From Guest Blogger Sabahat: Time to Give an Unwelcoming Welcome to Whitewashing’s New Partner in Crime: Greenwashing
In recent years, we’ve all seen a drastic increase in these Green terms when it comes to technology :
“Energy efficient”
“Lead Free monitors”
“Eco Friendly [Can be Recycled]
“Sustainable”
At first, The frequent use of these very green terms were a pleasant surprise for all of us, got slightly amusing with time and finally gave us all the ultimate reality check, the Bogus check.
GreenWashing, as the term suggests, is quite similar to the concept of whitewashing, it is “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.” Usually observed in day to day products, this tactic is fast being adopted by Tech companies claiming to be eco friendly when in actuality, the truth is pretty sour.
1) That well known Greenwash : Lead Free Monitors :
When flat panel computer screens took over the market kicking tubed screens to the curb, advertisements for these new screens screamt “lead-free” ( tubed computers contained quite some amount of lead in them). It was the ultimate revolution towards a greener environment.
The Sour truth :
While the flat panel computer screens were lead free, companies failed to mention that they had now accustomed themselves to using lamps, that unfortunately contained Mercury, a highly toxic chemical.
2) That well known Greenwash : Energy Efficient :
Electronics with this label claim to significantly reduce the amount of energy consumption which in turn contributes to the sustainable growth of the environment.
The Sour truth :
The fact that a specific hardware is energy efficient is not such a big deal after-all, research shows that 80% of the energy consumption over the life-cycle of the computer occurs in production – before you even get it home, and what’s worse, these labels mislead people into thinking that the products have low energy impacts when really the energy used in making them is still very high, furthermore this encourages customers to buy “energy efficient” computers, But taking into consideration the the energy needed to make the new ones, sticking around with the older one a little longer will contribute towards the lower overall carbon footprint.
3) That well known Greenwash : Eco Friendly [Can be recycled] :
Considering the pile of E waste that the world has to deal with everyday, this news is pretty much awesome, and many companies actually deal with recycling and refurbishing electronics. Although “Green” electronics is relatively a new concept for consumers and companies alike, we have been observing a drastic increase in the usage of eco friendly labels on components and electronics.
The Sour truth :
The frequent use of these very vague environmental jargon like “Eco Friendly” and “sustainable” opens doors to a lot of questions, how exactly is this product eco friendly? If it implies that it can be recycled, are we responsible for it’s recycling or do we have to return it to the firm for recycling? What part of this complex gadget can be recycled? Often these false labels mean nothing but are simply associated with electronics for the purpose of Greenwashing.
What an extensive Research by Terrachoice revealed, ( brace yourselves, this might be a shocker ) :
So Terrachoice, a pioneer in growing the world’s most sustainable companies, did a detailed study on the environmental claims made by companies in the North American market, (their whitepaper is quite an interesting read). When they delved on the environmental claims made by electronic companies, they came up with the following results :
1) Where the overall number of “greener” products increased by 73% between 2009 and
2010, in consumer electronics there was an increase of only 13%.
2) There was a high rate of greenwashing observed in..well pretty much all consumer electronics.
3) The sin of False labels was committed by more than half ( 51.8%) of the companies engaged in the electronics sector, furthermore, almost all of these “False labels” were self generated and intended to create the appearance of a third party endorsement. Most of these labels ( 34 out of 45) were simply seal like stickers with various vague jargon like “eco”, “sustainable”, “environmentally- friendly” and so on.
So what now?
Most of these companies are likely to continue painting their walls green in attempt to attract customers but the good news is,nowadays authentic Green companies emphasize their green efforts with a proof, by attaching a brochure or a booklet detailing concrete details or having their own website dedicated to pictures and events related to the environmental friendly efforts. Also, companies can attach seals of multi attribute standards such as IEEE 1680, and single attribute verifications such as UL Environment’s Environmental claim validation, both of which will be extremely valuable for serious green marketers.
Do you suspect any company of greenwashing? What are some of the cues that you use to figure out whether a company is real or fake in terms of it’s green efforts? What efforts can be undertaken to tackle this problematic issue? Give us your opinions and feedback on @ibremarketing !
Sources :
-Electronics Take Back Coalition.. 2013. Green Design vs Greenwashing. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.electronicstakeback.com/green-design-vs-greenwashing-2/. [Accessed 19 March 14].
-Terrachoice. 2010. Sins of Greenwashing. [ONLINE] Available at:http://sinsofgreenwashing.org/index35c6.pdf. [Accessed 21 March 14]
Sabahat write for IBRemarketing, IT Actu blog.
