Oxo-biodegradable : Greenwashing? Absolument!

Le National Advertising Division (NAD), un organisme chargé d’évaluer la véracité de la publicité aux États-Unis vient de recommander à GP Plastics Corp, le producteur de sacs oxo-biodégradables, de modifier ou de cesser de diffuser certaines fausses affirmations concernant leurs produits.

The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (NAD) recently recommended that GP Plastics Corp., the maker of PolyGreen® plastic bags for the newspaper industry, modify or discontinue certain advertising claims for its PolyGreen plastic bags.

---

From the N.A.D.’s decision:

• The N.A.D. recommended that the advertiser discontinue its claim that the PolyGreen plastic bags are “100% oxo-biodegradable.” In addition, because the claims of “biodegradability” were not adequately substantiated by competent and reliable evidence, N.A.D. recommended that GP Plastics modify its advertising to avoid conveying the message that PolyGreen bags will completely or rapidly biodegrade in landfills.
• N.A.D. further recommended that the advertiser discontinue claims such as “eco-friendly” and “environmentally friendly” as well as the promise of a “green tomorrow” and “saving the planet” as these broad claims promise far reaching environmental benefits that overstate the evidence with respect to the degradation of the plastic bags.
• Finally because there was no testing of the PolyGreen plastic bags or evidence demonstrating that product is compatible with the traditional plastic bag recycling stream, N.A.D. recommended that the advertiser discontinue its recyclable claims.

Ci-dessous un article intéressant publié sur le blog du New York Times concernant leur décision de renoncer aux sacs oxo-biodégradables pour la distribution de leurs journaux.

The plastic PolyGreen newspaper bags that The New York Times had planned to switch to next year should not be advertised as “eco-friendly,” according to a recommendation (summarized here) from the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

Various environmentally-friendly claims by GP Plastics, the maker and advertisers of the PolyGreen bags, had been challenged by the Mexico Plastic Company, a rival maker of newspaper bags. These include the claim that the bags are “oxo-biodegradable,” a term defined by the Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics Institute as “conventional plastics … to which is added a proprietary mixture that accelerates the breakdown of the chemical structure of the plastic.” (A longer explanation is here.)

The Times said today that it would not use the bags until more research was done.

“Until further analysis can be conducted and verified, we have decided not to move to an oxo-biodegradable bag,” said Abbe Serphos, a Times spokeswoman, in an e-mail message. “We will continue to assess all options and to utilize our current bag, which is fully recyclable and made from a high percentage of recycled plastic.”

---