Do you feel you can trust product claims of ‘Eco friendly’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘natural’? If you’re anything like us you’re sceptical, read the label thoroughly and then do a deep dive researching the company and their products. Why? Because green-washing is everywhere and claims made by companies can often be misleading to the consumer.
Green-washing refers to sustainability claims made by companies that convey a false impression or provide misleading information about how their products are more environmentally friendly than they actually are.
This form of marketing is used by many industries including: beauty, cleaning, health and wellness and even the food industry.
The terms 'natural' and 'organic' are not specifically regulated under the CPR, which controls the safety of cosmetic products.
Poor legislation and lack of legal definitions allows companies to use clever branding, with no negative consequences for not telling the whole truth.
Companies use green-washing in multiple ways:
Using generic terms that have no legal definition within the particular industry e.g Pure, natural, sustainable.
Being vague or lacking complete transparency: some industries take advantage of weak legislation to hide certain ingredients from their customers. This happens a lot in the beauty industry e.g The term ‘fragrance’ is an umbrella term used in many self care and cosmetic products. The term fragrance covers 3,059 ingredients, meaning you have no idea how many chemicals you are putting on your body when you use a product containing fragrance.
Certain images can be used to give the consumer the impression of a product being ‘eco’ or ‘pure’ when in essence they are no better than any other conventional product on the market.
A perfect example seen recently in the beauty industry is the sustainability claim of ‘water-less’ skin care. As an oil based product the formulation may not contain added water, which is technically true, but is it relevant and does it really contribute to the health of our planet? Let’s not forget the water used to grow the plants, process the packaging and to wash off the product. Without assessing the entirety of a product and how it is produced, how can we truly understand its environmental impact and make better choices?
In the cleaning industry, companies are not legally required to disclose the full ingredients list on the label. Regulations allow certain ingredients to be listed as categories rather than listing the specific chemicals e.g ‘buffering agent’. This tells us very little about the actual ingredient and is passed off as a way to ‘protect trade secrets’. But what about protection for the consumer?
So how can you protect yourself?
Look out for umbrella terms such as ‘fragrance’ or ‘parfum’ these have a high toxicity rating (Environmental working group), contain potentially thousands of ingredients and are a sign of a company not being transparent.
Check out the claims made by these companies: can they support their claims with facts or evidence?
Choose products that have minimal ingredients and minimal packaging. However, watch out for seemingly small ingredient lists containing categories rather than ingredients e.g 'anionic surfactants' which could contain multiple ingredients.
Organic certification does exist in the cosmetic industry, which offers the consumer more protection and transparency: Soil association certified organic is probably the most reliable and recognisable of these certifications within the UK.
So why are we not certified organic?
Obtaining our own certification as a small business is very costly. Also requiring an annual membership fee for us to use the certified symbols on our packaging. For a micro business, this is just not possible at this time. Although we do not have this certification, we are passionate about being a brand that you can trust within your home. We are fully transparent, with fully disclosed ingredients labels, we use no umbrella terms. We source the purest of ingredients including certified organic, Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade and food grade. We hold our business to the same standards we set for ourselves, as an environmental scientist and a Nutritional therapist.
You may also notice that we do use words such as 'pure'and 'clean' which are often used in green-washing campaigns due to there being no legal definitions for these terms within the industry; however we use these terms to convey true characteristics of our products, rather than to mislead. Unfortunately with no legal definitions for these they can be used by anyone and as yet, there is no alternative way for us to describe the purity of our products.
The best way to ensure you are getting the product promised to you is by getting to know a company and building trust with certain brands.
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