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How Not To Greenwash: A Guide for Business Owners
It was inevitable really, but those buzzwords around sustainability are starting to drive me insane. Even the word itself ‘Sustainability’ is exhausting and that’s pretty much the only word we have to use!
So quickly, what is Greenwashing? Well, in a nutshell, it’s when a company jumps onto the Eco-Bandwagon and makes false claims about how Environmentally focused they are, as a marketing move. For example, they may claim that all of their packaging is recyclable when it probably isn’t; or they celebrate Earth Day on social media, yet make no effort to audit their impact on the environment. It’s all just one big front to get ahead of the movement.
David Attenborough released Blue Planet and suddenly everyone was talking about plastics. People felt more and more uncomfortable walking into a supermarket and putting any item wrapped in plastic, into their basket. What followed was an enormous increase in companies making claims and using those exact buzzwords I was talking about. ‘Ethical’, ‘Biodegradable’, ‘Sustainable’, ‘Green’. Anything that would push the consumer towards trusting them and viewing their brand as purpose-driven. Being the terrible cynic I am, the majority of the claims just didn’t sit right with me.
As we move into a new economy where companies are judged by their footprint on this world, we…
