Concerns about climate change, CO2 emissions, pollution of rivers and oceans, single use
plastics, deforestation, access to clean air and water, and many other issues are all part of a
bigger picture that is creating demand for greater sustainability. International targets such as
Net Zero are driving some of this change but public pressure and market forces mean that
businesses ? including those in the cleaning industry - must play their part. How can we be
sure that the claims being made are sincere and accurate?
This is a question that has reached the highest levels of Government. The UK's Competition
and Markets Authority (CMA) helped to co-ordinate research into the environmental claims
made on hundreds of business websites worldwide. It found that 40 per cent (four out of
every ten) of those claims could be misleading for consumers. No doubt some of this will be
result of simple error or misunderstanding but others may have been more deliberate.
The results prompted the CMA to issue new guidance in the form of the Green Claims Code .
This comprises six key points that businesses can use to check their environmental claims
are genuinely green. Earlier this year the UK's Cleaning and Hygiene Suppliers Association
(CHSA) integrated the guidance into its own code of practice, demonstrating that the
cleaning industry aims to embrace environmental sustainability and protect customers from
greenwashing. The EU is finalising its own set of regulations covering environmental claims
and these are likely to be more detailed.
The cleaning industry clearly has a role to play and there are many examples of sustainability
claims made about products. One of the commonest made by companies is that their
products or services ?protect the environment? but what these companies actually mean is
that they are less damaging to the environment. The regulators are getting tougher on this.
Recently, for example, a major international company in another sector was banned from
claiming in its UK advertising that its service was ?protecting? the planet when in fact it was
producing a lot of CO2.
Claims like this are not uncommon but the guidance from the CMA is clear: businesses must
be truthful, accurate and live up to the claims they make about their products, services,
brands and activities. We should all be wary, no matter how emotive the subject, to ask
ourselves whether the claims we read or hear or that we as producers state ourselves do
make sense. We should challenge companies and ourselves to prove what is claimed is
supported by robust, credible and up to date evidence. This is another of the six elements of
the CMA code.
Another common claim made for all kinds of product is that they contain natural ingredients
and are therefore better for the environment. This can be true but as we have explained
many times in the past, just because a substance is found in nature does not make it safe.
Even ingredients that we generally consider natural and thus good may cause other impacts
on the environment. This might include, for example, ingredients that are produced in areas
that have suffered deforestation to create agricultural land for these resources.
At the same time many natural ingredients are considered better than similar ingredients
derived from fossil fuels. This is true as our fossil resources are not renewable. They also
tend to have a lower carbon footprint (lower greenhouse gas emissions) but this is not
always true. In some cases, these ingredients may lead to higher carbon emissions ?
through processing or transport for example ? than an identical chemical synthesised in a
highly efficient process.
One example, and there are many others, is phenoxyethanol. This organic compound is
used in a wide range of products ? including cleaning products ? due to its antimicrobial and
preservative properties. It is found in green tea but producing enough for industrial use would
require large areas for growing the plants and energy and water to extract the chemical.
When made synthetically it has a much lower impact on the environment with lower overall
CO2 emissions.
This example helps to show why it is important to use full life cycle analysis to understand
the full impact on the environment for any ingredient, natural or synthetic. The CMA is clear
on this point too. Businesses must consider the total impact of a product or service. Claims
can be misleading where they don't reflect the overall impact or where they focus on one
aspect of it but not another.
Another potentially misleading approach is to make a claim that is only partially true in an
attempt to make the product appear better than it is. One relevant example is a claim that a
cleaning product contains levels of volatile organic compounds that meet the requirements of
a standard such as EU Ecolabel (EU2017/1217). Claims like this can mislead the reader into
thinking the product has been certified under the EU Ecolabel scheme when it is not: any
product certified to this standard has to meet a number of strict criteria and meeting just one
or two would not be enough. This particular claim, incidentally, could also suggest that similar
? presumably competitors? - products have higher levels of VOCs.
Ultimately, businesses should follow the CMA code to be clear and unambiguous. The
meaning that a customer is likely to take from a product's messaging and the credentials of
that product should match. Nor should suppliers omit or hide important information,
according to the CMA. Claims must not prevent someone from making an informed choice
because of the information they leave out.
Another common claim is that renewable and sustainably sourced biotechnology can provide
a carbon neutral product. This can be true when looking at one element of a product's
lifecycle in isolation. But when the complete lifecycle is analysed, there may be higher
emissions overall.
We should also be watchful of carbon neutral claims where the emissions may be off-set by
carbon emissions credits or other projects. This is often the case for products that claim to be
carbon neutral but are in fact based on petroleum sourced materials which usually have a
higher carbon footprint than ingredients from renewable resources.
Manufacturers have made great strides in the design of packaging and the materials they
use to promote sustainability and the circular economy. One area of particular concern is
single use plastics, packaging that is used only once or for a limited time, also known as
SUP. Images of animals wrapped in discarded packaging or fish filled with plastic granules
are very emotive and there is no doubt they have changed public opinion.
It is no surprise therefore that more and more companies use PCR ? post consumer recycled
? plastics in their packaging. Using PCR plastic is a positive thing as it reduces the use of
new, virgin plastic and re-uses existing material. It may lead to confusion though around what
is single use if the packaging is itself designed to be used only once. Claims like this are
addressed by the CMA which states businesses should only make fair and meaningful
comparisons. Any products compared should meet the same needs or be intended for the
same purpose.
Many manufacturers ? Diversey included - supply products in packaging made using PCR.
Using PCR is a good thing but the impact is better when the packaging and materials can
themselves be recycled or reused many times. The best pack designs are those that make it
easier to separate components and materials so that they can be sorted and processed more
easily. Of course, suppliers have no control over whether the purchasers and users of their
products will recycle them. But they are making it as easy as possible to do it.
Clearly the best option is to reuse packaging over and over again and this is one of the
reasons why Diversey advocates the use of concentrated cleaning products. Products diluted
on-site into a reusable spray bottle, for example, can replace hundreds of ready-to-use
products in single-use plastics containers. That has a significant impact on plastics
consumption and waste, no matter how easily the packaging of the ready-to-use products
can be recycled.
Sustainability is clearly going to be a major challenge for society for the foreseeable future.
Accurate and truthful information is important so that we can all make informed decisions.
This helps individuals and organisations understand the impact of their actions. It can also
help businesses meet their corporate social responsibility objectives while attracting
customers. Sustainability reporting can be a driver of improved performance when
undertaken with integrity. None of this is really possible without recognising the myths.
Diversey's display on Stand E30 at The Cleaning Show features sustainable products and
services including the TASKI swingo 250 and TASKI ULTIMAXX scrubber driers, the
SURE range of plant based, 100 per cent biodegradable cleaning products, the SafePack
ultra concentrate system, and a full range of washcraft ? warewashing and laundry ?
solutions.