Environmental Messages in the Marketplace

United States Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics
Washington, DC 20460

August 1993

EPA/742/F-93/003

Background

Global issues such as climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion, national news stories like the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and local issues such as drinking water contamination, have increased public awareness and concern about environmental matters. Marketers have responded by promoting the "positive" environmental attributes of products through claims used in advertising and on product labels. Prior to this shift in marketing, most marketplace messages concerning the environment found on product labels took the form of warnings and information disclosure as required by government programs designed to safeguard human health and the environment.

Environmental marketing claims -- such as "environmentally friendly," "degradable," and "recyclable" -- often confuse consumers as to their actual meaning or implication. Some states have begun to regulate the use of environmental marketing claims. A task force of state Attorneys General has been active in identifying and prosecuting companies using such claims in a deceptive manner under state consumer protection laws and environmental marketing claims laws. Private third party environmental certification programs have also emerged; they award seals-of-approval, certify the accuracy of environmental claims made, or disclose product life-cycle information.

At the federal level, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for enforcing consumer protection and truth-in-advertising laws. In July 1992, the FTC, which has also sought corrective enforcement actions for deceptive environmental claims, addressed this problem by establishing voluntary guidelines for the use of environmental marketing claims. These guidelines represent FTC enforcement policy on the issue but do not preempt state laws or regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been involved in the environmental marketing area through a number of activities:

How are Environmental Labels Used?

The environmental attributes of products (and their manufacturing processes) can be represented in the marketplace in various ways, including:

Third Party Environmental Certification Programs

Various private groups and state governments are establishing or considering the use of third party seal or certification programs in the United States. For example, Scientific Certification Systems certifies particular single attributes and is initiating a "report card" on the environmental attributes of participating products. California and Vermont have mandatory negative labeling programs for hazardous and toxic materials. Due to the independent development of such programs, no uniform method exists among the programs on either of award criteria for seals-of-approval or certification, or on the best way to communicate environmental impact information to the public.

Outside the United States, environmental labeling programs are usually run under the auspices of government agencies. Most of the existing programs, including those instituted by Germany, Canada, the Nordic Council, the European Community, France, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Austria, use seals-of-approval. Generally, the programs operate on the assumption that better information will enable consumers to make more informed purchasing decisions. An environmental marketing message communicated through a label can focus consumer buying power on specific environmental concerns, providing a clear incentive for manufacturers to change to more benign materials and production processes.

Groups Involved in Environmental Marketing Issues

Groups involved in environmental marketing issue include the following:

Snapshot of Recent U.S. Government Activity

1991: The EPA enacted an interagency task force with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Office of Consumer Affairs (OCA) to develop a coordinated federal response to the problems presented by the inconsistent and sometimes irresponsible use of environmental marketing claims.

EPA also published proposed guides and collected comments on various approaches for the use of the terms "recyclable" and "recycled," as well as the chasing arrows recycling symbol.

1992: In July, the FTC, with strong support from EPA and OCA, issued guidance on the use of environmental marketing claims. Designed to increase the clarity and accuracy of marketplace messages about product environmental attributes, the FTC guidelines are aimed at decreasing the potential for consumer deception.

In October, EPA staff met with representatives of various interested parties to discuss several labeling issues:

The results of the meeting will be used in briefing the new EPA Administrator on environmental marketing issues. In December 1992, EPA staff met with representatives of Environmental Choice Program, the Canadian Government's official third party environmental certification program. The meeting was designed to acquaint both parties with environmental labeling issues related to harmonization.

1993: In the spring, EPA issued an evaluation of environmental marketing claims in the United States. A summary report on the status of third party environmental labeling domestically and internationally will be released during the fall. By winter 1993, EPA plans to publish an evaluation of the use of life-cycle assessment and other assessment methodologies in third party environmental labeling programs.

For Additional Information:

Publications pertaining to the use of environmental labels in the marketplace are available from the following sources:

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Last Updated: January 4, 1996