How can I tell which natural products I can trust?

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The following stamps are ones you can trust - and should look for - on any beauty product claiming to be natural. 

ECOCERT

To gain the 'organic' logo, there must be a minimum of 95% plant-based ingredients and a minimum of 10% of all ingredients must be organically farmed. 

The coveted 'Eco Cert' cosmetics label requires a minimum of 50% plant-based ingredients in the formula and a minimum of 5% of all ingredients must be organic. 





THE SOIL ASSOCIATION

Products must use the maximum amount of organic ingredients (95%). A product can say it has organic ingredients if they add up to more than 70% of the formula, however they cannot claim it is an 'organic' product as a whole. 





NON-GMO

Simply requires products to contain no genetically modified organisms. 







NO ANIMAL TESTING


The rabbit logo means that no 'new' animal testing went on at ANY stage of the production process. To find companies that live up to these standards, this is a reliable directory: http://www.peta.org/living/beauty-and-personal-care/companies/default.aspx

Wildlife Habitats at the Office

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Phase 3 Electrical Ltd , a second year self-assessed Green Achiever, had our whole office in a chorus of "awhhh"'s this morning after sending us a picture of the foxes that they have protected on their premises. 

Here's their story: 

"When we moved into our premises 6 years ago we noticed that in a corner of our yard there appeared to be some sort of animal burrow. We didn't want to disturb whatever was living there (rabbits we assumed) so we arranged for the area to be sealed off from the car park and left untouched.

As we have CCTV cameras covering the area, we soon found out that the 'burrow' was in fact home to a family or urban foxes, and we have had the pleasure of watching generations of cubs playing there every spring since.

We have also had the benefit of no rat or rodent problems at our premises, which we were expecting to have, as we are situated right next to a railway embankment. (Foxes charge much less than Rentokil!)

This year we have 8 cubs (the most ever!) , playing outside our rear windows every evening - and whilst productivity tends to dip a little to watch their antics - I don't think anyone really minds (especially as our MD tends to be the one doing most of the watching!)"

If you have any similar stories, or need any advice on ways in which you can encourage or preserve wildlife on your premises, please get in touch via e-mail (hmc@e4environment.co.uk) or Twitter @greenachiever