Water bottles. And lots of ‘em.

I recently came across my first bottle of Dasani water in the “PlantBottle” introduced last year. CocaCola, owners of Desani, claims the new plastic material is made partially from plants and is 100 percent recyclable.

Some say it is a small step in the right direction.

Others say it’s greenwash and a step in the wrong [...]]]> What’s the one thing aliens (or whomever) are sure to find after this thing we call “civilization” has long slipped into Earth’s turbulent past?

Water bottles. And lots of ‘em.

I recently came across my first bottle of Dasani water in the “PlantBottle” introduced last year. CocaCola, owners of Desani, claims the new plastic material is made partially from plants and is 100 percent recyclable.

Some say it is a small step in the right direction.

Others say it’s greenwash and a step in the wrong direction.

Maybe the real core problem is the idea of putting water in a single-use container in the first place. But if we are going to use plastic water bottles, as we seem to do, then making them from materials with a even a slightly reduced environmental footprint is a good thing. Just don’t think it’s much more than a gesture in the right direction of what is really needed.

What do you think?

Related articles

• Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s plant-based bottles still damage the environment. (slate.com)
• Coca-Cola ramps up sustainability credentials with global division (mantrameds.wordpress.com)

In Part One we laid the foundation. Showing how the NRA uses slick marketing and well-produced multimedia to deliver a message supposedly promoting green business practices, emphasizing the advantages of appealing to the eco-minded customer and implementing sustainability best practices. The NRA says they offer the Greener Restaurant program as a solution for restaurateurs.

In Part Two we saw step-by-step how an imaginary restaurant - Green [...]]]> Over the past three days we’ve seen what we’ve been calling “A Greener Shade of Greenwash” from the National Restaurant Association (NRA).

In Part One we laid the foundation. Showing how the NRA uses slick marketing and well-produced multimedia to deliver a message supposedly promoting green business practices, emphasizing the advantages of appealing to the eco-minded customer and implementing sustainability best practices. The NRA says they offer the Greener Restaurant program as a solution for restaurateurs.

In Part Two we saw step-by-step how an imaginary restaurant - Green Wallace Wash – becomes Certified/Recognized by the NRA as a “Greener Restaurant” three times over, all by doing nothing more than paying the annual membership fee and going online and making false claims about its internal sustainability program – all endorsed by the National Restaurant Association’s Greener Restaurant program.

We discuss the National Restaurant Association’s attempt to sidestep accountability for a program with no standards, benchmarks, or verification by insisting such burden is on the shoulders of the consumer, not the organization granting the endorsement.

In Part Three we examined the Conserve Solutions Center, a pavilion planned for the exhibit floor of the upcoming National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago on May 22-25.

The Conserve Solutions Center is promoted as an opportunity for business-to-business marketing of “green business solutions,” an opportunity to display green products and services for interested restaurant owners.

We saw how “Troy,” a prospective exhibitor at the Conserve Solutions Center submitted four items for consideration: two products made of virgin plastic, one cleaning product clearly stated as made from 100% Chlorine and ethyl cellusolve (a chemical listed in California as a hazardous material), and a Styrofoam cup. When specifically asked if the products were acceptable for inclusion at the Conserve Solutions Center, a representative from the NRA replied in an email: “Your products are a great fit for the Conserve Solutions Center”.

We have established a clear pattern of the kind of cynicism, deception, and false claims that define the worst in greenwashing. It should not – indeed it can not – be the burden of the customer to benchmark and verify claims implicitly and explicitly endorsed by the organization issuing the endorsement - or the endorsement means nothing. That is a truth the semantical argument in which the National Restaurant Association would have us engage over a “recognition” vs. a “certification” program cannot dissuade.

The National Restaurant Association has undertaken a sophisticated, well-planned, and intentional greenwash campaign. It ultimately hurts those it professes to help, casting doubt and suspicion on legitimately benchmarked and verified sustainability programs.

And there’s one more thing.

Lobbying against the environment

By virtue of what we have seen over the past few days, it is clear that the National Restaurant Association is marketing sustainability as a top concern. But that’s just the veneer over which lay the true agenda.

All one need do is follow the money. The National Restaurant Association is the single largest financial contributor in the industry supporting politicians blocking any progress on climate change and energy policy reform.  They are charging $250 for businesses to access a website that gives them a fake certification that isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.  And finally, they charging up to $4,000 for businesses to claim to be green in their Conserve pavilion, regardless of how green their products are.

The NRA needs to know that the public and restaurants are smarter than that.  They deserve more than that.  The NRA needs to know that the environment is not for sale.

From attracting the growing number of eco-minded customers actively seeking out green dining options to appealing to the sincere, sustainability-minded business owner, the [...]]]>

The Conserve Solution Center - Providing real solutions or pushing greenwash?

