7 Myths About Green Products

Myth #1 Green products don’t work as well.

Fact: Products such as Method, Tide Coldwater, and Clorox Greenworks brands have been developed specifically to work as well or better than regular products.

Myth #2 Consumers don’t want to buy green products.

Fact: Green purchases represented $290 billion in sales in 2008, up from $219 billion in 2005 (Source: NMI, 2009).

Myth #3 Green products are more expensive.

Fact:  Thanks to economies of scale due to high volumes, many green products today are competitively priced versus "brown” counterparts; and often can make up for premium pricing many times over during their lifetimes, due to savings on energy and water.

Myth #4 Only specialty stores sell green products.

Fact: Major supermarkets now carry their own brand of organic products (e.g., Safeway’s 300- item USDA certified “O Organics” line), and Wal-Mart is quickly making “green” a priority for vendor selection.

Myth #5 Green products aren’t really “green."

Fact:  No product can be truly “green” since all products use resources and create waste, but products can be “greener,” denoting a continuum toward sustainability.

Myth #6 Plant based products will degrade in landfills.

Fact:  No product, even those labeled “compostable,” will degrade in a landfill.  Compostables will only degrade in industrial composting facilities or in backyard composters at high temperatures.

 Myth #7 100% recycled products are better for the environment than 10% recycled products.

Fact: Depending upon how far most recyclables must travel to recycling centers for processing (creating greenhouse gases in the process), products with 10% recycled content could actually be environmentally preferable to more recycled counterparts.

From The New Rules of Green Marketing by Jacquelyn Ottman

Reprint Request, contact Cynthia Shannon, cshannon@bkpub.com