ShopSmart recently posted an entry with links for dealing with Greenwashing. Greenwashing is a marketing practice where a company will put a spin on their products or policies to make them seem environmentally friendly. For example, a cleaning product can claim to be environmentally friendly by containing 100% natural ingredients when the truth is that there are plenty of natural things that are toxic, like arsenic.
In this age where green is the new black, its good to keep on your toes. So without further ado, here are some tips taken from the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) paper on “Sorting out ‘Green’ Advertising claims“:
- “Recycled” : When you see this term, check for what they are referring to. Is it the product or the packaging? What percentage is recycled and what is it made from (post-consumer waste, pre-consumer waste, re-used parts)? For example, a pair of jeans could be labeled as being made from recycled cotton. However, if they are made from pre-consumer waste, then you might be buying fabric scraps left over from that company’s own manufacturing process. This isn’t wrong, but it might change the way you think about what you are buying and how much you want to pay for it.
- Pretty Pictures and Feel-good Words : Don’t blindly accept a happy picture of the earth and general terms like “eco-safe”. All products have an environmental impact. Look for information that tells you what it actually is.
- “Degradable” : Biodegradable items break down when exposed to air, moisture, and bacteria. Photodegradable items break down when exposed to light. Neither of these types degrade well in a landfill because landfills are designed to keep air, sunlight, and moisture away from the garbage. So unless you are composting your waste, buying a bio-degradable product isn’t helping much.
- CFC-free : Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) have been illegal in nearly all consumer aerosol products since 1978. If a product says its CFC-free, that isn’t saying much and it doesn’t guarantee that the product is safe for the atmosphere because it still may contain VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
These tips are all good things to consider when reading through advertising claims. Another handy resource is the Consumer Reports Eco-Label Center, where you can look up the meaning of labels on different products. For example, Palmolive makes a dishwasher detergent named Eco, marketed as being ecologically friendly. Palmolive claims that it is better for lakes and streams because it is phosphate free (it is said that phosphate makes great fertilizer for algae which can clog waterways). Great, but when you look up the term ‘phosphate free’ this is what the search returns:
1. The claim is somewhat meaningful for dishwasher detergents, since the meaning is clear, relevant, specific, and there is an environmental benefit when used on products that go down the drain and into waterways; however it is not verified.
2. There are no government or official standards for this term
3. There is no independent organization behind this label
4. The producer or manufacturer decides whether to use the claim and is not free from its own self-interest
I thought this was pretty neat information. It lets me know the extent that I can believe Palmolive Eco is eco-friendly. Hopefully these tools will help you evaluate some of the products that you are using.
I read an article in Consumer Reports about phosphates in dish detergents. The problem is that the negative impact of phosphates has just recently been realized (relatively). So, all of the research hasn’t been finished and no organizations have been created to keep corporations honest. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy a product that claims to be phosphate free. However, it does mean that you don’t exactly know what you’re getting. The most effective products replace phosphates with enzymes, but there are plenty of “phosphate-free” products that don’t work so well. Consumer Reports has a ratings chart for dishwasher detergents ordered by effectiveness and it tells you which ones claim to be phosphate free.