Greenwashing - What is it and why is it dangerous.
Published 30 June 2021
Greenwashing - how you can spot it
Greenwashing is a marketing ploy companies use to make their products sound more environmentally friendly than they are. Their claims are often exaggerated, misleading and not backed up by evidence.
Greenwashing is dangerous, sophisticated and far more common than you think.
What is greenwashing?
Eco-friendly alternatives are becoming more and more appealing to consumers, which puts pressure on manufacturers to make their products more sustainable. Encouraging retailers to consider the environment is great, but when the main motivation is simply wanting to keep up with competitors, how eco-friendly do the products really end up being?
“If the product allows you to behave in the exact same way that we always have, but suddenly its eco, it’s probably too good to be true”
The practise of promoting your brand as environmentally conscious, while not actually having sustainable values, is called greenwashing. This is a common marketing tactic - so much so that a 2010 survey found that over 95% of ‘green’ products contained one or more forms of greenwashing!
Separating the good from the bad can be extremely tricky, which is why we’ve put together a quick guide to help you distinguish the green from the greenwash.
What does it commonly look like?
Exaggeration
Overemphasising how eco-friendly the product is much more common than completely making it up.
Usually done through the vague use of environmental buzzwords, such as cleaning products that claim to be ‘all natural’ or ‘contains organic ingredients’ - organic and natural are words that technically cover a broad range of harmful chemicals, meaning that just because something is natural, does not mean it is necessarily good for you or the environment.
Use of terminology like ‘recyclable’, ’biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’, which automatically gives you that feel-good factor, but it is not always that straightforward - for example, takeaway coffee cups are often advertised as compostable, but because of the materials used they must be disposed of in a commercial facility, of which NZ only has 12. Additionally, single-use plastics made from plant materials are not automatically compostable, one reason why they are not as great for the environment and as easy to dispose of as we are lead to believe.
When a company calls its packaging zero waste, it's really stretching the term. It's not zero waste. It's still producing waste. You're just putting the waste in a different place. You're using the soil as a waste disposal system for packaging” - Hannah Blumhardt.
“Even words that we in the zero waste community use like zero waste, like circular economy, regenerative… a lot of these terms are being co-opted by companies to mean something different or to apply to their product ”
Misleading packaging
Manufacturers often like to design their products with packaging that one would typically associate with environmentalism, such as green colours and images of nature and trees.
This advertising tactic is contradictory to genuine eco-friendly products, which are usually made with packaging containing neutral shades which do not require the use of toxic bleach or dyes.
Fake certification
Another common form of greenwashing is the use of phrases such as ‘certified green’ or displaying a green tick, which gives the impression that it has been endorsed by a third party, but is actually just a marketing ploy.
Use of the green recycle triangle - this image actually belongs to the public domain, meaning that anyone can use the symbol without their product being in any way recyclable. Additionally, not all items with a recycling number can be put in your home recycling bin (for more info on what can and can’t be recycled in Wellington, check out our post on recycling contamination).
When it comes to compostable items, “For things like compostable packaging we don’t have a certification system in New Zealand” - Hannah Blumhardt - meaning that companies can often claim to be certified compostable without being held to account.
Lack of information
Greenwashed products will contain a lot of environmental claims and jargon, but no actual explanation about the company’s commitment to sustainability, how you can effectively recycle or compost the item, or no detailed list of ingredients + where they are sourced from.
Products may claim to be 90% biodegradable, which sounds great, but raises questions like “so what does that mean and what about the other ten per cent? What am I supposed to do with this?” - Hannah Blumhardt
This form of greenwashing is common in the clothing industry, where large fashion retailers will advertise their latest range as ‘sustainable’, while offering little to no transparency of their supply chain or production systems.
Why is greenwashing dangerous?
Not only is greenwashing a way to mislead the consumer into buying a product, but it can also have negative impacts on our health and the health of our planet.
In this next video, Liam, Hannah and Claire talk about the dangers of greenwashing.
The dangers of greenwashing on individuals
Greenwashing is a distraction. It distracts us from creating alternatives that are actually better. It also takes advantage of our sentiment to do better. If you want to do better for the environment, it can be upsetting to learn that you’ve bought into a lie. This can have an impact on your future decision making.
In terms of packaging, there are lots of unknowns when it comes to the materials being used. In conventional fossil fuel-based packaging, it’s not just made of one material. In terms of bioplastics where the base material is corn starch, lots of chemicals needed to be added to give the product different functions (to make it rigid, flexible or clear).
In terms of cardboard and paper packaging (and single use coffee cups), that packaging needs to be lined with something to make it greaseproof or water-resistant. Chemicals are used to achieve this.
These chemicals are having an impact on our health, especially our reproductive health.
“Some studies suggest that some of the chemicals in plastic are harming our future fertility. They’re saying the male sperm count could reach a median of zero in 25 years. So half of all men wont be able to reproduce”
The dangers of greenwashing on the planet
Often these chemicals are in products that are claimed to be great for the environment. The reality is that we don’t really know what is in a lot of these products. In some ways they could be as dangerous as the conventional one, but we believe it’s better because of the greenwashing.
The other side of this is that these products tend to be innovations, with materials that are quite new. We don’t know where the base monomer comes from, if it’s corn starch is it from GMO corn? Then we’ve got the added chemicals. If we put this into our compost and into our soil, and we learn that it’s toxic - there is no way we can ever get rid of it.
“Take plastics in the context of geological time and human history - it’s really new. As a species, we just don’t know what we’re doing with plastic. We’ve been doing all these innovations, and now we’re doing green innovations and we often only realise 10 or 15 years down the track the mess we’ve made.
The thing that hurts the most is that we’re doing it because we think that it’s better. That’s where the greenwashing comes in”
Business, Government, Greenwashing & Change
Greenwashing comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s confusing, it’s frustrating, it often feels overwhelming - but it doesn’t have to be. Be the ripple that creates the wave. Here’s how you can take greenwashing.
In the next video, Liam, Hannah and Claire talk about corporate responsibility and what you can do as a consumer to change things.
Commitment to sustainability.
Colmar Brunton’s 2021 Better Future’s Report summarises the shift to more sustainable practices nicely.
New Zealand’s commitment to sustainability continues to grow - 36% of Kiwis are committed to a more sustainable lifestyle, and a 3-11% increase in reported behaviours around reusing, repairing and recycling. On the business side, more businesses are clearly communicating their sustainability story.
The report also states
“There is more evidence that companies that outperform in social and environmental areas achieve higher valuations and higher margins”
With consumers wanting more sustainable products, we are now seeing more businesses trying to capitalise on it.
If your business is looking to promote its sustainable practices, make sure you check out the Commerce Commission’s Environmental Guidelines for Traders to make sure you’re not greenwashing.
Although most businesses are trying to / want to do the right thing, there are some that might need a little help from you.
Check out these templates we made to help you advocate for change: