There's no such thing as eco-friendly disposable bottles. Get a reusable one instead.
Be a skeptic when it comes to environmentally-friendly products. Now that green living is going mainstream, more businesses are masquerading themselves as environmentalists in order to bring in big profits. These businesses lack a genuine commitment towards green living. For them, green living is just another rising fad they can exploit. Greenwashing is one name for a new form of marketing designed to deceive consumers into wasting money on products that sound environmentally-friendly. If you don’t want to get scammed, you need to educate yourself as a consumer.
I’ve encountered two forms of greenwashing. In the first category, a company blatantly lies about its environmental practices. For example, some vegetables sold in Walmart were labeled organic though in fact they were sprayed with pesticides (1). The second type of greenwashing occurs when a company actually does make some greener changes. The changes, however, are so minor so as to be inconsequential. Overall, the product is still extremely bad for the environment, but its advertising is not technically false.
Advertising for bottled water is a good example of the second form of deceptive advertising. Before we look at the advertising campaigns, let’s consider 4 reasons why bottled water is bad for the environment:
- Bottled water is stored in plastic, which requires oil and energy to produce.
- If the water bottle is not recycled, it will end up in a landfill.
- Recycling a water bottle still wastes energy.
- Bottled water must be hauled over long distances as freight, which wastes fuel.
Most of the problems created by bottled water stem from the fact that the water bottle is designed to be disposable. But the good news is that this inherent design flaw already has a simple, inexpensive solution: if you filter your own tap water from home and carry it in a reusable mug, you avoid the environmental problems associated with bottled water.
Some bottled water companies are trying to fix their negative image by using less plastic per bottle. Arrowhead, for example, has introduced the Eco-Shape Bottle as part of a green marketing campaign (2). Improved water bottles definitely helps reduce environmental impact, but no matter how you design a disposable plastic product, it’s still inherently wasteful. Reducing plastic doesn’t completely solve any of the four problems above; it only reduces impact instead of eliminating it altogether.
Consumers are now constantly being bombarded by wasteful products that have been given a green makeover. Instead of reusing cloth towels, we are buying disposable paper towels made with recycled paper. We are also buying fuel-efficient hybrid cars instead of walking or cycling. Even oil companies want to give their energy a green spin. Instead of telling us to reduce our wasteful energy consumption, they sell us energy with reduced carbon emissions. This is the tactic that BP pursued prior to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (3).
So how can you avoid being tricked by the marketer’s wiles? Here are a few rules that can help:
- Don’t buy heavily advertised products
- Don’t buy anything disposable
- Don’t waste resources, no matter how “clean” those resources appear to be
- In general, stick with old-fashioned solutions
This guideline isn’t flawless, but it can help you avoid being tricked most of the time.
The worst part about marketing scams is that they are usually very expensive. With a little practice, you can skillfully dodge marketing hype to save that other important green in your life: money.
Are marketing scams stopping you from going green?
1 Organic food from China currently can’t be trusted: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_6357.cfm
2 http://www.arrowheadwater.com/DoingOurPart/EcoShapeBottle.aspx and http://www.arrowheadwater.com/KnowH2O/Be-Green.aspx .
3 http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1209454,00.html
If there’s anything that Food Inc has taught me, its to readreadread the labels and then go home and do some research on your own. Trader Joe’s is a reliable place for organic things but I always read it to double check. It’s kind of sad as well as scary that we still can’t trust everything, even organic labels.
Hey Armand,
Here’s some food for thought. I used to buy Trader Joe’s organic milk, but according to the Cornucopia Institute, some of the milk may actually be sourced from factory farms.
“Even though none of the one cow–rated brands responded to our survey request, we were able to determine that these brands were, at the time of our research, buying some or all of their organic milk from factory-farm sources.”
There are dozens of companies they review, including Whole Foods’ 365 line, Albertson’s Wild Harvest, Costco’s High Meadows, etc. It’s sad to say, but most of the big chain stores have really low ratings when it comes to living up to organic principles (1/5 stars).
The scorecard for all companies is listed here: http://www.cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html . Cornucopia.org also has scorecards for egg producers.
I’m not sure how reliable Cornucopia is, but it definitely makes us wonder about the integrity of the marketing that goes into our food.
Organic milk is a complicated issue that marketers can really take advantage of. If I raise cows in a factory farm setting, which involves animal cruelty, but feed them grain without pesticides, is their milk organic? Technically yes. But if I let my cows roam in natural, open grass fields and feed them corn sprayed with pesticides, my milk is technically not organic milk. But, I would personally prefer to choose the latter milk because it’s less cruel to the animals.
Boooo this makes me sad. To be honest, I might just keep going to Trader Joe’s. Sure, it isn’t really “organic” but its still a step above non-organic brands right?
