An Australian yogurt manufacturer has been forced to change the wording on its plastic tubs after Australia's competition watchdog investigated it for making false claims the tubs were made from 100 percent ocean plastic.
The Melbourne-based Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) accepted a court-enforceable undertaking from Adelaide-based Moo Premium Foods Pty. Ltd. after an investigation into Moo's representations on its packaging, website, and social media pages that the yogurt tubs were "100 percent ocean plastic."
The undertaking notes that, for at least two years, Moo made false and misleading representations about its yogurt packaging that were likely to contravene four sections of the Australian Consumer Law that outlaw greenwashing — advertising or marketing a product in a way that deceptively claims the product to be environmentally friendly.
An ACCC statement said Moo Premium Foods' claim, marked prominently on its tubs, gave the impression they were made from plastic waste collected directly from the ocean, which was not true.
While Moo included disclaimers on the top and back of the packaging, ACCC considered the disclaimers insufficient to overcome the headline representation of "100 percent ocean plastic," the statement said.
An enforceable undertaking is an admission of wrongdoing that can be enforced by a court if a company does not implement rectification measures.
The undertaking says Moo told ACCC the plastic used in its packaging was actually "reclaimed ocean-bound plastic" — abandoned plastic waste collected within 50 kilometers of the shoreline in regions where waste management is nonexistent or inefficient.
ACCC Commissioner Liza Carver said an investigation revealed the resin used to manufacture Moo's yogurt packaging was collected from coastal areas in Malaysia, and not directly from the ocean.
"Making false statements about a product's environmental or sustainability qualities can mislead consumers [and] put businesses making genuine claims at a competitive disadvantage," she said.
"It is important that environmental and sustainability claims by businesses are correct as they are a key influence on consumer choices and what people spend their money on," Carver said.
Moo, which cooperated with the ACCC investigation, was forced to scrap existing containers; update its packaging design; remove all references on its website and social media platforms to ocean plastic; conduct internal audits about how it sources what it now calls ocean-bound plastic; establish and implement a compliance program; and publish a corrective notice on its website and social media for 60 consecutive days.
Late in 2023, ACCC published a comprehensive 42-page greenwashing guidelines document that outlined its expectations on making environmental claims, with examples of conduct that is potentially misleading under Australian law.
An ACCC spokesperson told Plastics News the watchdog would not comment on whether other actions were in progress against other plastic product manufacturers for potentially misleading claims about recycled content or recyclability.
However, many examples in the guidelines relate to false claims about products claiming to have "more" recycled content, without naming what the content is more than, or claiming recyclability when a particular resin cannot be recycled in Australia.
Moo yogurt products are sold in supermarkets and convenience stores around Australia.
The company, founded in 2005 by managing director Mick Sanders, now claims on its website that using ocean-bound plastic tubs will "save the equivalent of 439,277 plastic bottles from entering the ocean this year and help transform the lives of those living in underprivileged coastal communities around the world."
Moo Premium Foods did not respond to Plastics News' request for comment.