Your purchasing choices affect more environmental issues than just recycling and resource conservation. In addition to labeling about the recyclability of a product or package, you also see:
- Other single-attribute labeling, such as “biodegradable” or “not tested on animals”
- Advertisement of a corporation’s financial support of a particular environmental or social organization or cause
- Promotion of a corporation’s environmental, personnel or social policies
- Third-party certification, seals of approval or recommendations.
You may want to scrutinize any such claims. See if independent observers can back a corporation’s positive self assessment. The Federal Trade Commission as well as several consumer information and environmental organizations can be good resources. The commission has taken action in a number of cases involving alleged deceptive or unsubstantiated environmental advertising claims.
Questions or complaints about suspicious marketing claims can be made with the FTC Consumer Response Center at (202) 326-2222. The Internet and the local library are good places to launch your own search for the facts.
When considering independent, third-party recommendations, make sure their criteria mesh with your own values.
Some third-party consumer and environmental groups – Green Seal is the most prominent in the United States – look beyond recycling to what is called “lifecycle analysis” of the environmental impact of a product from extraction of the raw materials, through production and use to final disposal or recycling. The impact of recycling is factored into such analysis, but sometimes takes a back seat to other environmental concerns. A household cleaner in a 100% post-consumer paperboard box may rank lower than one with less post-consumer fiber because the product is high in acidity or contains volatile organic compounds.