Besides, I do almost all my shopping at Trader Joe’s and I wouldn’t want to go to another store just for milk (IE Whole Foods). That would be just as wasteful right?
Actually I dunno. Maybe I should just buy everything at Whole Foods then? But Whole Foods is more expensive than Trader Joe’s and I don’t know if the other things at Trader Joe’s are “less organic” than Whole Foods…
Ahhh I don’t know what to do! haha
Hey Armand,
It’s a tough call! I honestly don’t blame you. Sometimes, we just have to make compromises.
I try not to be a purist about environmental decisions. I think it’s important to be open and welcoming to those who are trying on any level, however small it may be. Some experienced environmentalists have been living without electricity for decades; others are just beginning to turn off unused lights.
I am personally wrestling with the fact that I can’t get organic food in Taiwan. I ended up settling for conventional food at the farmers market. Someday, I hope to be able to grow my own food and raise my own livestock. That would completely eliminate my environmental footprint, and it would also solve my own dilemma about whether or not I can trust organic labels. But I seriously doubt many people can afford to raise their own chickens just to ensure the eggs are genuinely cage-free.
So no, I won’t hold it against you if you don’t do your own farming. But I think it might be cool to write a few posts on the topic.
I’ll keep the scorecard website in mind next time I go shopping. I honestly don’t find it hard to believe that companies would lie about being eco-friendly because it can be very profitable.
I was thinking about shopping at whole foods from now on, seeing that it is now the best place to go for organic food and its chains are spreading pretty quickly. However, I’m not too sure whether it is truly a trusted supermarket. They didn’t participate in the dairy survey link you listed above. Did you happen to do any other research on that company?
A problem that I see with the new green products is that rather than re-using cloth bags, mugs or bottles, we simply lose them or toss them when we see a better design come out. It’s hard to see the improvement when a stainless steel water bottle gets thrown out once it begins to rust.
Hey Jebbo,
Whole Foods has its share of problems. Some of the “organic” food they sell probably has been sprayed with pesticides. ABC7 did an investigation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y.
At the same time, Whole Foods is sometimes the only store that carries organic food. For example, Whole Foods organic milk does seem to meet organic standards according to Cornucopia. I still shop there occasionally, but I try to be discerning about what I buy.
Cornucopia’s study is really interesting because all the major brands (Costco, Walmart, Target, Albertsons, Trader Joe’s, Kraft, Alta Dena) fail the tests miserably.
BTW, if whole foods really is better, I’m down to spend more there regardless.
Hey Armand,
Do they sell milk at the farmers markets in Berkeley? That might be close to campus. There seems to be a lot more dairy farmers up north than in SoCal.
Another option might be to have the organic dairy farmers deliver the milk to your house. (Organic Pastures might deliver, since it’s very close to Berkeley; it sells raw milk, which has been controversial) Lastly, sometimes conventional grocery stores like Albertsons might carry organic milk brands like Stremricks. I don’t know much about the social responsibility of Albertsons itself, though.
I tend to avoid TJ’s since the one in Irvine doesn’t carry much organic food. But if the selection is better at Berkeley, I might just settle with TJ’s milk myself.
You have done much work to help others. I would like to do more research on the foods that we buy. Your help is much appreciated.
God speed brother,
vee
Glad to hear, Vee! Let’s not give up on caring for the planet and for one another.
What’s your current diet like?
“Consumers are now constantly being bombarded by wasteful products that have been given a green makeover.” That is so true, and it just infuriates me! Recycled paper towels, plastic bags made of recycled plastic, any item sold in excessive packaging that is made of recycled materials — aaagh! Reusable towels and washcloths, cloth bags, and MUCH less packaging is the route we need to take, but most people seem to be blind and thoughtless about this. It seems that one sure way to be greener is always to buy less.
This is why I’m generally against electric cars. Yes, I know they burn cleaner than regular cars, but it’s only a partial fix. The best solution is to still walk or bicycle, using 100% sustainable, human-powered energy.
I’ve been reading your blog quite a bit lately and was being content learning from your experiences, but this post right here struck a chord! I’m honestly puzzled why someone would buy a water bottle for $3 when they have perfectly good tap in the kitchen and reusable thermos/bottles that they can choose. I understand the convenience of having it right there to buy, and I believe it would be ok if it was just localized; but the bottling industry for water is global and the left over bottles just pile up everywhere.
I always use a thermos to carry water to my university and I re-fill it with the fountains there and the filter at home, but no one there seems to share my discontent with the bottled water paradox.
Thanks for letting me know there are more of us out there! I’ll be looking forwards to your newest adventure.
Dan D.
Glad you liked the post, Dan!