Life Cycle Thinking Blog - Environmental Marketing Claims

Current and recent events and articles

Nice summary of whether there is really anything behind the surveys on all the consumer demand for “green” products by Joel Makower http://bit.ly/eYG9Ef Essentially, he says that consumers say they want green, don’t really know what “green” (or “sustainable”) means and won’t pay more because they either don’t trust companies and/or are buying on price and performance. Except for a few diehards who are true believers and/or want everyone to view them as green (a status thing).

USDA has published its final rule on a voluntary product certification and labeling program for “biopreferred products” – bio-based materials containing products (like NatureWorks corn-based polylactic acid polymers). See rule and guidance here. The program is set for launch Feb 21, 2011.

The FTC just announced action against a company that provided bogus “Tested Green” certifications to customers for a fee. Press release here. Sounds like there could be some other laws the company violated too….
Don’t be taken in looking for a quick “green” claim. There are some legitimate 3rd party certifiers out there, but you really need to know your market and your competition and have facts to back up your claim.

I have to agree, “sustainability” is a frustrating term now being used by anyone for anything (nearly 30 million hits on Google search!). Always an issue when marketing jumps on a term. See Triple Pundit’s article: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/01/ad-age-names-sustainability-one-jargoniest-jargon-words-2010/

I also commented to the FTC that it shouldn’t be accepted as an environmental marketing claim.

Here are my comments to FTC on their latest Green Guides:

Re: Proposed, Revised Green Guides, 16 CFR Part 260, Project No. P954501

The latest version of the Green Guides adds useful clarification for the primary standards environmental marketing claims that should adhere to:

Claims need to be technically accurate and supported by scientific data.
Claims should not be misleading to the consumer insofar as they imply environmental benefit that is not and/or cannot be substantiated.

EPA has just posted its draft Alternatives Assessment Methodology on how it will compare the hazards of alternate chemicals in deciding whether or not to designate a product as “Designed for the Environment.” DfE is geared to identifying alternatives that work and are available and are greener than the current chemicals that are being used. The methodology guide offers how to classify hazards as very high-high-moderate-low and has many useful resources for those of you trying to decide which alternatives are “safer.” EPA will be using alternatives analysis when looking at safer alternatives for the Chemical Action Plan priority chemicals.