In parts One and Two of our series A Greener Shade of Greenwash, we demonstrate how the National Restaurant Association (NRA), through their Greener Restaurant program and Conserve website, employ a compelling message aimed at restauranteurs interested in the advantages of implementing sustainability best practices in their operations.

From attracting the growing number of eco-minded customers actively seeking out green dining options to appealing to the sincere, sustainability-minded business owner, the NRA offers as a solution the Greener Restaurant program. A program that, as we see in part Two of this series, requires nothing more than payment of the $250 annual membership fee and basic computer skills to produce signed Greener Restaurant certificate and a host of marketing materials, including use of the Greener Restaurant logo. It doesn’t even require an actual restaurant to be recognized by the National Restaurant Association as a Greener Restaurant.

It is a program with no standards, benchmarking, or verification, claiming instead that such burden rests with the consumer. It is, therefore, a program that is meaningless and detrimental to the cause it claims to support. Instead of a solution, the Greener Restaurant program only creates confusion and suspicion.

Now we’ll turn our attention to the upcoming National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago on May 22-25, and NRA plans to set up a pavilion on the exhibit floor called the Conserve Solution Center. In a press release the NRA says this about the purpose of the exhibit:

“Restauranteurs looking for ways to ramp up environmental efforts and find greener business solutions will find the information, products, services, and contacts they need…”

Care to guess what kind of products and services the NRA sees as “green business solutions?” (Here’s a hint: remember that Styrofoam cup we introduced back in part one?)

In a National Restaurant Association brochure (pdf), potential exhibitors for the Conserve Solution Center are told:

“The Conserve Solutions Center is a newly focused area on the Show floor dedicated specifically to help buyers easily find ‘sustainability related’ products and services to meet operator demand for greener solutions.

Exhibit your products and services to demonstrate how you can help them meet their sustainability objectives.”

Do you have a great green product or service you’d like to show potential customers interested in adopting greater sustainability in their business operations? Great. The Conserve Solutions Center is the place for you.

Are you just interested in taking advantage of the “green angle” to sell more of your products or services to suckers that buy into this “eco” thing? Great. The Conserve Solutions Center is the place for you.

And once again, here is proof:

Our industry-insider source for this story submitted the following four products as “green business solutions” for display at the Conserve Solutions Center:

1. Environmental Catering Tray:
   Pitch: Take a look at our new sustainable catering tray.  Made from a patent pending plastic that is able to fold into a shape that fits easy into garbage cans.  It’s no longer necessary to store catering trays next to the side of a waste basket and hope that it makes its way into the landfill. Our catering trays are an inexpensive way to help your catering needs and the planet.
   Reality: This product is made from virgin plastic. The pitch suggests that the trays can easily be thrown away, and thus somehow will “help the planet.”
2. Eco-Mug:
   Pitch: Made from Plastic: stackable and extra light, can’t be washed.  Can take it with you because of its special top.  Can keep water cold for 12 hours so it’s great for cancelling the need for ice or refrigerators.
   Reality: A mug made from virgin plastic that can’t be washed. This is green how? Because it theoretically saves the need for a few ice cubes, but hardly “cancels the need for ice or refrigerators.”
3. SoGreen Cleaner:
   Pitch: Ultra slim container let’s you take it on the go.  All plastic packaging and lasts for 30 uses.  Special six pack package are recyclable.  Made entirely from natural chlorine and butyl cellusolve.
   Reality: It’s getting pretty blatant. A product packaged in plastic made entirely from Chlorine and butyl cellusolve. Chlorine is a common chemical, and one that carries with it significant risks when used improperly – especially in a restaurant. In any case, it is hardly a new, green solution for business owners. And what exactly is “natural” chlorine? Then there is butyl cellusolve, our second ingrediant. Another fairly common chemical found in cleaning products, but with a definitively shady record. So much so that California has listed it as a hazardous substance. Studies show that butyl cellusolve can cause testicular damage and birth defects in animals. In humans it is known to irritate mucus membranes and cause liver and kidney damage. Most certainly not a “new, green solution.”
4. Hot EarthCup:
   Pitch: 100% Recyclable Polystyrene Foam.  Recylable throughout the U.S.  Insulates Hot Drinks.
   Reality: It’s a Styrofoam cup! The kind that have been clogging landfills for decades, as we discuss in part One. True, polystyrene is technically recyclable, but it is most often not, because the process is slow and normally not cost effective. In fact, most companies, including giants like Wal-Mart, are urging suppliers to use less Styrofoam in packaging and other products. There is little conceivable way a cup made from polystyrene foam is a solution for greater sustainability worthy of exhibition at something called a “Conserve Solutions Center”.

The following graphic of an email thread displays how “Troy,” a prospective exhibitor, asked NRA representative Brad Putz to review the submitted products and confirm that they qualify for inclusion in the Conserve Solutions Center. Brad’s response?

