Spot Greenwashing

Now more than ever people seem to be seeking ways to make conscious decisions to limit their impact on the environment. Due to this many companies have come up with different techniques or strategies to show how they are changing their ways and limiting their negative impact on the environment. Unfortunately, a lot of these companies (particularly clothing companies) aren’t actually changing as much as they claim or aren’t limiting their impact, rather just doing the bare minimum. The “Patriot Act” by Hasan Minhaj offers a great episode that exposes just how fast fashion industry, who claim to be environmentally conscious, are not actually as sustainable as they claim. This concept of marketing to show how sustainable and environmentally conscious the company is without actually living by it has become known as greenwashing. But how can you tell if the company is true in their intents versus if they are actually just implementing green washing strategies to keep you buying from them.

Unfortunately, to really know requires researching a lot into the company. But there are a few quick ways to identify if the company is greenwashing or not. Below are a list of a few ways to identify if the company is being authentic in their commitment to be more sustainable, or if in fact they are just using marketing strategies without actually changing their tactics.

1. They use broad terms such as recycled content, organic, or eco-friendly but there lacks further information explaining how that is, why it is a more sustainable method, or what percentage the product is actually recycled or eco-friendly.

2. Even if the product contains a high percentage of recycled or organic material, there still is lack of information on the process used to ensure that product was created. An example could be, the product is 100% cotton organic, but still uses more water to produce than another type of materials.

3. The company only commits to changing single component of the company but doesn’t demonstrate other ways to be more sustainable. This can include not changing other facets of the company such as changing the supply chain to be more sustainable, limiting their packaging materials to ship/deliver products or something like decreasing water usage.

4. There is a lack of sustainable certification or evidence provided by the company to show proof of sustainability. This can include a lack of reports or data demonstrating their impact.

5. There is a major lack of transparency. It is difficult to identify what materials have been used, the breakdown of the entire supply chain, or how much of the product is actually made using sustainable practices or materials.

6. They promote using organic and recycled materials but don’t increase the use of alternative materials or practices in the process. As well as not expanding the use of these materials and practices into other products.

7. The language that is used is hard to understand. They use terms that don’t make it easy to understand how sustainable or eco-friendly the product is.

8. Lack of information around their supply chain. If a brand claims to be sustainable but there isn’t information on where the product was produced, how much of the proceeds went to creating the material, nor the manner in which the product was created, there’s a high chance its greenwashing.

And these are just some of the more obvious signs. Of course that’s not to say don’t go buy that new shirt you like, but rather to just be aware the next you go shopping. Try to spot if the company is really being sincere on their impact or if it’s just a new marketing strategy to make consumers feel good when they buy a new product.