I have always wondered about companies that falsely claimed to have products that were eco-friendly.  Turns out there is a term for this:  Greenwashing

I began to research the term to see if any of the products I am currently using fall into this category and I found several bits of information that may help you fellow eco-monkeys make the same determinations.

www.sinsofgreenwashing.org

There is a company called TerraChoice Environmental Marketing which is an environmental marketing agency.  Back in 2007, they produced a report called “The 6 Sins of Greenwashing” in which they sampled 1,018 products that made all made environmental claims.  Out of all of those products, TerraChoice only found ONE product that did not commit one of the 6 sins.

The 6 Sins of Greenwashing are:

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off – This applies to companies that claim to use recycled products, but their manufacturing processes have negative environmental impacts.

2. Sin of No Proof – Products that make claims at being eco-friendly or being free from animal testing, but provide no proof.

3. Sin of Vagueness – Products that make a claim that is easily misunderstood.  Like “all natural”  There are several naturally-existing materials that are toxic (arsenic?).

4. Sin of Irrelevance – Products make claims like being CFC free.  Um, hello?  CFCs were banned before I was born.

5. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils – Eco-friendly claims that distract the consumer from how bad the product actually is.  Example from the report: Organic cigaretttes.

6. Sin of Fibbing – Outright lying!  My favorite from the report is: “A dishwasher detergent that purports to be packaged in “100% recycled paper”, and yet the container is plastic”.  Duh.

In 2009, TerraChoice updated that report with “The Seven Sins of Greenwashing“.  The new sin is:

7. Sin of Worshipping False Labels – This is where companies make up their own eco-friendly label when the product nor the company is eco-friendly at all.  Liars!

www.sinsofgreenwashing.org

So how can you tell if a product you are using commits one of these sins?  You’re going to have to do a bit of research.  One helpful site is the Greenwashing Index where people can put of ads for products they’ve seen.  Other members of the site will provide feedback based on their research and rate the products.  You can put up ads you’ve found or use their search tool to see if your product is already there.  Or you can check out the environmental page at CorpWatch whose mission is to “expose multinational corporations that that profit from war, fraud, environmental, human rights and other abuses, and to provide critical information to foster a more informed public and an effective democracy”.

One helpful site to find more environmentally friendly products  is the Consumer Reports “Greener Choices” website which breaks down products by category to help you find the most eco-friendly versions of what you are looking for.

If you are interested in taking action against Greenwashers, I recommend the StopGreenWash website put out by Greenpeace.

It turns out that “greenwashing” is much more prevalent than I suspected it would be.  I am definately going to have to research my purchases more closely!