- 260.7 Environmental Marketing Claims
- General Environmental Benefit Claims
- Degradable, Biodegradable, and Photodegradable
- Compostable
- Compostable (cont)
- Recyclable
- Recyclable (cont)
- Recyclable (cont)
- Recyclable (cont)
- Recycled Content
- Recycled Content (cont)
- Recycled Content (cont)
- Recycled Content (cont)
- Refillable
- Ozone Safe and Ozone Friendly
- Ozone Safe and Ozone Friendly (cont)
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Example 5
A product label contains an environmental seal, either in the form of a globe icon or a globe icon with only the text “Earth Smart” around it. The label is likely to convey to consumers that the product is environmentally superior to other products. If the manufacturer cannot substantiate this broad claim, the claim would be deceptive. The claims would not be deceptive if they were accompanied by clear and prominent qualifying language limiting the environmental superiority representation to the particular product attribute or attributes for which they could be substantiated, provided that no other deceptive implications were created by the context.
Example 6
A product is advertised as “environmentally preferable.” This claim is likely to convey to consumers that this product is environmentally superior to other products. If the manufacturer cannot substantiate this broad claim, the claim would be deceptive. The claim would not be deceptive if it were accompanied by clear and prominent qualifying language limiting the environmental superiority representation to the particular product attribute or attributes for which it could be substantiated, provided that no other deceptive implications were created by the context.
Degradable, Biodegradable, and Photodegradable
It is deceptive to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product or package is degradable, biodegradable, or photodegradable. An unqualified claim that a product or package is degradable, biodegradable, or photodegradable should be substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence that the entire product or package will completely break down and return to nature, that is, decompose into elements found in nature within a reasonably short period of time after customary disposal.
Claims of degradability, biodegradability or photodegradability should be qualified to the extent necessary to avoid consumer deception about: (1) the product or package’s ability to degrade in the environment where it is customarily disposed; and (2) the rate and extent of degradation.
Example 1
A trash bag is marketed as “degradable” with no qualification or other disclosure. The marketer relies on soil burial tests to show that the product will decompose in the presence of water and oxygen. The trash bags are customarily disposed of in incineration facilities or at sanitary landfills that are