An investigation “exposes a number of misleading claims” from well-known names, including Coca-Cola and Unilever. Claims that plastic packaging is eco-friendly by major brands, including Coca-Cola and Unilever, are misleading as greenwashing, according to a report.
The Changing Markets Foundation says that claims that companies are intercepting and using “ocean destined” or “recyclable” plastic to address the plastic pollution crisis are some of the most common examples of greenwashing.
The claims are made with little evidence about how the products deal with the plastic pollution crisis, the report says. He says this is done to hide the real impact of plastic from consumers.
George Harding-Rolls, campaign manager at Changing Markets Foundations, said: “Our latest investigation exposes a number of misleading household name claims that consumers should be able to trust. This is just the tip of the iceberg and it is crucially important that regulators take this issue seriously.
“The industry is happy to flaunt its green credentials with little substance on the one hand, while continuing to perpetuate the plastic crisis on the other. We are calling for a greenwash so the world can see that voluntary action has led to a market saturated with false claims.”
A report on greenwashing
The review, which is featured on the CMF website, says Kim Kardashian Skims’ clothing company’s claims on its compostable underwear packaging, which says “I’m not plastic”, are undermined by the lyrics. small that says the product is type 4 plastic or LDPE. (Low density polyethylene).
Coca-Cola, the report says, has spent millions promoting an innovation that says its bottles are 25% marine plastic, but fails to mention that the company is the world’s biggest plastic polluter.
Mentos candy makers Perfetti Van Melle make big green claims about the new carton packs, the report says. But they don’t mention that the packaging is a non-recyclable composite material made from cardboard, aluminum and plastic.
In Spain, following the EU ban on plastic cutlery, the largest supermarket chain Mercadona renamed cutlery as “reusable” rather than offering alternatives.
The report singled out Tesco for its claims that its flexible plastic packaging is new, improved and “recyclable”. But to be recycled, customers must take the packaging to larger stores, and even then it is unlikely to be recycled. Instead, it will almost certainly be exported, incinerated or sent to landfills, the report says.
Procter & Gamble’s Head and Shoulders shampoo bottles are advertised as being made from “beach plastic,” but the bottle is dyed blue, meaning it can’t be recycled anymore, the report says.
Unilever has replaced recyclable PET laundry fluid bottles with bags as part of its effort to encourage refills. But the bags are not recyclable and only hold two refills, the report says.
Misleading marketing = greenwashing
Examples show brands featuring materials and selling products that they claim are better for the environment when they are difficult to recycle, non-recyclable, or use only a small fraction of the “oceanic” plastic collected through multiple cleanups. . .
Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, said: “Plastic is now a very powerful and emotional word. We all feel plastic guilt when we fill our shopping baskets. Brands have been exploiting this in recent years, using age-old marketing techniques that are either outright misleading or outright false, pretending the problem is getting better when it’s actually getting worse, with plastic production tripling by 2040.
“Greenwash.com exposes these false green claims for what they are: a daylight robbery of the consumer’s right and ability to judge the product.”
The Changing Markets Foundation, together with Zero Waste Europe, calls for closed-loop recycling systems and effective deposit return systems to solve the problem of plastic pollution. “We must adopt systemic solutions, such as absolute reductions in plastic packaging and mandatory deposit return systems,” they said.
Plastic packaging in the UK accounts for nearly 70% of all plastic waste in the country. Less than 10% of everyday plastic, including plastic packaging, is recycled.
Tesco said: “All the soft plastic we collect will be sorted in the UK from the end of this year, ensuring it doesn’t end up in landfills and is recycled into a variety of items. We welcome recent legislative measures to increase the consistency of curbside pickups for plastic recycling.”
Tesco said it was not the case that its soft plastic ended up in landfills or incinerated. The company said that as of 2021 it was finding a use for the soft plastic packaging it collects in stores and has experimented with recycling soft plastic into cheese wrappers.
Coke
“We don’t want any of our packaging to end up where it shouldn’t and we are working hard to be part of the solution.
“All our bottles in Britain are 100% recyclable and our aim is to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every bottle we sell globally by 2030. In 2019, around 300 samples of Coca-Cola bottles were developed using reclaimed and recycled marine plastics, with the aim of demonstrating that ocean waste could one day be used in recycled packaging. Innovative trials like this are essential to finding scalable solutions to reduce the amount of packaging we use.”
Procter & Gamble
“Our Head & Shoulders Ocean Clean bottle was one of the first steps on our responsible beauty journey and helped us learn about the use of PCR in our products. This pack is no longer available for purchase in the UK, but we can confirm that it was recyclable. We don’t have all the answers yet, but we remain committed to ensuring that Head & Shoulders is a force for good in beauty.”.
A spokesperson for Perfetti Van Melle was unavailable for comment. The other named brands did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
By Sandra Laville. Article in English