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What You Need to Know About "Greenwashing"

"Greenwashing" is deceptive merchandising.

"Greenwashing" is false promotion.

"Greenwashing" is sometimes outright lies.

green grass blue sky white clouds

"Greenwashing" is when manufacturers exaggerate the "green-ness" of a service or product. And so-called green products are exploding onto the consumer scene.

Unfortunately, there is no centralized regulating authority of what is "green."

So we all need to use our brains and think about our purchases.

Say a product claims it is toxin-free...in small amounts, large amounts...how exactly is it toxin-free?
If a product claims it is "recyclable," what does that really mean? Is the manufacturer referring to the product inside the container, or the container itself?
If a product contains "20% more recyclable product"...is it 20% more as compared to its previous product or a competitor's product?

Don't be fooled by greenwashing. Read the fine print.

Peggy Edwards, REALTOR, GREEN DESIGNATION
Coldwell Banker
Tampa, FL
(813) 787-2923
www.PeggyEdwards.com

Green Designation

Posted by Peggy Edwards, REALTOR®, Green Designation, Tampa, FL on 11/18/2008 03:31 PM

Comments (2)

Green in the ActiveRain Channel

nar, green realtor, citrus park, coldwell banker, wwwpeggyedwardscom, greenwashing

Originally posted at: Living and Working in Citrus Park: What You Need to Know About "Greenwashing"

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2 Comments on What You Need to Know About "Greenwashing"

NOV

2008

I remember when the paper industry first started selling recycled paper. They always recycled the waste material from the manufacturing process. They just changed the labels to reflect that when it became consumer popular.

After awhile the labeling was changed to show how much was post consumer waste, not just mill scraps. That was driven by government contracts that required the contents for their bids.

Hi Randy, interesting, isn't it? But lots of products aren't green at all and have words like "eco-friendly", etc. Just pandering to the customer. Stay vigilant! Hope you are well....

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