Cleaning Up Greenwashing in California
Posted by Eco-Products on Mar 8th 2017
Warning: If you want to promote “biodegradable” plastic, you better be prepared to pay 1 million dollars.
A victory in the fight against greenwashing! In California, it is illegal to label plastics as “biodegradable,” “degradable,” “decomposable,” etc. This is because such terms could lead the average consumer to believe such a product would break down in a landfill. In reality, very little actually breaks down in a landfill due to lack of oxygen. If a plastic is compostable, such as the majority of our GreenStripe® line, it must be labeled “compostable” AND there must be scientific evidence that the product will break down in a timely manner and contribute to healthy soil (e.g., ASTM certification).
In one of the first instances of enforcing this labeling law, California’s district attorneys filed a suit against Walmart for selling plastic products labeled as “biodegradable.” The case was settled, with Walmart agreeing to pay nearly $1M in fines. More information can be found in this article published this February.
Let this be a lesson to those attempting to confuse or mislead well-intentioned buyers of green products. Beware of the word “biodegradable”, and always look for “compostable” products with BPI certification.
For more information, please contact our Sustainability Maven at sustainabilitymaven@ecoproducts.com