Study: 95% of Green-Marketed Products Are Not That Green According to TerraChoice only 5% of the 5,300 products they examined were truly Green.
GreenWashing
TerraChoices’ 2010 report called “Sins of Greenwashing” found some form of greenwashing in more than 95% of consumer products labeled as “green.” The study examined close to 5,300 home and family care products, including building and construction, toys, office, house wares, and health and beauty. Each product’s environmental claims were weighed against guidelines from the FTC, the Competition Bureau of Canada, and the ISO 14021 standard for environmental labeling, and findings were organized and identified using TerraChoice’s “7 Sins of Greenwashing.” A larger portion of construction products [40%] compared to the study average of 27.4% committed the “sin of the hidden trade-off,” This is when they focused on one small aspect and ignored others.
The report found the most common single-benefit claims referred to “air quality,” “energy,” and “recycled content.” To view the full report and their major findings , click here.
source: www.builderonline.com