Building “Green” and “Going Green” have become buzz words in the marketplace, and to ensure that those advertising green are actually green, the Federal Trade Commission issued a “Guides for the use of environmental marketing claims.”

Compliance under these guides is imperative to running a successful Green product campaign.

The guides apply to “green claims,” which are defined as follows:

labeling, advertising, promotional materials and all other forms of marketing, whether asserted directly or by implication, through words, symbols, emblems, logos, depictions, product brand names, or through any other means, including marketing through digital or electronic means, such as the Internet or electronic mail.

The guides are very broad in scope but do not carry the “force and effect of law.”

Here is a summarized listing of the guides:

General Principles (§260.6):

a.    Qualifications and Disclosures: need to be “clear, prominent and understandable to prevent deception.” Language used needs to be clear in meaning and type size, you also cannot use contrary claims that would undercut the effectiveness of the claim made.

b.    Distinction between benefits of product, package and service: environmental claim needs to refer to the product, packaging, or service. For example if you use “recyclable” then the product must be reasonably and easily recycled.

c.    Overstatement of environmental attribute: should not expressly or imply an environmental claim in a manner that overstates that attribute or benefit.

d.    Comparative claims: Advertiser needs to verify the comparison and the basis for comparison needs to be clear to avoid deception.

Guide to specific Environmental marketing claims (§260.7): These claims must comply with this guide and also comply with the general principles.

a.    General environmental benefit claims: “It is deceptive to misrepresent, directly or by implication, that a product, package or service offers a general environmental benefit.” Broad environmental claims should be avoided or qualified to prevent deception.

b.    Degradable/biodegradable/photodegradable: a producer cannot expressly or imply that a product is one of these three and the claim has to be based on scientific findings.

c.    Compostable: here too a product needs to be backed up by scientific evidence that it will break down into usable compost in order to use this marking. The product must be compostable in a home pile or device.

d.    Recyclable: a product cannot expressly or imply that the product or its packaging is recyclable unless it can be collected and put through an established recycling program. The product must be clear as to what parts of the product can be recycled, if only portions then they must be clearly labeled.

e.    Recycled content: this claim can only be made when materials making up the product have been diverted from the solid waste stream, either during the manufacturing process (pre-consumer) or after consumer use (post-consumer). Recycled does not include recycled raw material or reconditioned and remanufactured components.

f.    Source reduction: a product cannot claim that it or its package has been reduced in weight, volume or toxicity unless this is absolutely true and verifiable.

g.    Refillable: to be refillable the package or product must provide a collection and return of it for refill or the later refill of the product can be done by the consumer with another sold product. If it is up to the consumer to find a way to refill it then the claim is unqualified.

h.    Ozone safe and ozone friendly: if a product contains an ozone-depleting substance it cannot make this type of claim.

The Gist

All in all, a producer cannot (and should not) be misleading, deceptive or ambiguous in its labeling of products.

More in depth versions of these rules are available at the FTC’s web site http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/grnrule/guides980427.htm, along with examples of what is proper and improper.