussels and working with applicant companies. Paul has an MSc in Environmental Management for Business from Cranfield and a BA from the University of Warwick. His MSc thesis was on the subject of product re-use. Paul has worked extensively across European countries in his current and previous roles.

Contact Paul

Hudai Kara BSc MSc PhD

Dr Kara is a serial entrepreneur, eco-innovator, investor, LCA expert and sustainability thought provocateur with over 18 years of combined experience in resource efficiency, ecolabelling, LCA and research and development covering industries from metals to chemicals, energy to buildings.  

World expert in Type III Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), Dr Kara has so far successful completed for the award of over 70 EPDs from IBU of Germany to International EPD System (IES). Expert LCA practitioner and trainer, he sits on the Technical Committee of the IES and one of few founding members of the ECO-Platform. He is the recognized and approved EPD verifier for the IES and Slovenian ZAG EPD Operators. He has verified many EPDs from Europe to India and Middle East.

Well-known expert in Type I Eco-labels such as EU Ecolabel and Nordic Swan, Dr Kara has hands on experience in pre-assessment, dossier preparations and managing applications for clients as well as establishing national labelling schemes such as Turkey and Mauritius.  He has Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Materials from the University of Oxford.

Contact Hudai

David Parker BA MSc

David is a consultant with over 16 years’ experience in the remanufacturing, sustainability, waste and resources fields gained working for consultancy Oakdene Hollins.  Prior to that, with a background in process engineering, he enjoyed 14 years in ICI and DuPont with roles ranging from software design, consultancy support, process design, plant operations, R&D, full package engineering, commissioning, project management and techno-commercial investment analysis. David is looking to leverage his diverse experience into assisting organisations understand and realise near-term opportunities in the so-called Circular Economy.

Recent experience has been in two strands: In remanufacturing, managing the Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse as a Defra-funded manufacturing advisory service and follow-on EU-funded projects.  And in chemicals advisory, with projects to scale and cost a bio-chemical processes; and managing the technical revision of EU Ecolabel detergents criteria on behalf of EC-Joint Research Centre Seville.

He has a MEng in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, a MSc in Mathematical Methods from University of Teesside and a MBA from the University of Durham.

Contact David

Olivia Bertham, MPhil MSc

Olivia has over 20 years as a sustainability consultant, providing specialist advice and non-financial assurance provision for corporate and public sector clients. Work with the private sector has primarily supported corporate objectives to protect and enhance value, either through assurance of publicly available non-financial information, or through bespoke projects. These projects have included engagements linked to business ethics, corporate responsibility, green bonds, the EU Ecolabel and latterly numerous environmental challenges such as the disclosure of LCA information for the promotion of products from sustainable materials and the challenges of using secondary raw materials. Olivia is currently working on circular economy projects with businesses from the construction, automotive, furniture and water sectors to develop greater circularity of resources. In addition, Olivia has delivered corporate training on subjects such as CSR reporting, stakeholder engagement and assurance and has lectured and mentored students to MSc level environmental management degrees.

Olivia has an MSc in environmental science from the University of London and an MPhil in Land Economy from Cambridge.

Contact Olivia

Orhan Atacan, BSc in Environmental Engineering 

Orhan is an Environmental Engineer. He has good knowledge of life cycle assessment, carbon footprint and management, resource efficiency, sustainable production and consumption and waste management. He is interested in green buildings, construction materials, and BIM. Orhan also has practical experience in web and visual design, and among many other things, currently in charge of the development and maintaining of the UK Ecolabel Centre website.

Contact Orhan

1978

German Blue Angel-First in the world

1989

Joint-Paper on ecolabelling by Ministry of Environment (now DEFRA) and DTI,

1992

EU Ecolabel Regulation

1994

The Global Ecolabelling Network (GEN)

2001

Environment Ministry took over the role of competent body

2011

34 UK licenses under the EU eco-label scheme

2019

UK Leaves EU Ecolabel regulation due to Brexit

  

1988-89

Canada Eco-Logo, US Green Seal

1989

The Nordic Swan Ecolabel was established

1992

UK Eco-labelling Board established then becomes EU Ecolabel Competent Body

1998

Review of EU Ecolabel uptake by the UK Government

2010

Update EU Ecolabel Regulation

2018

UK Ecolabel Centre established, 60 products and services