The Sustainability Guide

How to Read Sustainability on The Sustainable Marketplace™

Sustainability on The Sustainable Marketplace™ is presented to support understanding, not assumption. As interest in sustainable products has grown, so too has the variety of claims used to describe them. This guide is designed to help you read and interpret the sustainability information you see across the marketplace, so you can make informed choices that align with your values, with clarity and context.
Rather than relying on a single definition or label, sustainability here is understood as a lifecycle-wide consideration. This means looking at how a product is conceived, how it is made, how it is used over time, and what happens when it reaches the end of its useful life, including its ability to return safely to the earth.

Sustainability Across the Product Lifecycle

Products on the marketplace are presented across a set of interconnected dimensions, each reflecting a different aspect of responsibility across the product lifecycle. Together, these dimensions are designed to make sustainability visible and intelligible, without reducing it to a single claim or measure.
Each dimension highlights a specific part of a product’s journey, allowing you to engage with sustainability in a way that remains holistic while still offering clarity and focus.

Materials, Making, and Origin

Materials influence how a product feels, performs, and interacts with people and the environment. This dimension focuses on what products are made from, where those materials come from, and how they are sourced.

You may encounter information about natural or renewable materials, recycled or reclaimed inputs, or sourcing practices intended to reduce environmental or health impacts. Making is equally important and includes how products are produced, whether through handcrafting, small-batch methods, traditional techniques, or lower-impact manufacturing processes that value skill, time, and knowledge.

Use, Longevity, and Return to Nature

Sustainability does not end at the point of purchase. This dimension considers how products are designed to live in the world over time.

Some products are created to be durable, repairable, and used for many years. Others are designed with circular pathways in mind, such as reuse, recyclability, compostability, or biodegradability. Information related to end of life and return to nature helps you understand how a product is intended to conclude its lifecycle and how responsibly it re-enters natural or material systems.

Health, Safety, and Everyday Wellbeing

The products we bring into our homes and daily routines interact closely with our bodies and living spaces. This dimension highlights considerations related to health and wellbeing, including material treatments, finishes, and production practices that may affect human or environmental safety.

This information provides context on how products are designed to be lived with, helping you consider everyday exposure, sensitivity, and suitability across different environments.

People, Work, and Dignity

Every product carries a human story. This dimension focuses on the conditions under which products are made, including labour practices, community involvement, and social equity.

You may see information relating to fair working conditions, artisan livelihoods, safe workplaces, or inclusive economic participation. These attributes recognise that sustainability includes how people are treated throughout the making of a product, not only how resources are managed

Packaging, Delivery, and Resource Use

Packaging and delivery form part of a product’s environmental footprint. This dimension highlights how products are packed and shipped, with attention to material choices, waste reduction, and environmental impact at the point of delivery.

More broadly, some attributes provide insight into energy use, water use, and resource intensity during production, helping you understand how products relate to wider environmental systems such as land, water, and air.

Interpreting Sustainability Information

Not every product reflects every dimension of sustainability in the same way. Some makers contribute strongly through material choices, others through craft, labour practices, circular design, health considerations, or resource stewardship.

The information presented is intended to make these contributions visible in context, without implying that sustainability is defined by any single attribute. This allows you to engage with the aspects that matter most to you, while remaining anchored in a holistic understanding of a product’s overall lifecycle impact.

Supporting Makers and Market Readiness

Many artisans, MSMEs, and purpose-led enterprises practise sustainability through deeply considered methods, but may face challenges in representing this work within modern digital marketplaces. Differences in language, documentation practices, and familiarity with market systems can make it difficult for their contributions to be understood clearly.

As part of the marketplace, we support makers in preparing sustainability information in a structured and transparent way. This enables responsible practices to be communicated fairly and consistently, supporting more direct and equitable participation in digital markets.

Framework and Continuing Conversation

This guide is intended to support interpretation and informed choice. This guide is intended to support interpretation and informed choice. Beneath it sits a more detailed framework that organises how sustainability attributes are documented and presented across the platform, covering the full product lifecycle from material origin to end of life and return to the earth.

For those interested in exploring this structure in greater depth, the Sustainability Impact Matrix sets out the underlying methodology.

Sustainability continues to evolve through dialogue, shared learning, and reflection. The Sustainability Think Tank provides a space for engaging with these conversations and contributing to the ongoing development of responsible practices.