The PolyGreen plastic newspaper bags made and marketed by GP Plastics Corp. may not be living up to its eco-friendly claims. The Dallas, Texas-based company has been "recommended" by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus to modify or discontinue certain advertising claims, including "100 percent oxo-biodegradable," according to NAD's December 8 press release.
The New York Times, which had planned to switch to PolyGreen bags next year, has responded to the findings and decided to postpone the move to the bags. The Times said it would not use the bags until "further analysis can be conducted and verified."Mike Skinner, the chief financial officer of GP Plastics, told the Times' Green Inc. blog that the NAD's decision was "in no way a legally binding decision or precedent, and the level of scientific and other review that the NAD makes of advertising claims is less extensive than what would occur in a legal proceeding." In the meantime, the company told NAD that it "intends to appeal all findings adverse to GP Plastics in the NAD's decision to the National Advertising Review Board."According to a February 21 press release from GP Plastics, the bag maker uses oxo-biodegradable additives supplied by Willow Ridge Plastics of Erlanger, Kentucky. And the PolyGreen bags have been confirmed by Willow Ridge's tests to "meet the specification of an oxo-biodegradable plastic."The Green Inc. report pointed out that Mexico Plastic Co. Inc. of Mexico, Missouri., a rival maker of newspaper bags, has been challenging GP Plastics' marketing claims.Is it the bag maker's "green wash" or NAD's paranoia? We hope to see more clarity on the issue in the near future.Background link: PN Managing Editor Don Loepp's November 18 blog entry NY Times switching to biodegradable bags.SEARCH
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Claims of 'green' newspaper bags challenged
COMMENTS (4)
David A. Frecka:
Time and Time again everyone in the public has been duped into believing that plastic bags containing (FU FU Dust) will result in plastic becoming degradable or biodegradable.
How much longer are bag makers going to market
a "green" product knowing full well that the
chemistry does not work unless it is under a
perfect setting that does not ever exist.
All plastics go to a landfill where nothing is
going to degrade. If you can dig up a newspaper
that is 50 years old and still read it, why
wouldn't your common sense also tell you that
plastic bags would also remain intact ?
I have been in the plastics film business for 26 years and I have yet to find a truely
"green" film that works other than downgauging,
otherwise known as SOURCE REDUCTION.
The truth is that paper bags have a hugh
carbon footprint disadvantage compared to
plastic bags. Why in the world can't the
plastics industry get this simple message out?
That answer is also obvious. The bag busines
is highly competitive,thus marketing "green" bags gets orders at nice margins. However, that
does not mean green products hold up under
closer examination.
even i
Nina:
Thank you David for chiming in. Your comment seems to be cut off at the end though, probably because our blog system automatically sets a word limit for each comment. Sorry about that. Please feel free to continue with the comment.
David a. Frecka:
In the end, plastic film and bag manufacturing
companies need to finally examine their green
marketing ads and put a stop to them.Why ?,
because the real truth about plastics is that
it is truely a green product compared to paper
in terms of carbon footprinting.A Far less carbon footprint coupled with less pollution is one giant story in favor of plastics that the public needs and should hear. Even greenpeace would favor plastics if the truth ever got out.I beleive the plastic industry's
greed will soon result in shrinking market
volumes, losing out to PAPER !Greed has it's
price !!Such an easy message with so many
distortions. Jobs are at risk here, get real !!
Deborah Balem:
Plastic bags are manufactured using petroleum bi-products, right? Aren't we all attempting to reduce our reliance on oil? It is well known that plastic bags never fully decompose in the environment and the chemicals leach into the soil (and groundwater). BPA plastic is a known hormone disruptor and causes many other negative health effects. We could all survive just fine and dandy without plastic bags, plastic bottles or paper bags for that matter.