So-called "green" products

I recently read an article about products that are so-called “green.” I was quite surprised. Earlier I had been saying that I was glad so many companies are going green. But, many products use terms that sound green, but really aren’t, or they just flat out lie. 99% of so-called green products make false, misleading or unsubstantiated claims.
One thing that has most people confused is the recycling symbol on many products. Many would assume that it is made from recycled material. If there is a dark symbol on a light background, this means that the product can be recycled. When you see a light symbol on a dark background, this means that the product is made from recycled material. But not all products are 100% made of recycled material. A product could have a small part of it made from a recycled material and the rest is made from raw material.
Another misconception is when products companies claim that their product is “biodegradable.” It actually is biodegradable, there are no false claims there. But if a biodegradable product is thrown out and put in a landfill, it can take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose, simply because there is too much garbage in one area for nature to break it down quick enough. The only way to have these products biodegrade quickly is if you are to compost them.
Food that has terms like “natural” and “free range” on the product, can also be misleading. Meat that is labelled “natural” might have been treated with antibiotics. Chicken that is “free range” may have never seen the light of day. This term can simply mean that there was the option of putting the chicken outside, but this could have been only a short time or not at all.
Beverages and foods may be labelled as “natural,” but they contain high-fructose corn syrup. Companies know that people today want to eat more foods that are natural. So they put that label on their product even though they know that they are not.

TerraChoice Environmental Marketing made a list of “sins” committed by manufacturers.
· Sin of hidden trade off: Products cite single or few attributes while ignoring other environmental impacts caused by their product. For example, many cleaners have been labelled “chlorine free,” but this product contains other toxic ingredients.
· Sin of no proof: This is where companies label products as “made from recycled material” or other things, but it is most likely not. There is no information to prove that the product has these attributes. But there is also no information to prove that they don’t. It is assumed, though, that they don’t have these attributes. There is no record of where materials, recycled or raw, were obtained.
· Sin of vagueness: These claims are so unspecific that they are likely to be misunderstood. Some products may claim to be “chemical free.” Nothing is free of chemicals. Everything in the world is made from chemicals; this includes water and even humans. There is the often used claim that products are “all natural.” Many poisons like uranium and mercury, are natural.
· Sin of irrelevance: Products label that they are “CFC free.” But this does not mean that the product is not harmful to the environment.
· Sin of the lesser of two evils: Companies claim their products are green and environmentally friendly. But what this really means is that they are more green and environmentally friendly than other products. They can still be really harmful. Examples are cigarettes made from natural tobacco, but it can still kill you; and insecticides and herbicides that may be safer than other pest control products, but are still extremely harmful.
· Sin of fibbing: Companies make claims about their products that are not true in any way. Claims have been made that a product is organic, but is not even a bit organic. Other companies claim that they are Energy Star certified, when they are not. And another claim is that a product is made from recycled material, when truly they are made from raw materials.