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North American environmental marketing firm TerraChoice came out with a study this month saying that many retail products overstate their environmental attributes, which can cause scepticism among consumers. Click here for a PDF of the study, which details the "Six Sins of Greenwashing."
To research these practices, they sent people to big-box retail stores to find products labeled as green. They found that almost all of them committed at least one "sin."
Most common was the "Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off," where manufacturers claim a product has a green feature, such as recycled paper content, but don't pay attention to potentially more important issues like global warming or water use.
Second most common was the "Sin Of No Proof," where consumers don't have the means to verify claims.
To many people, this may sound like nitpicking. If manufacturers use more recycled material or make an effort to use benign chemicals, they should be able to label their products as such.
On the other hand, the more information that manufacturers can provide, the better. If a green consumer is purchasing on the basis of environmental attributes, we think the details should be as transparent and explicit as possible.
Either way, we agree with TerraChoice that there should be better standards in labeling -- but also, consumers should be savvy with their purchases.
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