Golf tees, food containers, paper plates, shopping bags, plastic additives and rebar caps to prevent construction workers from being punctured on the job. This is either the weirdest shopping list ever, or it’s just one of the products at the center of the FTC’s latest enforcement action to ensure companies’ environmental claims are truthful and substantiated.
Five of the cases involved green claims for products made with additives advertised as making plastics completely biodegradable – even in landfills, where there is a lot of waste, little biodegradation occurs.The lawsuits challenge alleged deceptive representations by companies that make the additives in question and Businesses selling finished products misleadingly guarantee that these items are biodegradable.
According to the FTC complaint against ECM Biofilms of Ohio, the company sold an additive called Master Batch Pellets that other companies purchased for use in their own production. ECM claims its additives will make the plastic “completely biodegradable within nine months to five years.” Additionally, ECM claims that materials treated with its additives have been tested and proven biodegradable by ASTM D5511, a standard familiar to the plastics industry. In addition, ECM issues its own “biodegradability certificate” and “certificate of assurance” to convince industry customers (and ultimately consumers) that its additives are effective.
But according to the complaint, plastics containing ECM additives do not completely break down and break down into elements found in nature within a relatively short period of time after conventional disposal or landfill disposal. The FTC also questioned the specific “9 months to 5 years” time frame for ECM advertised in its promotional materials. Additionally, the FTC said the testing methods ECM relied on, including ASTM D5511, did not support the company’s marketing claims and did not simulate conditions in a landfill or other disposal facility. Another allegation in the complaint is that ECM violated the law by providing other companies with the “means and tools” to make deceptive green claims about its own products. Cases against ECM will be heard by administrative law judges.
The FTC also announced two settlements with companies accused of making deceptive biodegradability claims for products manufactured with ECM additives. According to a complaint against Seattle-based American Plastics Manufacturing Co., the company made deceptive biodegradability claims for its plastic shopping bags. The agency also claims that Marlborough, Mass.-based CHAMP sells plastic golf tees online and in retail stores whose biodegradability claims the FTC found were misleading.
The agency reached two other settlements with companies selling products containing similar additives sold by different manufacturers. Clear Choice Housewares in Leominster, Mass., also doing business as Farber Ware EcoFresh, sells reusable plastic food containers that it claims are biodegradable. How can you make them biodegradable? It’s a substance called Eco Pure, produced by Bio-Tec Environmental, according to the company. But the Federal Trade Commission charged Clear Choice with no evidence to support its claim that its products “biodegrade rapidly in landfills.”
Carnie Cap, Inc., of East Moline, Ill., makes similar degradability claims for its plastic rebar caps, which are made with an additive called Eco-One and marketed by Ecologic. According to the FTC, Carnie Cap’s “100% biodegradable” claim promoted on its website and in its nationwide distributors is not based on reliable scientific evidence.
The FTC has more green initiatives, including a settlement with Michigan-based AJM Packaging, which makes paper plates, cups, bowls, napkins and more. Does this name sound familiar? In 1994, the company settled with the Federal Trade Commission over alleged deceptive environmental claims on Green Label paper trays.
At the heart of the new lawsuit is AJM’s representation that some of its most popular paper plates, grocery bags, lunch bags, and lawn and leaf bags are biodegradable and compostable. The company also claims its paper plates are recyclable. AJM goes a step further, stating in the brochure that its products are “SFI and ‘Cedar Grove’ approved, which means our products are ‘renewable, recyclable and compostable.'”
Not so fast, says the Federal Trade Commission. According to the complaint, AJM has no reliable scientific evidence to support its claim that its products will biodegrade (in other words, completely break down and break down into elements found in nature) within a year of being thrown into a landfill. The lawsuit also claims the company does not have proper evidence to support its compostability commitments. What about AJM’s recyclability statement for paper plates? Most recycling facilities do not recycle paper plates, so this statement is also deceptive.
AJM’s settlement includes a $450,000 civil penalty.
For compliance resources, visit the Business Center’s Environmental Marketing page.
Next: 6 tips from the FTC’s latest green case
