American consumers face a renewed outpouring of environmental marketing claims – boasted by companies that their products are everything from “100% Natural” to “Recyclable,” “Eco-Friendly,” “Sustainable,” “Biodegradable,” or just plain, “green.” Along with these claims has come a new wave of environmental seals and certifications aimed at helping consumers sort the real from the hype. There are more than 400 green certification systems and eco-friendly labels in a variety of industries, making it difficult to determine which company is “green” and which company is “greenwashing” – deceptive promotion of a company as environmentally friendly.

What these seals fail to inform the general public is that although the chemical companies that display the seal paid dearly for it, the products they are promoting as “Green” still contain harsh chemicals that are not only harmful to humans and plants, they are not really good for the environment either. In order to fully understand the process of what is environmentally friendly, you first have to understand the chemical table of elements, which most of us don’t. To put it in layman’s terms, if there are two chemicals you pick the lesser of the two evils to put into your product, that is technically considered being environmentally friendly because one of them is less toxic to the environment than the other and after the money is paid, you can display the “Green Seal” on all of your products and marketing materials. In other words, don’t base your purchasing decisions on some “Green” dot unless you know what that “Green” dot really means.

“A product determined by the Secretary to be a commercial or industrial product (other than food or feed) that is composed, in whole or in significant part, of biological products or renewable domestic agricultural materials (including plant, animal, and marine materials) or forage materials”

Definition used for Federal Bio-Based Product Preferred Provider Program

• Reduces our dependence on imported oil.
• Reduces the need to drill for oil in our environmentally sensitive areas.
• Provides a stable market for our farmers.
• Avoids many of the health and environmental consequences of using fossil fuels
• Products may be healthier and safer for the user and the environment.