More than ever before, consumers are clamoring for 'greener' products.
Their growing and legitimate concerns about the health and safety of
their families and the planet are driving this demand for more genuinely
"green" and sustainable goods and services.
In its 2009 report
"The Seven Sins of Greenwashing," environmental marketing firm
Terrachoice, noted that manufacturers and retailers are stepping up to
meet the growing demand for more environmentally safe products. But, as
the title of their report suggests, the dark side of this trend,
"Greenwashing," continues to be a concern and possible impediment to
wider adoption of greener options due to the mistrust and skepticism it
creates.
The term, "Greenwashing" refers to a widely used
practice of misleading consumers with deliberately vague or even false
claims about the environmental benefits of a product or the
environmental practices of the company who produces it. This trend
stretches across a variety of industries, but is prominent in the Health
and Beauty (HABA) category, where the potential for confusion regarding
product claims is probably greatest.
Consider the results of
another recent market research study done by The Shelton Group. Their
Eco Pulse study on natural and organic label claims revealed that a
surprising number of Americans (over 50% of those surveyed) erroneously
believe that the term "Natural" is regulated by the government and
therefore more reliable, while "Organic" is an unregulated, fancy,
marketing buzzword slapped on products to justify a higher price point.
Of course, this is the opposite of what's true.
With so many
different standards and claims floating around out there, how can you
know what to look for in your personal care products to ensure you're
not being "greenwashed." Here's a brief round up of some of the types of
claims you might see and how to evaluate them:
1. Natural Claims
This
is the most common and the most nebulous of claims on personal care
products. Since there are no regulatory standards here, you have to
educate yourself as much as possible on the difference between natural
and not-so-natural ingredients to decipher the claims. The main things
to consider are a company or brand's track record, and hidden trade-offs
with respect to the product's ingredients.
The Environmental
Working Group's Skin Deep database enables you to see how both companies
and their individual products rank in terms of health and safety.
Products with higher rankings (i.e. 7-10) generally contain a higher
amount of potentially toxic chemicals and questionable ingredients.
Companies whose products rank in the middle to high range should be
scrutinized more carefully. Their claims of being "natural" likely
involve trade-offs - meaning they may contain natural ingredients but
they also contain harmful ingredients. Keep in mind that the term
"natural" does not speak directly to the environmental benefits of the
product or the manufacturer's environmental practices.
2. Free From Claims
Beware
of "free from" claims - ones that tend to emphasize what's not in the
product at the expense of what is. These can be highly misleading
because they either imply that the free from ingredient is in some way
undesirable when that may not be the case, or worse, the free from
ingredient is one that has no relevance to either the safety of the
product or its environmental impact. These types of claims can also be
another way of re-directing attention from the hidden trade-offs
mentioned earlier.
For example, a company that makes scented
products using "fragrance" may put a "free from phthalates" claim on its
label. Since the term "fragrance" is not regulated, how can you know
that this claim is true? What proof is being offered to validate the
claim either on the label or elsewhere? In this example the only way you
can judge is if the product is still scented with "fragrance" as
opposed to pure essential oils.
Obviously, products that are free
from petroleum-based ingredients or synthetic chemicals are by nature
going to be safer for you and more environmentally friendly, but you
have to know how to read and understand the ingredient panel to
determine its legitimacy.
3. Organic Claims
Market
research clearly indicates that this claim doesn't currently hold much
authority with the average consumer, but the increased use of organic
and especially certified organic ingredients plays a critical and often
overlooked part in the environmental sustainability movement. Most
consumers understand the importance of buying food products that are
organically grown or produced, but many have not yet made the connection
to their importance in personal care products. Because most of these
products are either applied directly to the skin or consumed orally, it
makes perfect sense that they should also be free of pesticides. The
only way to know if they are, is through some form of certification.
The
waters surrounding organic certification are a little murky right now.
The USDA NOP (National Organic Program) seal is the only legitimate seal
currently recognized by consumers, however the standards for that seal
were designed specifically for agriculture, and as such present problems
with respect to its application to many personal care products.
In
the absence of clearly defined standards for personal care, various
industry alliances have formed to come up with their own standards to
fill the void. Some of the standards that have recently emerged include
OASIS (Organic and Sustainable Industry Standards), NPA (Natural
Products Association), NaTrue (the National Science Foundation's
standard negotiated in conjunction with European manufacturers), and
COSMOS, which represents the harmonization of 6 different European
certification bodies (including France's Ecocert, Germany's BDIH, and
the UK's Soil Association). These are still a lot of competing (and
possibly conflicting) standards to navigate, so your mileage may vary...
4. Social and Ethical Claims
The
most common of these are Fair Trade and Cruelty-Free or Not Tested on
Animals. At the moment Fair Trade claims on personal care products are
rare as the specifics of that type of certification typically apply to
agricultural products like coffee or chocolate, or products (like
clothing) made from cotton or other natural fibers that are grown and
harvested by farmers in poor countries.
The Cruelty-Free and
animal testing claims typically apply more to cosmetics (make up) than
to personal care, but often get slapped onto the latter for marketing
purposes. The best way to validate this sort of claim is to look for
either the Leaping Bunny seal (a program of the Coalition for Consumer
Information on Cosmetics) or a Friends of PETA endorsement - either on
the product itself or on the company's web site and marketing
collateral. You can also verify by going directly to these sites, and
searching their list of participating companies.
While
certifications and endorsements play an important part in helping
consumers identify products that are legitimately green and safe, we
still have a ways to go before they become truly reliable. It's also
important to remember that the absence of such seals doesn't mean that a
product is not green or doesn't live up to its claims. Certification
can often be quite costly and out of the reach of smaller companies
whose whole purpose (ironically) revolves around providing truly green
or natural products. In the absence of a reliable eco-label or seal,
your best bet is to choose the products and companies that offer
transparency, information, and education.
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