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.

This story is exclusive to TheGreenWashingBlog.com

Four decades ago, around the time of the first Earth Day, a person wouldn’t think twice about tossing a styrofoam cup in the trash after a single gulp of water. Most people wouldn’t have a notion what they should even think twice about. After all, there’s plenty where that came from.

These days most people are at least vaguely aware that with the casual toss of a styrofoam [...]]]> Fake certification program results in confusion and misrepresentation

This story is exclusive to TheGreenWashingBlog.com

Four decades ago, around the time of the first Earth Day, a person wouldn’t think twice about tossing a styrofoam cup in the trash after a single gulp of water. Most people wouldn’t have a notion what they should even think twice about. After all, there’s plenty where that came from.

These days most people are at least vaguely aware that with the casual toss of a styrofoam cup goes an enormous amount of resources. Resources suddenly turned into unyielding waste. Many might still toss the cup, but people are generally smarter about “being green,” for lack of a better phrase, than they were forty years ago.

That’s what makes the National Restaurant Association’s new “Greener Restaurants” program so insidious.

TheGreenWashingBlog has acquired insider information and evidence that show how the National Restaurant Association (NRA) plays on (and hides behind) that increased consumer awareness – to the detriment of both customer and business owner. We will reveal over the next several days how the NRA offers to its members what is essentially a bogus green restaurant certification program. Though the NRA calls it a “recognition” program to deflect the responsibility and integrity of actual certification, we will show how any such distinction is the same as that between green and greenwash.

With no benchmarks or verifiable standards this is a program that allows both unscrupulous and well-meaning restaurant owners to claim adherence to sustainability practices in their business, and to display that claim to the public. The scheme muddies the waters between what is green and what is greenwash, leaving the diner hoping to patronize  a verified sustainably-run establishment out in the cold. It’s hit or miss at best because all it really takes to be endorsed by the National Restaurant Association as a “greener restaurant” is green. Money. Cold, hard cash.

And it all starts with exactly the right message…

Pushing the right emotional buttons

If you’re concerned about sustainability issues and making greener choices, you’ll probably appreciate the following video. It says all the right things and makes all the right points.

If you’re a little on the fence over whether all the “green” stuff is just  a fad or worth the time (and money), the video might convince you otherwise.

It’s a pretty slick video. It’s where it ultimately leads that is the problem, and is where the journey begins. But like that styrofoam cup (which we will visit again later in this story), the spirit of the message the video conveys will soon be tossed aside and turned against itself in a cynical attempt to turn green into greenwash.

Tomorrow we’ll dig into how the program works.

However, while attending an event outside their corporate headquarters in Burlington, Vermont, I saw this photo.  I don’t believe any company can run without waste, but this picture is at the very least, worth a chuckle.

With all due respect, Seventh Generation could probably reduce their waste some.

However Sylvania took it to the next level by offering an “EcoBright” bulb for headlights.  Good rule of thumb: if it says “eco” in the name, it’s probably not.

The bulb apparently reduces watt usage by 9-21%.  However, the watts used to power headlights generated by the alternator in your car is negligable at best.  Therefore this [...]]]> The CFL (compact fluorescent lights) thing is really overdone.  That is the go-to go-green tip and the first thing people say when defending their greenness.

However Sylvania took it to the next level by offering an “EcoBright” bulb for headlights.  Good rule of thumb: if it says “eco” in the name, it’s probably not.

The bulb apparently reduces watt usage by 9-21%.  However, the watts used to power headlights generated by the alternator in your car is negligable at best.  Therefore this wattage savings is hardly helpful, let alone “eco friendly”.

Read more at Sylvania’s website.

Coca-Cola is not “green” or eco-friendly in any way.  We looked into the company’s eco record and found the following.

The pros: We found this program, a collaboration between Coke and Ecoist that seeks to repurpose misprinted bottles and cans.

They developed a new can that uses 5% less aluminum, saving 15,000 metric [...]]]> This example of greenwashing is not as disgusting as some we’ve seen.  But as the user from the Greenwashing index suggested, the implication of this ad is the troublesome part.

Coca-Cola is not “green” or eco-friendly in any way.  We looked into the company’s eco record and found the following.

The pros: We found this program, a collaboration between Coke and Ecoist that seeks to repurpose misprinted bottles and cans.

They developed a new can that uses 5% less aluminum, saving 15,000 metric tons of aluminum every year.  The down side: it is being used in the UK only.

The cons: Although Coke released a new “eco-friendly” bottle made in part from molasses and sugar, they plan to test the new packaging in their Dasani bottle water line.  Does anyone else smell an oxymoron?  Bottled water is one of the biggest affronts to environmental well being in the 21st century.

Their corporate website has a lot of information about sustainability, or does it?  Don’t you hate it when greenwashers place a picture of a really happy person when talking about their environmental friendliness?  These images are available all over the web and are simply a marketing technique.  No, this woman is not shining in eco-orgasmic appreciation of Coca-Cola’s green efforts.

They talk a good talk in the opening flash animation but don’t outline any specifics.

Here is an example of their greenwashing: They claim to have reduced water consumption by 9% since 2004.  Woah!  You mean you have reduced 9% of your water usage in only 6 years?  That was probably an economic choice.  Of course, they can always add more sugar to their product…

Our vote: Coke is not green.  Actually, it’s kind of a weird brown color – why is that appealing?

Nomatter how you brand it, or how “green” you paint your product, it is still black, polluting, caustic, volatile, limited, foreign-made and fatal.

If these companies want to impress [...]]]> Petroleum companies have some of the deepest pockets and therefore can rebrand themselves on a whim.  Well, when their V.P. of Marketing tells them they should.  So why haven’t they all started calling themselves “green”?  They have!  In fact, the biggest three have all started marketing campaigns indicating how environmentally friendly they are:

Nomatter how you brand it, or how “green” you paint your product, it is still black, polluting, caustic, volatile, limited, foreign-made and fatal.

If these companies want to impress us, they should indicate how much of their immense profits they are pouring into renewable energy (No, “Clean Coal” doesn’t count).