Green packaging. A little leaf icon. Maybe a picture of a forest.
Then come the words.
Eco-friendly.
Natural.
Plant-based.
Biodegradable.
They sound reassuring. And when you're standing in a supermarket aisle or scrolling through products online, they can make one option feel like the obvious better choice.
But what do those words actually tell you?
Sometimes, quite a lot.
Other times, not nearly as much as you might think.
As sustainability becomes increasingly important to consumers, environmental language has become increasingly valuable to brands too. That's not necessarily a bad thing. More companies thinking about materials, waste and environmental impact can encourage meaningful change.
The problem begins when the marketing becomes greener than the product.
That's where greenwashing comes in.
First, What Is Greenwashing?
Greenwashing is the practice of making a product, service or company appear more environmentally responsible than the evidence supports.
It isn't always an outright lie.
Often, greenwashing lives in the grey areas.
A claim might technically be true but leave out an important detail.
A package might highlight one environmentally preferable ingredient while saying nothing about the rest of the product.
Or a brand might use vague words such as "green" without explaining what makes the product green in the first place.
The result?
Consumers are left to fill in the blanks.
And we tend to fill them in generously.
Here are seven common sustainability claims worth looking at a little more closely.
1. “Eco-Friendly”
Few environmental claims sound better while saying less.
If something is described as eco-friendly, the obvious question is:
Friendly in what way?
Does it use fewer virgin materials?
Does it produce less waste?
Is it reusable?
Does it use renewable energy during manufacturing?
Can it be composted?
Has its environmental impact actually been measured?
"Eco-friendly" can be useful as a general description, but without supporting information, it doesn't tell you much about the product itself.
What to look for instead:
Specific claims.
Rather than simply:
“Eco-friendly packaging.”
Look for information such as:
“Made using X% recycled material.”
“Certified home compostable according to [standard].”
“Verified PLA-free.”
Specificity gives consumers something they can actually evaluate.
2. “Plant-Based”
Plant-based sounds simple.
Plants instead of plastic, right?
Not necessarily.
A product can be made partly or even primarily from plant-derived raw materials and still contain plastic.
One example is PLA, or polylactic acid.
PLA is a type of bioplastic commonly produced using sugars derived from renewable resources such as corn or sugarcane.
Its feedstock can therefore be plant-based.
But PLA is still a polymer classified as plastic.
So when you see:
“Made from plants”
or
“Plant-based material”
don't automatically translate that into:
“Plastic-free.”
Those are different claims.
What to look for instead:
Check the complete material composition.
If avoiding plastic or PLA specifically matters to you, look for clear plastic-free or PLA-free verification rather than assuming plant-based means the same thing.
3. “Biodegradable”
This might be one of the most misunderstood words in sustainability.
Biodegradable essentially describes the ability of a material to be broken down by biological processes.
But there's an important piece missing:
Under what conditions?
Temperature matters.
Moisture matters.
Microorganisms matter.
Time matters.
The environment where the product ends up matters.
Something capable of biodegrading under controlled conditions won't necessarily disappear quickly when left on the side of a road, buried in a landfill or floating in the ocean.
That's why "biodegradable" shouldn't be interpreted as:
“Throw it away anywhere and nature will take care of it.”
What to look for instead:
Look for information explaining the conditions required and whether the claim is supported by a recognised standard or certification.
The more specific the claim, the more useful it becomes.
4. “Compostable”
Compostable is another word that often gets simplified.
A compostable product is designed to break down under particular composting conditions.
But there isn't just one kind of composting.
Two terms you'll commonly encounter are:
Home compostable
and
Industrially compostable
Industrial composting facilities operate under controlled conditions that can differ significantly from the compost pile in your garden.
A product designed for industrial composting may therefore require access to an appropriate facility.
So seeing a compostable label isn't the end of the conversation.
It's the beginning of another question:
Compostable where?
What to look for instead:
Look for recognised compostability certifications and instructions explaining the appropriate disposal environment.
And before buying products in bulk for a business, consider whether the required waste infrastructure actually exists in your area.
5. “Made From Recycled Materials”
This sounds straightforward, and it can absolutely represent meaningful progress.
But there's still a useful question to ask:
How much?
A product containing a small amount of recycled material and one made almost entirely from recycled content could both potentially highlight recycled material in their marketing, depending on how the claim is presented.
The percentage changes the story.
There's another distinction worth understanding too:
pre-consumer recycled content
versus
post-consumer recycled content.
