On some products, we see labels tagged with the logo EcoLogo and Green Seal. Some people do not know what they stand for nor why they are necessary. The following essay is an explanation of these labels and the reason for their existence.Both labels, each produced by different companies, were issued as control against a practice called Greenwashing. Greenwashing is the practice of managers calling their brands/ products ‘natural', ‘earth-friendly', ‘environmental', ‘green', ‘organic', or the like – when they may not, necessarily be so. Some products, in fact, had been marketed as ‘natural' and/ or biodegradable with the meaning being empty. For instance, potato chips were marked as ‘natural'. Of course, they are: they come from ‘natural' potatoes. Similarly, many cereals are marked as such with gullible consumers paying higher prices due to erroneously considering the brand a healthier product; the brand may be replete with sugar and artificial colorings.
¶ … puzzling or mysterious subject from a field of study or from an interest you have explored. Write an extended definition that explains this mystery for your readers. As appropriate, include information about its characteristics, parts, history, possible causes, effects, solutions, benefits, or dangers.
On some products, we see labels tagged with the logo EcoLogo and Green Seal. Some people do not know what they stand for or why they are necessary. The following essay is an explanation of these labels and the reason for their existence.
Both labels, each produced by different companies, were issued as control against a practice called Greenwashing. Greenwashing is the practice of managers calling their brands / products 'natural', 'earth-friendly', 'environmental', 'green', 'organic', or the like -- when they may not, necessarily, be so. Some products have even branded themselves with empty semantics such as being 'biodegradable' or 'natural' (consider: 'natural' potato chips and 'natural' cereal). In short, some of the advertising is simply meaningless nonsense. Other claims are false.
In 2009, ABC News (Leamy, 2009) quoted the Federal Trade Commission which had complained about four types of material that had been misleadingly marketed as natural bamboo, whilst the material used in the textiles was actually rayon. The duplicity inherent in this marketing is an example of "Greenwashing" -- branding products or items to be environmentally friendly when they are not.
TerraChoice, a Canadian company that tests and certifies products for environmental friendliness, divided Greenwashing into five categories:
1. Exaggerating elements that had originally been removed from the product.
Some variables sometimes have to be extracted (legal or otherwise) from the product. The product is the way it is because of necessary or obligatory removal of the variables. The company, nonetheless, emphasizes the alleged superiority of the product by including the variables that have had to be removed as causative to consequent improvement and health of the product. A particular shaving cream, for instance, had its label emphasize the extraction of chlorofluorocarbons. Chlorofluorocarbons, however, had actually been banned as far back as 1978 due to its harmful qualities. The element was illegal and dangerous. Customers, ignorant of the psychobabble of chemistry, were unaware of the fact and took its inclusion on the label as pointing to the superiority of the product.
1. Failing to provide proof.
The chasing arrows logo indicates that the product has been recycled but the symbol is often used without the necessary details. Details that the customer should be provided with would include source of the recycled content and amount of the product / item that was actually recycled.
1. Environmental trade-offs.
Some manufactured waters are marketed as eco-friendly because of their packaging or other variables that went into producing them. Some of these products may actually be eco-friendly, but consumers overlook concealed trade-offs such as that drinking tap-water may actually be better for their environment than the factors involved in transporting the water and in producing it. Trade-offs, therefore, may reduce from the listed value.
1. Misleading by producer
Some companies create and place their own seals misleadingly labeling the product 'green' leading the consumer to think that the seal was affixed by an authoritative source and that the product is, therefore, 'kosher'.
1. Misleading by a third party
Some alleged eco-friendly products have been misleadingly labeled environmental by alleged objective third parties. An example of this is the manufacturer Kenmore that tagged a refrigerator with the label "Energy Star" but then acknowledged that the machine sapped up rather than saved energy (Chan, 2006).
Unfortunately, anyone can arbitrarily perpetrate any of these five categories of Greenwashing without suffering legal results. It may, therefore, seem futile to adopt eco-friendly activities and persist in buying eco-friendly products, since not only are we unable to tell whether or not a product is authentic in its claims but we are also, generally, insufficiently versed in chemistry in order to investigate its claims. We end up, consequently, only losing money in the process.
This is where EcoLogo and Green Seal come in. EcoLogo, controlled by TerraChoice, works for the Canadian government (Ecologo.org), whilst Green Seal, on the other hand, is serviced by a nonprofit organization (Green Seal.org). Each of these accrediting companies evaluates the manufacturing process of the product from beginning to end. They thoroughly test it and inspect it for its adherence to environmental rules before accrediting the product. Customers buying any particular product with these seals can be confident that the product does, indeed, live up to its claims.
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