Stop Misleading Consumers!

Have you ever picked out a product on the shelf, looked at the back, saw the green recyclable logo, and guilt trip yourself into buying the product cause it’s “environmentally friendly?” Yeah, same. It’s sad to say that greenwashing has continued to convey and mislead consumers into buying products that are considered to be “sustainable” in an attempt to capitalize on profit. I believe in the vision of banning greenwashing because it’s unethical, causes environmental harm, and misleads consumers. Additionally, banning single-use plastics could eliminate companies from greenwashing their products. As plastic has become one of the largest issues today, greenwashing has continued to contribute to plastic waste and add to false hopes for sustainability. My value is that we should support green products that have been certified by an official organization.

Interventions to prevent greenwashing would be creating pressure on our government to create strong laws that require extended producer responsibility which will ultimately eliminate any sort of greenwashing in companies. I believe together we can create a society that no longer manipulates consumers into thinking that a product is sustainable when it is not.