Pre-consumer material generally comes from manufacturing waste that is recovered before reaching consumers.
Post-consumer material has already been used by consumers and recovered from the waste stream.
Both can have value, but they describe different things.
What to look for instead:
Specific percentages and clear descriptions of the recycled content.
“Contains recycled material” gives you some information.
“Made with 80% post-consumer recycled material” gives you considerably more.
6. “Natural”
Natural might be the sustainability world's favourite comfort word.
Natural ingredients.
Natural materials.
Inspired by nature.
Made naturally.
But "natural" doesn't automatically mean a product has a lower environmental impact.
Plenty of natural resources can be harvested, processed or consumed in ways that place pressure on ecosystems.
And plenty of manufactured materials can be designed to reduce specific environmental impacts.
The question shouldn't simply be:
Is it natural?
It should be:
What is it made from, how is it produced, and what happens to it afterwards?
What to look for instead:
Material transparency.
Look beyond imagery of leaves, forests and earthy colours and find out what the product actually contains.
Nature-inspired branding is a design choice.
It isn't a certification.
7. “Sustainable”
This is perhaps the biggest word of them all.
A product can be more sustainable in one area and less sustainable in another.
One material may use renewable feedstocks but require specialised end-of-life infrastructure.
Another may be highly durable but difficult to recycle.
Another may reduce packaging weight but use materials derived from fossil fuels.
Sustainability involves trade-offs.
So when a product simply claims to be:
“100% sustainable”
it's worth asking what evidence sits behind such a broad statement.
What to look for instead:
Look for measurable, specific attributes.
What material is used?
Where does it come from?
How is the product designed to be disposed of?
What testing has been completed?
What certifications support the claims?
Specific evidence is much more useful than an absolute sustainability promise.
So, How Can You Spot Greenwashing?
You don't need to investigate every product like a detective.
A useful rule is simply:
The bigger the claim, the more evidence you should expect behind it.
When evaluating a sustainability claim, ask:
Is it specific?
"Made with 70% recycled material" is more informative than "planet-friendly".
Is it relevant?
Does the claim address a meaningful part of the product's environmental impact?
Is there evidence?
Can the company show testing, data or certification?
Is anything important missing?
Does the marketing highlight one ingredient while ignoring the rest of the material composition?
Can you understand what happens at the end of the product's life?
If something is described as compostable, recyclable or biodegradable, are there clear disposal instructions?
These questions don't make shopping complicated.
They make marketing easier to decode.
Certifications Matter, But Read Those Too
Certifications can provide valuable third-party evidence for environmental and material claims.
But even here, context matters.
A certification doesn't automatically mean:
“This product is sustainable in every possible way.”
Different certifications assess different things.
One might verify compostability.
Another might confirm recycled content.
Another might test the absence of a particular material or chemical.
So instead of simply looking for a logo, ask:
What exactly does this certification verify?
That's where certifications become genuinely useful.
Why PLA-Free and PFAS-Free Matter to EQUO
For EQUO, transparency means being specific about the materials behind our products rather than relying solely on broad sustainability language.
That's why PLA-free and PFAS-free verification are important differentiators across applicable EQUO products.
PLA-free provides clarity for customers specifically looking to avoid polylactic acid, a plant-derived bioplastic that can sometimes appear in products marketed around plant-based materials.
PFAS-free provides additional transparency around a group of synthetic chemicals historically used across various applications for properties including grease and water resistance.
Rather than simply asking customers to trust a word such as "green", verification gives them something more concrete to evaluate.
[PLA-FREE CERTIFICATION]
[PFAS-FREE CERTIFICATION]
Because good sustainability communication shouldn't require consumers to guess.
Greenwashing Doesn't Always Look Like a Lie
That's what makes it difficult to recognise.
Sometimes it's a technically accurate sentence presented without enough context.
Sometimes it's a vague word.
Sometimes it's an image that encourages you to assume something the packaging never actually says.
And sometimes, it's simply a sustainability claim that hasn't kept up with increasingly informed consumers.
The answer isn't to distrust every environmental claim.
It's to expect better ones.
Look Past the Green
The next time you see a product covered in leaves with ECO-FRIENDLY printed across the front, take five seconds before putting it in your basket.
Turn it around.
Read the materials.
Look at the certification.
Ask what the claim actually means.
Because choosing more thoughtfully doesn't start with memorising every material, certification or environmental standard.
It starts with asking better questions.
Don't just look at the claim. Look for the proof.
At EQUO, we believe sustainability should be something you can understand, not something you have to assume.
