Environment News
From "Maple Street Co-op News", April/May 2008

"The Great Pretenders"
By Leigh Robshaw

In December 2007, Canadian environmental marketing company, TerraChoice, caused an international stir when it released a study called "The Six Sins of Greenwashing", which found that 99 per cent of 1,018 common consumer products randomly surveyed for the study throughout Canada and the US were guilty of 'greenwashing'.

Greenwashing is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company, or the environmental benefits of a product or service. In other words, trading off a false green image.
Australia's pulp and paper workers dubbed Woolworths the 'greenwashing experts' after the supermarket admitted in late 2007 to sourcing paper products from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a company green groups say has destroyed large areas of Indonesian rainforest. Woolworths reportedly buys three million units of tissue and other paper products a year from APP.

At the centre of the controversy was the packaging of the Woolworths Select range of paper products, which displayed a blatantly misleading logo with the words 'Sustainable Forest Fibre' inside a halo-like circle. Woolworths had to admit the logo, which implied the products had been independently certified as environmentally friendly, was an APP-proprietary logo. Next to the logo was a statement assuring consumers the paper supplier was "environmentally, socially and economically responsible".

The retail giant's response has been to simply whack a sticker over the claims and return the products to the shelves. Tim Woods, Secretary of the Pulp & Paper Workers' Branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, said : "Hiding known environmental problems with stickers as Woolworths has done is a very nasty form of greenwashing...The stickers merely cover the bogus claims and don't contain new and factual information saying 'This Product Is Not Sustainable'. Of course, if Woolworths was fair dinkum about sustainability issues, they would permanently remove the Select Brand paper products from the shelves." 1

Maple Street Co-op News visited the Maleny Woolworths store in late March to investigate, and found a range of Woolworths Select paper towels in stock. With the sticker covering the bogus environmental claims in place, consumers would no longer believe they're buying a 'green' product, but what conscientious consumer wouldn't question their purchase if they knew their money was funding a company said to have an appalling human rights record and accused of destroying rainforests - logo or not?

In an ABC interview on 27 February, Woolworths CEO Michael Luscombe said Woolworths would continue to honour its contract with the company, but would review the source of the product when the contract ends. 2

There's no law that bans misleading green advertising at this point, but the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has said it plans to crack down after being "swamped with complaints about the widespread 'greenwashing' of consumer and industrial products". 3 It has taken car manufacturer Saab to court, alleging misleading and deceptive conduct in regard to 'green' claims made in the advertising of Saab vehicles 4, but has taken no such measures against Woolworths.

In an ACCC press release (18 March, 2008), ACCC Chairman, Graeme Samuel said of Woolworth's band-aid measures: "...the ACCC considers that this approach is appropriate and it does not propose to continue its investigations at this time... The ACCC has requested and Woolworths has agreed to review its trade practices law compliance program to ensure it adequately deals with these issues in the future." 5

Thou shallt not pretend to be green!
Woolworths is just one of a plethora of companies accused of greenwashing, and the onus is on us, as consumers, to see through the spin and search out bona fide green products. It helps to know what to be on the lookout for. According to the TerraChoice study 6, the six sins of greenwashing are:

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off: e.g. 'Energy-efficient' electronics that contain hazardous materials - 998 products and 57 per cent of all environmental claims committed this Sin.
2. Sin of No Proof: e.g. Shampoos claiming to be 'certified organic', but with no verifiable certification - 454 products and 26 per cent of environmental claims committed this Sin.
3. Sin of Vagueness: e.g. Products claiming to be 100 per cent natural when many naturally-occurring substances are hazardous, like arsenic and formaldehyde. Seen in 196 products or 11 per cent of environmental claims.
4. Sin of Irrelevance: e.g. Products claiming to be CFC-free, even though CFCs were banned 20 years ago.
5. Sin of Fibbing: e.g. Products falsely claiming to be certified by an internationally recognised environmental standard like EcoLogo, Energy Star or Green Seal.
6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils: e.g. Organic cigarettes or 'environmentally-friendly' pesticides.

Maple St Co-op: a greenwash-free zone
There's no need to worry about outwitting those devious greenwashers when you shop at the Co-op, as our staff members have already done the hard work for you and weeded them out.

The Co-op's purchasing policy is organic first, then local, then Australian. We bulk foods and cleaning products to reduce packaging, supply brown paper bags, and sell silk and cotton shopping bags. We give out a 'green' bag to all new members and only use plastic bags recycled through the store by members (we eventually hope to discontinue this practice).

You can trust every product for sale at the Co-op, but if you're shopping elsewhere, the accreditation logos to look out for are Fair Trade, Australian Certified Organic, NASAA Certified Organic, AAAAA Water Rating, Energy Star, Good Environmental Choice, and Green Globe 21 for sustainable travel and tourism.

Endnotes
1. www.cfmeu.net.au/news/2739.html
2. www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2007/s2173766.htm
3. www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/29/2073330.htm
4. www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2008/2155943.htm

[From "Maple Street Co-op News", April/May 2008; published by The Maple Street Co-operative Society Ltd, 37 Maple Street, Maleny, Qld 4552, Australia, tel (07) 5494 2088, email maplest.coop@ serv.net.au,
website http://www.maplestreetco-op.com.au]