Greenwashing

The 7 sins of greenwashing

Back in 2007, the agency TerraChoice defined the 7 sins of greenwashing:

 

1. Hidden relationships
Just because a product contains, for example, environmentally friendly materials does not make the product sustainable. The entire production must be taken into consideration here. If, for example, chemicals and large amounts of waste water are used, the product is not sustainable.

 

2. Lack of documentation
When products are sold as being environmentally friendly and sustainable, but there is no documentation to back it up.

 

3. Unclear communication
Words like "green" and "natural" are not always explained and can therefore confuse the customer. An example here is for example when you call a product 100% natural but contains arsenic, uranium and mercury for example (these are natural substances) which are toxic.

 

4. Fake stickers
When products get stickers, pictures or even homemade concepts and/or branding schemes, but there is no team in it.

 

5. Irrelevance
Even if some labels are real, they can still be irrelevant. An example of this can be when a product is labeled "CFC-free", even though CFCs are banned today, which is why the product must not contain them at all.

 

6. The lesser of two evils
Even if a product has become more sustainable, it is still environmentally harmful, like for example organic cigarettes.

 

7. False statements
Products that are sold with false claims for example by giving them labels they have not been assigned at all.

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What does Coredesign do?

At Coredesign, we all care about the environment. This is also why we have become ISO-certified according to the international standards within, respectively. environment and quality – ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. For this, we collaborate with ECOHouse, which ensures that all documentation is in order and we comply with all regulations. ECOHouse also has a requirement for its environmentally certified customers that they must try to avoid greenwashing.

 

In addition, we have drawn up a Code of Conduct for our suppliers, which includes, among other things, that our suppliers must strive to reduce waste and emissions to air, soil and water, handle, store and dispose of environmentally hazardous waste in an environmentally sound manner and contribute to recycling of materials and products. We also obtain product documentation for all products to ensure what the materials and production have been behind the product.