Paying extra for ‘earth-friendly’ products? You’re probably being scammed

The Sydney Morning Herald04-27

Whether shopping in the supermarket or mall or browsing online, shades of green and blue are everywhere. Claims that products are “green”, “eco”, or “sustainable” are almost universal. After all, we ...

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After all, we ...</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/paying-extra-for-earth-friendly-products-you-re-probably-being-scammed-20240424-p5fmdl.html\">Source Link</a>\n\n</div>\n","source":"smh_stock","html":"<!DOCTYPE html>\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\" />\n<meta name=\"viewport\" content=\"width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0,minimum-scale=1.0,maximum-scale=1.0,user-scalable=no\"/>\n<meta name=\"format-detection\" content=\"telephone=no,email=no,address=no\" />\n<title>Paying extra for ‘earth-friendly’ products? 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You’re probably being scammed\n</h2>\n\n<h4 class=\"meta\">\n\n\n2024-04-27 03:00 GMT+8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/paying-extra-for-earth-friendly-products-you-re-probably-being-scammed-20240424-p5fmdl.html><strong>The Sydney Morning Herald</strong></a>\n\n\n</h4>\n\n</header>\n<article>\n<div>\n<p>Whether shopping in the supermarket or mall or browsing online, shades of green and blue are everywhere. Claims that products are “green”, “eco”, or “sustainable” are almost universal. After all, we ...</p>\n\n<a href=\"https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/paying-extra-for-earth-friendly-products-you-re-probably-being-scammed-20240424-p5fmdl.html\">Source Link</a>\n\n</div>\n\n\n</article>\n</div>\n</body>\n</html>\n","isBrief":false,"type":0,"news_type":1,"symbol":"XAO.AU","symbol_name":"标普/澳交所 普通股指数","start_time":0,"source_url":"https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/paying-extra-for-earth-friendly-products-you-re-probably-being-scammed-20240424-p5fmdl.html","article_id":"2430780893","we_media_id":null,"thumbnails":[],"rights":null,"url":"https://stock-news.laohu8.com/highlight/detail?id=2430780893","pubTimestamp":1714158000,"sourceInfo":{"source_id":"smh_stock","name":"Sydney Morning Herald"},"weMediaInfo":null,"summary":"Whether shopping in the supermarket or mall or browsing online, shades of green and blue are everywhere. Claims that products are “green”, “eco”, or “sustainable” are almost universal. After all, we all want to do our bit for the environment and future generations.But if a company tells you that their product is an “earth friendly” choice, often with a price premium, how can you know if it’s true?","collect":0,"end_time":0,"defaultTopTitle":"smh.com.au","property":[],"viewcount":null,"language":"en","relate_stocks":{"XAO.AU":"标普/澳交所 普通股指数","XJO.AU":"标普/澳交所 200指数","XKO.AU":"标普/澳交所 300指数"},"translate_title":"为“环保”产品支付额外费用？你可能被骗了","themeId":null,"isJumpTheme":false,"ttsUrl":null,"symbols_score_info":{"XAO.AU":0.78,"XJO.AU":0.78,"XKO.AU":0.78},"content_text":"Whether shopping in the supermarket or mall or browsing online, shades of green and blue are everywhere. Claims that products are “green”, “eco”, or “sustainable” are almost universal. After all, we all want to do our bit for the environment and future generations.But if a company tells you that their product is an “earth friendly” choice, often with a price premium, how can you know if it’s true?There are companies in Australia offering genuinely sustainable products and services but it’s far too difficult to sort the good from the bad. Credit: Getty ImagesLast week, the ACCC initiated court action against the company that makes Glad bags for stating that some bags were made from 50 per cent recycled “ocean plastic”.The term “ocean plastic” makes it sound like the plastic was sourced directly from the neck of a suffering sea turtle. In reality, the Glad bags were made from plastic found up to 50 kilometres away from the shoreline.Frequently, companies employ misleading eco-claims to divert attention from the significant environmental impact of their product. Ampol, for instance, markets a “carbon-neutral” petrol that offsets emissions – but the company’s primary product is carbon-intensive fossil fuel. Mecca cosmetics advertises “sustainable packaging” on social media, but only postage materials are sustainable, not the product packaging. Panasonic makes vague claims of being “For the planet”, without specifying what that entails.Greenwashing is pervasive. Too often the promotion of environmental virtues is more about marketing than making a real impact. The true danger lies in its ability to sabotage our attempts to make sustainable purchases, tricking us into supporting practices that betray our ethical and environmental principles.Glad changed its packaging to say the bag were “made using 50% ocean-bound plastic”. But what is ocean-bound plastic anyway?Credit: ACCCWhile it is positive that the ACCC is suing Glad, we cannot just rely on legal action to stamp out false green claims. Rather than tell us the truth, marketing departments can subtly shift key messages to avoid the regulator’s gaze.For example, following initial scrutiny, Glad removed the term “ocean plastic” and instead claimed that the bags were “made using 50% ocean bound plastic”. It’s perhaps much harder for a regulator to prove where plastics are “bound” to end up.Several years ago, the ACCC lost a similar case against Woolworths, which had labelled its picnicware as “biodegradable and compostable” with eco-friendly imagery. However, the court ruled that the claims were not misleading because, although the picnicware could not be composted at home, it was suitable for industrial composting systems – a detail not specified on the packaging.The problem is that most vague and unhelpful claims aren’t technically breaking the law. A claim that a product is “eco” or “greener” is so vague that it’s hard to prove that it is misleading customers.LoadingEven worse is where a business uses its marketing to hide the truth. A mining company boasting on social media that uses “clean tech” conveniently omits information about the environmental harms of other parts of its business.This is a problem not just for customers, but for businesses trying to do the right thing. There are companies in Australia offering genuinely sustainable products and services but it’s far too difficult to tell the difference between the good options and those stretching the green truth.This is why we need to reform our consumer laws to require better and more useful marketing and information.Helpfully, we can learn from new laws internationally. The European Union is in the process of banning generic environmental claims like “eco”, “green” or “gentle on the environment”. These claims are meaningless, and they need to go. Australia should also ban confusing and unhelpful claims.LoadingMore crucial, perhaps, are laws that ban omissions or hiding important information. These laws could confront companies that advertise a genuinely sustainable product line while concealing their environmentally harmful practices elsewhere.Additionally, all environmental claims should be backed by strong, credible, and current evidence. This is especially crucial for future-oriented claims, such as companies advertising themselves as plastic-free or carbon-neutral by a certain date.Stopping bad green claims is only half the battle. We also need to help people evaluate products on key environmental factors, such as durability and repairability. For example, in France, products like laptops, phones and washing machines must display a score that shows shoppers how they stack up against others in terms of spare parts availability and the duration of software updates.Australians deserve this kind of basic information when shopping for big purchases. The federal government could invest, like France has, in a mandatory labelling system that shows how long products will last. This would allow you to compare the durability of items like washing machines, much like you currently compare their energy and water efficiency with star ratings.In Australia, it is not easy being green. There are too many confusing environmental claims and the limited powers of our regulators make it harder to identify truly ethical companies. New laws that eliminate poor quality claims and help us find better products would be good for the environment but also good for budgets, helping us find options that last longer and are easier to repair.Erin Turner is chief executive of the Consumer Policy Research Centre. Gerard Brody is the chair of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia.The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. 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