Green Seal, Inc., develops Environmental Standards to provide purchasers and manufacturers or service providers with specifications and to enable Green Seal, Inc., to certify products and services for compliance.

Their mission is to promote the manufacture, purchase, and use of environmentally responsible products and services.

GS-46 Standards for Restaurants and Food Service Companies

The GS-46 will be available for Green Seal certification, following the ISO protocol, which includes on-site auditing and annual monitoring to ensure compliance to the standard and checks to make sure there are no outstanding violations or penalties from food, occupational, or environmental and other relevant regulatory bodies.

Overview of the Green Seal certification process:

1) Application process
2) Technical staff evaluation
3) On-site audit, and any follow-up action
4) Continuous improvement
5) Annual monitoring

The main components of the proposed standard are:
* Sustainable food
* Energy management and conservation
* Water consumption and management
* Air quality
* Waste reduction and management
* Cleaning and landscape management
* Environmentally and socially sensitive purchasing
* Organizational commitment
* Additional requirements for gold achievement

In addition to the basic levels of certification standards, the Gold level includes the following options:

Gold Requirements

Operations that meet the Green Seal gold requirements are those demonstrating the very best sustainability practices feasible today. They are the elite, top 1% of the industry, and are leading the way for the rest of the industry. As a result, there are additional requirements, beyond those discussed above. An operation can select one of eight additional environmentally sustainable options including:

• Sustainable Building. The operation runs its direct business in a LEED certified building.

• Zero-Waste. The operation does not dispose of or incinerate at least 99% of its solid or water by-products from reduction, reuse, recycling, and composting activities.

• Alternative-Fueled Vehicles. Alternative-fueled vehicles are used for 100% of total miles traveled for direct business.

• Renewable Energy. The operation uses renewable energy for at least 25% of its direct energy needs, not including any renewable energy certificates; alternatively, the operation is a member of the Center for Resource Solutions’ Green-e Marketplace.

• Greenhouse Gas Reduction. The operation achieves zero greenhouse gas emissions, with proven partnerships and/or through carbon offsets (e.g., Certified CarbonFund Carbon-Free Partner) and has an active program to reduce its carbon footprint through emissions reductions (by at least 5% annually), not including carbon offsets.
􀁺 Community Outreach and Development. The operation sponsors (creates and implements) an environmental program in the community that otherwise would not occur, related to the components in this standard, such as a community garden or a composting site.

• Innovative Resource Reduction. The operation utilizes unique or new technology or approaches to eliminate resource needs for aspects of the operation covered in this standard, such as a greywater recovery system for reuse or a heat/steam recovery for climate control or water heating.

• Seasonal Menu. The operation provides seasonal food options for 60% of the menu year-round, based on cost, and determined by purchases made within 200 miles of the operation.

Green Seal Certified Products List

See the Green Seal certified products/services page for a full list of Green Seal-certified products/services. http://www.greenseal.org/findaproduct/index.cfm