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FTC targets environmental marketing
January 27, 2014
When they hear the terms “biodegradable” or “compostable” in ads, most people probably get a good feeling about the product’s environmental friendliness. The Federal Trade Commission, however, has landed on six companies for making misleading and unsubstantiated claims about the biodegradability of their products.
The FTC’s Green Guides are not rules or regulations, but they do describe the kinds of environmental claims that the agency may find deceptive. They say the following about claims that a product is degradable:
• Marketers may make an unqualified degradable claim only if they can prove that the “entire product or package will completely break down and return to nature within a reasonably short period of time after customary disposal.” The “reasonably short period of time” for complete decomposition of solid waste products? One year.