“Troy – Your products are a great fit for the Conserve Solutions Center.”

What does it mean for the sustainability-seeking business owner?

Clearly there are no real standards for a product or service to be included in the Conserve Solutions Center pavilion at the upcoming National Restaurant Association Restaurant Hotel-Motel Show in Chicago. That is not to say there aren’t legitimate green service providers and product manufacturers interested in displaying their wares. It does mean that it doesn’t matter to the National Restaurant Association.

As we’ve previously seen with the Greener Restaurant program in parts One and Two of this series, a program promoting sustainability best practices without benchmarks or verification is the very definition of greenwash.

With the Conserve Solutions Center, it is just more of the same greenwash.

Tomorrow’s conclusion discusses the nature of political lobbying efforts from the National Restaurant Association.

The cup is made of polyethylene, a material that is not compostable. To claim a product is compostable, it must pass the ASTM D6400 and D6868 test, and be certified by the [...]]]> Georgia-Pacific claims their “PerfecTouch” line of plastic cups are compostable (see second bullet point in this online listing). While there is a bit of a qualification in that listing, our whistle-blower on this story says the cup is also described in print catalogs with no qualification regarding its compostability whatsoever.

The cup is made of polyethylene, a material that is not compostable. To claim a product is compostable, it must pass the ASTM D6400 and D6868 test, and be certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute. The PerfcTouch cup made by Georgia-Pacific does not meet any of these qualifications.

Our reader/watchdog summed it up best: ”GP (Georigia-Pacific) is falsely advertising this product and completely misleading consumers which cause bad soil quality, consumer confusion, and is plain-and-simple green washing”.

If you have a tip for us, please let us know.

– Editor’s note: this post is a followup to our recent post on the “Fur is Green” campaign by the Fur Council of Canada –

It’s really not worth the rebuttal, but I just can’t help but comment on the “Fur is Green” campaign by The Fur Council of Canada. Their desperation to appear hip, timely or relevant couldn’t be more transparent.

Claiming that fur and fur-trimmed products are “green”, “ecological”, or “environmental” is the equivalent [...]]]> Guest post by Lesley Fox

– Editor’s note: this post is a followup to our recent post on the “Fur is Green” campaign by the Fur Council of Canada –

It’s really not worth the rebuttal, but I just can’t help but comment on the “Fur is Green” campaign by The Fur Council of Canada. Their desperation to appear hip, timely or relevant couldn’t be more transparent.

Claiming that fur and fur-trimmed products are “green”, “ecological”, or “environmental” is the equivalent of saying, “have a nice day”. There are no restrictions or regulations on using these terms and the fur industry has no independent endorsement or certification of its so-called commitment to the environment or “eco” practices.

The whole process of turning an animal into a fur coat or trim is extremely energy intensive. It involves soaking, washing, fleshing, turning, tanning, extraction, wringing, drying, cleaning, plucking, shearing, trimming, shaving, buffing, drying and finishing. Don’t forget about all of the chemical treatments necessary to keep pelts from decaying or collecting fleas! Plus, it’s a global product that relies on fossil fuels to be transported all over the world. And if you already own a fur, the industry recommends you store it in a temperature-controlled vault during the warm summer.

The fur industry knows this whole campaign is a farce. In their own recent publications (2007) they admitted that China, the largest manufacturer of fur products and textiles made with fur, was considering imposing an extremely punitive value added tax on fur dressers and tanneries because they are considered “industries causing excessive pollution”.

Trapping and fur farms

Animals killed for their fur come from the wild or fur farms.

The trapping and removing of millions of wildlife from the wild is very disruptive to our eco-system. Animals are not chosen because they are “surplus”, weak, sick or diseased. They are killed because they happen to be the 10 or 12 species that have nice, thick fur that will sell at auction.

The fur trade will claim that no endangered species are used in their fur products, as if this was a commendable feature. But refraining from intentionally harming or killing endangered species is the LAW, and following the law is a bare minimum requirement of all industries! The truth is, traps cannot distinguish endangered species from non-endangered ones. There is no sign for endangered animals, like eagles or swift foxes, to warn them: “Hey, if you are an endangered species do not step here.”

Fur farms are no better. Animals such as minks and foxes are often raised on large-scale operations for their fur. Animal waste, runoff, water consumption, transportation, housing materials/lighting and feed crops are also extremely energy intensive.

Fur is NOT a fabric. It is an unnecessary and cruel product. It is skin ripped off a once breathing, feeling animal. There is nothing “green” or “ecological” about cruelty.

————

Lesley Fox is the Executive Director for the non-profit anti-fur group, Fur-Bearer Defenders. www.banlegholdtraps.com

Image credit: Eric Bégin, courtesy Flickr