Unilever, the maker of Marmite, Domestos and Vaseline, is to be investigated by the UK’s competition watchdog over concerns that consumers are being misled by the company’s “green” claims on some essential household products.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Unilever may be overstating how green certain products are through the use of “vague and broad” claims, unclear statements about recyclability, and natural-looking images and logos such as green leaves.
Sarah Cardell, the CMA chief executive, said: “Essentials like detergent, kitchen spray, and toiletries are the kinds of items you put in your supermarket basket every time you shop. More and more people are trying to do their bit to help protect the environment, but we’re worried many are being misled by so-called ‘green’ products that aren’t what they seem.
We know a song about that, don’t we?
Well, whitewashing rather than greenwashing, but they have a long history…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Unilever, the maker of Marmite, Domestos and Vaseline, is to be investigated by the UK’s competition watchdog over concerns that consumers are being misled by the company’s “green” claims on some essential household products.
Sarah Cardell, the CMA chief executive, said: “Essentials like detergent, kitchen spray, and toiletries are the kinds of items you put in your supermarket basket every time you shop.
But the company is on track to sell 53bn non-reusable sachets containing anything from sauces to shampoo this year, breaking its commitment to switch away from single-use plastic, according to a recent report from Greenpeace.
The Changing Markets Foundation, a US-based campaign group, found last year that Unilever had replaced recyclable PET bottles of washing liquid with pouches as part of its push to encourage refills.
The truth is Unilever isn’t living up to that promise, and they never will until the company takes real action to tackle issues like the ruinously huge amounts of single-use plastic they produce.
That means committing to phasing out single-use plastic, starting with an end to the billions of highly polluting sachets they’re selling globally each year.”
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