Preventing greenwashing may require companies to provide very detailed information about their operating practices if a new class action lawsuit against Procter & Gamble is successful. According to Packaging Insights,
“Hagens Berman, a class-action law firm headquartered in Seattle, US, has filed a lawsuit against Procter & Gamble (P&G), the parent company of Charmin toilet paper. The lawsuit alleges that Charmin’s packaging makes unsubstantiated sustainability claims, including the misleading use of the Rainforest Alliance frog seal.
It also claims that P&G engages in undisclosed wood-sourcing practices, such as clear-cutting and chemical herbicide use.
‘As alleged in our complaint, P&G fails to disclose that its suppliers are replanting single species conifers, evenly spaced and then covering these trees with chemical herbicides to intentionally eliminate all growth other than just a handful of tree species most valuable for logging,’ Steve Berman, a managing partner at Hagens Berman [said].”
The law firm published a summary of its claims against the company, which are:
- Charmin sources its wood pulp via industrial logging practices such as clear-cutting and burning.
- Charmin suppliers are systematically converting critically important old-growth forests into environmentally devastating “Frankenforests.”
- Only a fraction of its wood pulp is sourced from FSC-certified forests.
- The Rainforest Alliance continues to provide certification to Charmin products.
The suit makes noise about seeking potentially big bucks: “monetary payback for purchases consumers wouldn’t have made had they known the truth behind Charmin toilet paper and seeks to end Charmin’s greenwashing of its products.” Determining how many actual purchasers were specifically influenced by Charmin’s label and claims will be challenging to say the least. Further, once that is determined, it may be a much smaller universe of buyers than expected.
The far more likely scenario is that P&G will settle this out of court and make changes to its label and claims. Other companies may follow the example – and preemptively reduce similar class action risk.
Members can learn more about greenwashing risk here.
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Photo credit: JHVEPhoto – stock.adobe.com
