Eco, non-toxic, natural, net zero, recyclable, compostable…we’ve all heard these words and see them in marketing materials. These have become trigger words to spot greenwashing but they can also be the truth. It’s not easy as a consumer to know, as we are walking down the aisles at the store, whether or not the brand is greenwashing or simply stating facts.
What is greenwashing? It is a deceptive marketing tactic where companies falsely promote their products, business practices, or their overall brand as environmentally friendly to get you to buy that product. A lot of times, these companies spend more effort and money on ways to create a “green” image without actually reducing their environmental impact.
Sounds like this should be illegal, right? Well, it’s hard to enforce and prove sometimes but consumer protection laws are working in our favor more and more. It doesn’t stop a brand from putting a green leaf on their label of laundry detergent to make one think it is more environmentally friendly or post photos of wide open beautiful spaces that they claim they are protecting.
As you walk down the aisles at a big box store, it starts to become more and more noticeable, and I feel like I need to question everything. And I do.
Nestlé is a top producer of plastic bottled water globally. According to the Sierra Club, Nestlé is one of the top five companies who produce nearly 25 percent of all plastic waste worldwide. They aren’t selling bottled water, they are selling plastic.
According to Nestlé’s sustainability page on their website, they are aiming to halve their greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. It’s 2025 when writing this and they have only reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 20.38% from a 2018 baseline. A lot of changes need to be made before they reach their goal. But wow, does their website look like they are doing amazing with the beautiful photos of nature and families. I almost want to believe them. Almost.
Keurig, along with other companies, like to promote their products as recyclable but fail to mention most municipal recycling systems can’t process them. When it says recyclable on the box, consumers think they can recycle it in their bins when often times they can’t and the only way to do so is to BUY their K-Cycle box to send it back to them to be recycled and the grounds composted. Seems weird that we buy the box full of plastic pods filled with grounds then we have to buy a box to send them back to the company to be recycled. Why are we, as consumers, having to pay them twice? Oh, and we are running hot water through plastic, which has been proven to release millions of microplastics. Doesn’t make sense.
Keurig’s marketing, pretty effective! Green Mountain coffee, lots of chasing arrow symbols, and talk of recyclability all over the packaging and website. This is a great example of greenwashing, making us feel like we are doing the right thing, supporting a company we want to believe is doing the right thing.
BP, formerly British Petroleum, attempted to rebrand its name to Beyond Petroleum and got called out and abandoned that, and now on their website, they are simply, BP. This company uses super effective marketing tools. They coined the term “carbon footprint” to lay the responsibility for climate change on individuals instead of on them as part of the problem. So you drive a car, you are causing climate change, not the people making the cars, drilling for oil, and blocking innovation on cleaner options. Do we need to drive less, yes. Should we be solely to blame for climate change, no.
Another part of BP’s marketing is a bright yellow and green sunshine logo. According to their sustainability report, they are trying to get to net zero by 2050…based on 2019 numbers which were super high. We, as consumers and creatures living on this beautiful rock, need this to happen so much sooner. They also have a get out of jail free blurb on their sustainability page “enabled by supportive government policies and the decarbonization of energy demand.” The current state of our government policies do not care about reaching net zero and therefore can reduce the demand.
Greenwashing isn’t the only thing BP and other big oil companies are doing, they are also accepting $757 billion in fossil fuel subsidies in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund. A lot of it is in grants and tax breaks…wouldn’t it be awesome if that money was allocated to solving world hunger and housing issues?
Next time someone talks about their carbon footprint, remember it isn’t all on the consumer. We need to let these big corporations know we want better from them.
The fashion industry is not immune to this. H&M has some lofty sustainability goals that they are advertising to get to net zero by 2040. Using more recycled content, including cotton and polyester, and offering a used section on their website are good steps and I would love to see more companies do this. They might struggle with their supply chain, think shipping, and what the side effects of chemically recycling their polyester products are. Let’s not forget that every time we wash our clothes that have polyester in them, microplastics go down the drain and into our waterways.
I sort of think that the responsibility has been put on consumers for fashion as well. H&M disclosed that it created 524,739 metric tons of products in 2024…do we need this much? Again, it is buy less (like drive less) but we are going to be advertised to feel like we need to buy more and where can we send items back that don’t last very long. That’s on us too.
We as a society need to normalize, less.
Let’s get back to greenwashing. I’ve outlined a few examples but how do we go about spotting it as we go about our busy days? It’s a lot of work to dig deep. And some brands under the umbrella of a larger corporation are good, but they are owned by a company that isn’t doing good. It’s a struggle.
Look beyond the buzz words like “natural”, “recyclable”, “non-toxic”, “compostable”, and “green” along with their images and look for third-party certifications. Things like USDA Organic, but take that with a grain of salt because there are a lot of allowed substances that aren’t good for us but it’s better than nothing. Or check for EWG Verified, Leaping Bunny, and FSC Certified to at least help us know that some part of their supply is credible.
It might be “recyclable,” but is it actually getting recycled? Remember, recycling is a business. If there’s no demand for the bright orange plastic bottles, they won’t get recycled.
Plastic lets off microplastics so even if it can be recycled, think of it’s lifecycle and what that has done to the environment.
Transparency is a good thing. The more transparent the company the better. These days we can look up so many more things in seconds and find whether or not we are being greenwashed or not.
Knowledge is power, and greenwashing is everywhere, from your coffee pods to your closet. It is designed to make us feel good about our choices that may not actually align with our values. The more we understand how to identify misleading marketing tactics, the more we can vote with our dollars with companies that are truly doing the work.
We aren’t perfect consumers, but we can be more informed and find companies we can trust to do the right thing.
Try picking out one item in your household or daily routine and review the company’s sustainability practices. Is it greenwashing or are they walking the talk? Then next week try another item. This will help you feel more confident in researching and the choices you are making.
