The dubious road to Clorox's new GreenWorks product line

The Greenwash Brigade

Let's start our journey in 2007 when Clorox and the American Red Cross crossed historically strict legal boundaries on using third-party endorsements on pesticides. Clorox bleach is a registered pesticide, and EPA prohibits third-party claims on pesticides ... except this time where the familiar Red Cross label was used on Clorox bleach which is only supposed to have "use and safety" instructions. EPA is considering making their limited exception permanent (ye gads and hello litigation).

This story didn't make mainstream press but state pesticide regulators found EPA's exception to its own rules not only contrary to law but a dangerous precedent. The story is also routinely discussed in my happy circles of toxics and hazardous waste compatriots here in the Pacific NW.

Next enter Clorox once again who purchased the ubiquitously loved Burt's Bees in November 2007 for $913 million: a small, environmentally-dedicated company swallowed by a mega-corporation in trade for purchasing intact land (Ms. Quimby, one of the original Burt's Bees founders was able to purchase and restore 100,000 acres), helping the successor company green its practice and image, and just plain money. Clorox is a fairly traditional mainstream company which has more recently dedicated itself to improving its environmental performance. Joel Makower met with Clorox officials and wrote beautifully about Clorox's evolution as a company. I hope that Clorox's purchase of Burt's Bees will inform product reformulation of their Formula 409, which contains 2-butoxyethanol, readily absorbed through the skin and which is routinely screened out by cities, states and companies with environmentally preferable purchasing screens on their cleaning products.

Finally, enter The Sierra Club, which will now have its logo on Clorox's GreenWorks line of green cleaners. This is where I have a problem. In fact, the bad actors here in my estimation are EPA (for permitting Red Cross labels in violation of its own rules), The American Red Cross (which made a goodly amount of money in an exclusive licensing arrangement with Clorox) and The Sierra Club.

When you look at a product label, what would you think if you saw your favorite environmental non-profit logo? Wouldn't you think, hey, this product is probably better, safer or greener than its competitors? Well, more than 17 state attorneys general thought so in a killer report on the pitfalls of cause-marketing (that's when corporations or other private interests financially support non-profit work). The problem is that the non-profit and corporation typically have an exclusive licensing agreement which raises issues about product endorsement and the extent to which your purchase really helps the non-profit and its mission.

GreenWorks will also bear EPA's Design for the Environment label which signals to me that the product really is superior from an environmental standpoint. I'd rather have EPA's label on this product than The Sierra Club's. If we decide to go this cliff-hanging route, then we may start to see non-profit logos on all sorts of products -- and the last thing we need is more product labeling confusion.

Be prepared, state consumer protection agencies, because you are going to need some cash infusion soon as well... to help you sort out these implied claims. This is a prime example of what can happen when we let cash-strapped non-profits use corporate money to help fill the cookie jar. Remember how junk food made its way into the public school system?

January 21, 2008 by Heidi Siegelbaum
1 comments

tags: American Red Cross cause marketing Clorox endorsements Sierra Club

Comments (1)

GA Master | Respond
February 10, 2009 6:08 AM PT

There is one issue that I would like to challenge Clorox on that no one seems to have caught so far. That is the glycolic acid ingredient in the GreenWorks Natural Bathroom Cleaner. It is true that glycolic acid is found naturally, however the concentration in any natural source is very low. It is found in far too low a concentration and would be far too expensive to extract for use in a cleaning product. DuPont makes a very large amount of glycolic acid and their product and process is based on petroleum feedstock. In fact DuPont’s website site states:

“Although Glycolic Acid occurs naturally as a trace component in sugarcane, beets, grapes and fruits, DuPont synthesizes the product through a purpose built manufacturing process in Belle, West Virginia.” (http://www2.dupont.com/Glycolic_Acid/en_US/)

Even high quality glycolic acid that is used in the cosmetic industry as an anti-aging and exfoliating compound is not derived from a natural source. With the exception of one company, CrossChem, which makes glycolic acid via a bacterial fermentation process, no glycolic acid can be considered natural or even naturally-derived. The cost parameters for using CrossChem glycolic acid in a cleaning product is not economical. My understanding is that most of CrossChem’s glycolic acid is used to make polyglycolic acid which is used to make sutures, a very high value medical product. (http://www.crosschem.net/70_solution.php)

My assumption is that either the glycolic acid in this cleaning product is so low that it’s insignificant (less than 1% for a cleaning product is insignificant) or that the glycolic acid is actually petroleum derived. Clorox claims that there are no petroleum based ingredients in these products, I believe they are misrepresenting themselves in this regard.

Can we challenge Clorox to find the source of their glycolic acid?

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Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is a principal with Calyx Sustainable Tourism and works primarily on advancing sustainable tourism practices. She also specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the technical advisory committee of the Seattle Culinary Academy and a long standing member of the Chefs Collaborative.

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