Not so Eco-friendly

by Kimberly Rizzitano

Companies are constantly spouting about new eco-friendly products they are putting on the market. Poland Spring’s new bottle has 30 percent less plastic; Simple Green Household Cleaner claims to be a “safer alternative” to other cleaners. The automobile companies are even jumping on the green bandwagon with the hybrids.
But what they aren’t telling you is that the new eco-friendly bottle made by Poland Springs actually uses a large amount of energy when it’s produced and transported. And this alleged safer cleaner which is supposed to be non-toxic contains butyl cellosolve, which is a toxic solvent. It has even been found that the Chevy Tahoe hybrid does not get as great mileage as smaller hybrids.
So how can the public be sure that their extra money spent on green products will really be worth while? TerraChoice Environmental Marketing conducted a study and found that 99 percent of 1,018 products that claim to be green could be misleading.
Scott Case from TerraChoice said, “There is zero enforcement. The government needs to require anyone making a green claim to provide proof of the accuracy and relevance of the claim”.
In other countries, however, governments and groups are taking action to take misleading ads out of the public eye. In Britain a regulating agency called British Advertising Standards Authority forced Shell to pull an ad that showed flowers coming from smokestakes. The agency said that the ad made it seem like Shell was using the emission of carbon dioxide to grown plants.
Overall, the main idea circulating now is for the government to keep companies in check when putting out ads that claim to be green. No plans to regulate false ads have actually been set in motion at this time.