Analysis by the Changing Markets Foundation shows that “eco-friendly” claims about plastic packaging are often “greenwashing” and are misleading consumers into thinking that brands are more environmentally friendly than they really are.
Examples cited by the Foundation include:
- Kim Kardashian’s clothing company Skims claims that its underwear packaging is compostable, when it’s actually LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene);
- packaging for Mentos mints is claimed to be eco-friendly, but is made of an unrecyclable combination of card, aluminium and plastic; and
- Coca-Cola is telling consumers that its bottles are 25% marine plastic, but the company is the world’s biggest plastic polluter.
Speaking for the Changing Markets Foundations, George Harding-Rolls – quoted in The Guardian – said: “The industry is happy to gloat its green credentials with little substance on the one hand, while continuing to perpetuate the plastic crisis on the other. We are calling out greenwashing so the world can see that voluntary action has led to a market saturated with false claims.”
For more on the Greenwash project visit: https://greenwash.com/
