What “Eco-Friendly” on a Bag Should Come With

The FTC’s summary of the Green Guides says marketers should not make broad, unqualified general environmental benefit claims such as “green” or “eco-friendly”, because broad claims are difficult to substantiate, if not impossible. It adds that such claims should be qualified with specific environmental benefits.

What the source says

• Marketers should not make broad, unqualified claims like “green” or “eco-friendly”.
• They should qualify general claims with specific environmental benefits, clearly, prominently and specifically.
• When a general claim is qualified with a specific benefit, consumers understand the benefit to be significant, so marketers should not highlight small or unimportant benefits.
• If a claim conveys an overall benefit because of a special attribute, the marketer should analyse the trade-offs to prove it.
• The Green Guides are guidance and do not themselves set the law.

What this means when you shop

1. Look for the specific benefit and the part of the bag it applies to.
2. Ask how the benefit was measured.
3. Check whether the benefit is large or small.
4. Do not treat a general word as evidence.

Example questions

Which material is the benefit about? Is it the whole bag, or only the packaging? Compared to what? A concrete answer helps you decide, and a vague one tells you to look further.

A short exercise

Take a listing that says “eco-friendly” and ask three questions. What exactly is better for the environment? Compared with what? How can you check? If the listing answers two of the three, it is a reasonable claim. If it answers none, you have learned something about the seller. This costs you only a few minutes, and it works for every similar claim.

Where this answer stops

The summary is a short guide for businesses, written in 2012. It does not say that any bag is or is not environmentally friendly, and it is not legal advice.