Conwed Plastics LLC
With green packaging's rising
popularity, many products have been guilty of "greenwashing" - that
is, making green marketing claims that are dubious at best and
outright false at worst. Claims of biodegradability are
particularly suspect and have been at the center of many deceptive
green marketing disputes.
Manatt's advertising lawyers entered the fray when, on behalf of
Conwed Plastics LLC, we successfully challenged a number of
environmental claims by MasterNet for its plastic netting packaging
products. Among them were claims that MasterNet's products are
biodegradable, recyclable and have "saved countless trees from
destruction." We argued before the National Advertising Division
(NAD) that MasterNet did not meet the Federal Trade Commission's
Green Guides standards for such claims. To claim a product or
package is biodegradable, the FTC requires reliable scientific
evidence that the entire product or package will completely break
down and return to nature within a reasonably short period of time.
Most plastic packaging products, however, typically end up in a
landfill. The NAD found that MasterNet's evidence was insufficient
to support the biodegradability claims under the FTC
standard and recommended that they be discontinued. The NAD
also recommended, and MasterNet agreed, to discontinue the claim
that its products are recyclable and save countless trees from
destruction.