The US Federal Trade Commission has taken action against six companies — ECM Biofilms, American Plastic Manufacturing, Champ, Clear Choice Housewares, Carnie Cap and AJM Packaging — for making false environmental marketing claims.
Of the six, one imposes a $450,000 civil penalty and five for the first time address deceptive biodegradable plastic claims.
All of these cases are part of the FTC’s program to ensure compliance with the agency’s recently revised Green Guides. The Commission publishes the Guides to help businesses market their products accurately, providing guidance as to what constitutes deceptive and non-deceptive environmental claims.
ECM Biofilms is based in Ohio and markets its additives (which allegedly make plastic products biodegradable) under the trade name MasterBatch Pellets. According to the complaint, ECM also issues its own “Certificates of Biodegradability of Plastic Products,” which ECM allegedly uses to convince its customers and end-use consumers that its additive makes plastic products biodegradable.
The FTC complaint charges ECM with violating the FTC Act by misrepresenting that: ECM plastics are biodegradable and will completely break down within a reasonably short time period after disposal; ECM plastics are biodegradable in a landfill; ECM plastics are biodegradable in a stated qualified timeframe; and that various scientific tests prove ECM’s biodegradability claims. Finally, the complaint charges ECM with providing its customer and independent distributors — through the distribution of its promotional materials — with the means to deceive consumers.
The FTC’s complaints against the following four companies charge them with misrepresenting that plastics treated with additives are biodegradable, biodegradable in a landfill, biodegradable in a certain timeframe, or shown to be biodegradable in a landfill or that various scientific tests prove their biodegradability claims. The FTC also alleges that the companies lacked reliable scientific tests to back up these claims.
American Plastic Manufacturing is based in Seattle, Wash., and was an ECM customer until at least December 2012. The FTC alleges that APM advertised its plastic shopping bags on its website as biodegradable, and sold them to distributors nationwide. APM’s marketing materials claimed that its products were biodegradable based on the use of the additives sold by ECM.
Champ, located in Marlborough, Mass., also was an ECM customer, and advertised on its website that its plastic golf tees were biodegradable. Champ sold the tees both online and in brick and mortar stores throughout the US. The company’s marketing materials claimed that the ECM additive made its products biodegradable.
Clear Choice Housewares, based in Leominster, Mass., was a customer of an additive manufacturer called Bio-Tec Environmental. Clear Choice sold what it claims are biodegradable, reusable plastic food storage containers on its website, as well as in retail stores nationwide. Clear Choice’s marketing materials claimed its products were biodegradable based on the application of a Bio-Tec product called Eco Pure. The FTC alleges that Clear Choice made false and unsubstantiated claims that Eco Pure made its products “quickly biodegradable in landfills.”
Carnie Cap, based in East Moline, Ill., incorporated Eco-One, an additive manufactured and marketed by Ecologic, into its plastic rebar cap covers. Carnie Cap advertised the caps on its website and sold them through various distributors nationwide. It claimed, with no qualification, that the Eco-One product makes it plastic rebar cap covers “100 percent biodegradable.”
The proposed consent orders settling the FTC’s complaints are essentially the same. They prohibit the four companies from making biodegradability claims unless the representations are true and supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.
In the civil penalty case, the FTC filed a complaint and consent order against AJM Packaging for violating a 1994 FTC order that prohibited it from making unsupported green claims for its paper plates and bags. Based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., the company touts itself as a “leading manufacturer of these products,” and refers to its lunch bags and Green Label paper plates as national brand leaders.
Despite the terms of the 1994 order, AJM began making new environmental claims for a number of its papers products, including claims that they were “biodegradable,” “compostable” or both. AJM made these claims for many of its products, including: Nature’s Own Green Label and Gold Label papers plates, AJM lunch bags, AJM grocery bags, and Bio-Save Lawn & Leaf Bags. The packaging for AJM’s paper plates also prominently stated that they are “recyclable.”
In settling the FTC’s current complaint, AJM agrees to stop making unsubstantiated claims that a product or package is biodegradable, compostable, recyclable, or offers an environmental benefit and is required to disclose information needed to qualify certain green claims to avoid deception.
The court order also requires AJM to pay a $450,000 civil penalty for violating the 1994 order.
Image Credit: Biodegradable stamp via Shutterstock
