There’s been a huge increase in interest among consumers around environmentally conscious products, and companies have a real financial incentive to appear sustainable. Many companies have been accused of greenwashing—making claims that their product or service has a positive impact on the environment. According to Capital Monitor, many of the largest consumer-oriented companies, including McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Walmart, Uniqlo, Hefty, Unilever, and Keurig, have been accused of and sued over greenwashing. After watching the documentary, The Recycling Myth, I would add Terracycle to the list.
Greenwashing harms the environment in that it reduces the pressure on companies to produce more sustainable products, allowing for even greater amounts of new plastic production, while misleading the public who want to buy sustainable products.
Also, readers should be wary of bioplastics and compostable labeled products. Adding the words “bio” and “compostable” can fool the consumer into believing these products will biodegrade. According to Beyond Plastics, “bio-based plastic refers to plastics made not from fossil fuel building blocks but from plant material, such as corn, sugar beets or potato starch, yet a host of chemicals are added to give the product plastic-like characteristics. Bio-based/biodegradable plastics and conventional plastics are similarly toxic.” Compostable packaging/food containers rely on toxic per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to repel water and oil. PFAS is a class of “forever chemicals” that is linked to serious health problems. On top of that, most bioplastics and compostable packaging will not break down in a backyard bin; they can only be composted by a high-heat industrial composting facility.
Recycling is one way to prevent burdening our landfills, oceans, and the planet with waste. Even though there’s considerable room for improvement, a pound of recycled material is a pound less that ends up in our landfill. Plastics, however, are not effectively recycled and the focus should be on recycling metal, glass and paper. In addition to recycling, we can begin holding companies accountable for the environmental impacts of their products. That is what bills H878 and S572, an Act to save recycling costs in the Commonwealth, represent: manufacturers and importers are held responsible for the environmental impacts of their products throughout their life cycle. It is essential that you contact your legislator whenever you see a bill that supports environmental issues.
As a consumer, you have many ways to reduce your waste. Think reuse and refuse, which conserves resources, reduces the waste stream, produces less pollution, and slows down the manufacturing of plastic products. Instead of using a plastic produce bag, bring a cloth or mesh bag to obtain your produce, carry a reusable water bottle, buy items in bulk and with less packaging, compost your food waste, check where you can bring hard-to-recycle items such as tires and research, what your Material Recovery Facility accepts and doesn’t accept. If manufacturers are only interested in making a buck regardless of the harm their products produce, and not willing to change their packaging and products, it is left to us, the public, to demand change before our rivers and oceans are clogged with waste.
