"Up to 70% recycled content"

The Greenwash Brigade

Thanks to Corporate Climate Response News, I learned that the FTC is still on the trail of greenwashing, and heard about a stellar example of greenwashing from Vice President Frank Hurd of the Carpet and Rug Institute, which certifies Green Label and Green Label Plus carpets.

He described one carpet manufacturer (not a CRI member) who advertised their carpet as including “Up to 70 percent recycled content.” Of course, that label is technically and legally accurate on carpet that has recycled content anywhere between zero percent and 70 percent. A good marketing department will make sure that the “up to” is in very tiny type, and “70 percent recycled content” is very large… and all but the most careful consumer will give them credit for 70.

Brigadiers weighed in before the first of the FTC workshops which addressed carbon offsetting.

Now the FTC workshops are complete, and they say there will be new Green Guides, probably in 2009.

I’m anxious to find out whether they will be meaningful and what they will address. I hope they’ll be published before Americans are tired of “green” in all its untrustworthy forms and shift interest to something else.

Tell us your thoughts: What aspects of green marketing most need FTC guidance? Carbon offsets? Green building? Corporate sustainability reporting? What sorts of guidelines would be most useful?

July 24, 2008 by Janne K. Flisrand
1 comments

tags: marketing standards watchdogs

Comments (1)

Harold Satterlee | Respond
July 30, 2008 5:52 AM PT

The FTC needs to require complete truth in Green labeling, not this implied claims. Ban marketers from using the "UP TO" and require them to say instead "AT LEAST".

Require claims to be backed up by warranty. Example: Compact Flourescent Bulbs. On the box they say "lasts up to 5 years". When they say that, stamp a date on the bulb 5 years after manufacture date. If it fails before that date, the store should replace it with same brand and rating without requiring the customer to save boxes of receipts. Since switching to CFL's I have had 5 of 9 fail in less than 2 years.

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Meet the Greenwash Brigade

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.

NOTE: The opinions expressed by the Greenwash Brigade bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of American Public Media or its employees. American Public Media is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Greenwash Brigade bloggers.

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