Skepticism grows over products touted as eco-friendly

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Chicago Tribune:

To Marina Meadows, green may be the new white.

When she goes shopping these days, Meadows is often overwhelmed by a bevy of products touted as green, from Earth-friendly dish soaps and bamboo-derived towels to eco-detergents and plant-based soda bottles.

But the Santa Monica resident, 26, said that while she is willing to pay extra to help the environment, she's often not sure how much of the labeling she should believe.

"Sometimes, I wonder if any of it's really green or if it's all a marketing scheme," Meadows said.

With booming interest in the environment, more companies are trying to cash in by promoting themselves and their products as green.

But environmentalists and some consumers are crying foul, saying that many companies are making the products out to be greener than they really are, a practice they call greenwashing.

The term caught on when hotels began asking guests to reuse towels, saying they were trying to conserve water, though skeptics said it was really to skimp on laundry costs.

These days, greenwashing is reaching "epidemic proportions," according to advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather, which has been pushing for accurate environmental marketing.