The Cost of Greenwashing

I spent some time this past week looking through retail-store fliers and websites in search of boxing week deals. One in particular caught my eye, which I think illustrates the risks of making products seem greener than they are...
Going through Canadian Tire's website, I noticed that the company has replaced the heading “Garbage Bags, with “biodegradable garbage and recycling bags,” which is where I found this week's sale item, Hero-brand garbage bags. At best, the new heading is a gross exaggeration since a quick look at the product description reveals that these are plain, old, disposable garbage bags. Indeed, of the 16 bags under the heading, only 1 is biodegradable while 4 are transparent, meaning they can be used instead of recycling bins a handful of Canadian cities. Not that there's anything green or new about transparent bags.

At worst, the heading misleads consumers into thinking they are buying sustainable products by playing off the similarities between the words “recycling” and “recyclable.” Most Canadian cities do not recycle bags, so your used bottles, cans, newspapers may go to the recycling facility, but the bag will still en up in the landfill.

This is one of the more glaring examples of Canadian Tire's recent effort to look green without making a real effort.  Others include efforts to promote so-called low-flow shower heads that have been mandated by Federal law in the United States since 1992 (to be fair, CT does sell a few ultra-low-flow models but these are buried deep in the website).
 

The cost: “greenwashing” can dupe customers into buying a non-green product, but it's a risky gamble. Companies that underestimate their customers' intelligence risk negatively impacting the trust relationship they've built through years of good business practices, not to mention expensive branding and marketing. Watchdogs such as Terra Choice, Greenpeace, Choice the University of Oregon and countless blogs are quick to single out companies that claim to be greener than they are.  It can be tempting to save money by investing in marketing rather than substantive organizational changes, but one must weigh the short-term gains against the potential costs to a company's reputation and credibility.

The alternative: Canadian Tire's major competitors Home Depot and Rona began their green shifts several years ago by conducting life-cycle analysis' on dozens of products to measure their overall impacts, and have challenged suppliers to provide more efficient, less wasteful options. Their marketing campaigns are effective because they are based on (apparently legitimate) numbers. With its competitors so far ahead, Canadian Tire would have a hard time becoming a green leader in the sector, but it could stay off the green watchdogs' lists by investing in a green strategy axed on substantive change instead of marketing. Product life-cycle assessments and a transparent sustainability report would be go a long way to building a legitimate green reputation.