Green Product Seals Are Gray Area
Monday, July 20, 2009 at 2:24PM Print Article An article by Chronicle Staff writer, Ilana DeBare, shared the confusion consumers are having with all the “Green” environmental marketing claims. Consumers are faced with boasts by companies that their products are everything from “100 percent natural” to “recyclable,” “eco-friendly,” “sustainable,” “biodegradable,” or just plain “green.” Along with these claims has come a new wave of environmental seals and certifications aimed at helping consumers sort the real from the hype.
“It’s kind of a wild, wild West out there, with this big jump to get on the green bandwagon,” said Urvashi Rangan, a senior scientist with Consumer Reports. “There should be a big caution to consumers: Don’t base your purchasing decision on some green dot unless you know what that green dot really means,” said Scot Case, vice president of TerraChoice Environmental Marketing.
Growing Sector
This isn’t the first flood of environmental marketing. In the 1980’s companies were making so many misleading and confusing environmental claims that the Federal Trade Commission drafted a set of green marketing guidelines that were released in 1992. The FTC was forced to require companies to make green claims that were specific, such as “recycled” was added to the box. In 2007, companies have rushed to publicize the green claims of their existing wares or to launch new green items. The number of new consumer product launches tracked by Mintel that involved green claims show up from 5 in 2002, to 328 in 2007. Linda Brown, executive vice president of Scientific Certification Systems states that right now there is no standards and people can pick any aspect they want and consumers don’t really know what it means.
Retailers Respond
Meanwhile, some retailers have also started getting into the act by trying to identify environmentally preferable products for their customers. In the short run, it seems like things may get even more confusing for the eco-minded consumer. “You have to know which seals actually mean something – which one’s are independently verified,” said Rangan of Consumer Reports. In the long run, if consumer interest in environmental issues remains high, some of the confusion in the green-standards world may gradually sort itself out. There is little agreement that there will be one single all-encompasing green seal of approval. Instead, they foresee the emergence of a widely accepted standards on a range of different issues. Consumer Reports offers more ideas about what makes a meaningful eco-label at www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels/eco-good.cfm.