We have all seen it--companies that try to paint themselves or their products as environmentally responsible when they really are not. This is what has come to be known as greenwashing. Every now and then I hear from product suppliers who are way off the mark when it comes to having a product that is "green." I particularly remember receiving numerous calls from a guy who had come up with a urinal screen with block that he claimed to be recyclable. He actually sent me a sample. It smelled up my garage for a week. I could not imagine anyone trying to recycle one of them. What could he have been thinking? His product did not pass the common sense test. In trying to identify what is green or not green, I highly recommend applying the product or service to "The Seven Sins of Greenwashing" test.
If the product or service's claim does not fall into one of the seven sins, you can feel more confident in knowing the product or service is what it says it is. Here are the Seven Sins of Greenwashing:
• Sin of the Hidden Trade-off: committed by suggesting a product is "green" based on an unreasonably narrow set of attributes without attention to other important environmental issues. Paper, for example, is not necessarily environmentally-preferable just because it comes from a sustainably-harvested forest. Other important environmental issues in the paper-making process, including energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and water and air pollution, may be equally or more significant.
• Sin of No Proof: committed by an environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information or by a reliable third-party certification. Common examples are tissue products that claim various percentages of post-consumer recycled content without providing any evidence.
• Sin of Vagueness: committed by every claim that is so poorly defined or broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood by the consumer. "All-natural" is an example. Arsenic, uranium, mercury, and formaldehyde are all naturally occurring, and poisonous. "All natural" isn't necessarily "green."
• Sin of Irrelevance: committed by making an environmental claim that may be truthful but is unimportant or unhelpful for consumers seeking environmentally preferable products. "CFC-free" is a common example, since it is a frequent claim despite the fact that CFCs are banned by law.
• Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: committed by claims that may be true within the product category, but that risk distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole. Organic cigarettes might be an example of this category, as might be fuel-efficient vehicles.
• Sin of Fibbing: the least frequent sin, is committed by making environmental claims that are simply false. The most common examples were products falsely claiming to be Energy Star certified or registered.
• Sin of Worshiping False Labels: The Sin of Worshiping False Labels is committed by a product that, through either words or images, gives the impression of third-party endorsement where no such endorsement actually exists; fake labels, in other words.
Thanks to TerraChoice for providing the above examples.
