Palm | Kelapa Sawit

This is just an example of green washing.
The Greenpeace Guide to Anti-Environmental Organizations, Carl Deal noted that Mobil Chemical added some starch to the plastic in their 'Hefty' trash bags and marketed them as biodegradable

"Unfortunately, this 'biodegradability' only took place if the bags were left out in the sun, not if they were buried in landfills - which is, of course, where almost all garbage bags end up. And even in the unlikely event that one of these bags was left out in the sun, it wouldn't rapidly biodegrade, but would merely break up into smaller pieces of plastic. A Mobil Chemical spokesman later admitted that 'degradability is just a marketing tool, We're talking out of both sides of our mouth because we want to sell our bags."
"The company was sued by six states and the Federal Trade Commission for making false and misleading claims, and Greenpeace issued a report written by Barry Commoner called Biodegradable Plastics Scam. Shortly thereafter, Mobil removed the word 'biodegradable from their packaging and agreed to stop making further unsubstantiated advertising claims.

The article found at http://www.sourcewatch.org/
-Tomohiro Kawasaki

Visit our site:

http://sites.google.com/site/ecomerge2008/

Has anyone noticed Microsoft’s new campaign and website portraying the company as environmentally conscious and cheerfully hawking the companies Vista platforms’ energy savings? If you haven’t, and would like a very high budgeted example of greenwashing then you should give Microsoft.com/environment a look. Microsoft shows a gorgeous snow-filled mountain scene and talks about the wonders of saving energy for your organization; this is a notable aspect of Windows Vista, but completely overshadows the companies’ other endeavors, most notably the packaging of Microsoft products.

Microsoft is a large company, perhaps the powers that approved the environmental website have never been to a local store and looked at their companies’ retail offerings, or they didn’t receive a company-wide memo about the company’s packaging habits; regardless, the effect is a clear example of greenwashing, though you’d be none-the-wiser by looking at Microsoft’s self-professed environmentally friendly website. That of course is the point of greenwashing, cover up the bad with a smattering of the good…

Think on the companies packaging, how many of you have seen the solid plastic coffins that Windows Vista and other Microsoft applications come encased in? For Microsoft accessories, and their Xbox 360 platform particularly, well, good luck getting a new controller out of its plastic packaging. Seriously, you almost cannot open Microsoft accessories without a powerful set of scissors and an amazing amount of patience; apparently plastic has become a new renewable resource which is simply absurd.

Microsoft should know better than portraying the positive while blissfully continuing on with the environmental deprivations their company takes part in. Please visit our website and become informed on devastating consequences of greenwashing at http://sites.google.com/site/ecomerge2008/

-John O

The Ecology Center (EC) in Berkeley California was established in 1969 and launched a curbside recycling program way back in 1973. They still run it as a non-profit and the funds generated help with other community projects. This organization has supreme credibility in the field of recycling and we must agree with what they say: “The EC continues to be a place where people turn for reliable information about alternatives to harmful practices like pesticide overuse, for avenues to local policy makers and for connection with others concerned with environmental issues”.

The EC in 1995 decided to investigate adding plastics to the curbside recycling. Their comprehensive report found these interesting facts:

A link exists between the promotion of plastics recycling and an increase in production of virgin resin.

• Plastic packaging production in recent years has outstripped plastic recycling by as much as a six to one-margin, and most of that production is from virgin materials.
• Plastic packaging is not produced from petroleum waste, but from natural gas that could be used otherwise or not extracted at all.
• Although all plastic containers bear the recyclable symbol, most are not recyclable.
• Picking up plastics at curbside costs about $800 of taxpayer money or more per ton.
• Much of the plastic collected for recycling is shipped overseas, and processed under, at best, dubious conditions.
• Many of the products made from the plastic resin that is being recycled are not themselves recyclable, making the "recycling" only temporary diversion from landfill.

The Plastics Industries (who are great polluters) very much like promoting the idea of recyclable plastics yet it has no comparison to say, recycling paper. At best curbside plastic can be re-used once and then it goes to the landfill; or it is sent overseas “under, at best, dubious conditions”. We (myself included) have always thought that plastic was made from the leftovers of a barrel of crude oil after gasoline production, but this is not true. The answer is “pre-cycling” and here are EC’s suggestions:

a) using refillable containers; b) buying in bulk; c) selecting products that use little or no packaging, and d) choosing packaging materials that can be recycled and are made from recycled materials such as glass, metal, and paper. Holding companies accountable for the material they sell by legislatively demanding recycled content also has been shown to work on the city, state, and national levels.

Click here for an informative quiz with answers

Fran, David