The article says:
It's easy for a manufacturer to give the wrong impression about a product's environmental friendliness. For example, a company may promote a single quality of the product that's environmentally preferable (such as using less water) but ignore it's other harmful features (like using more energy). Or it may use words like 'biodegradable' without stating how much of the product degrades, what it degrades into or how long the process takes.
So if you want to chose a 'greener' product, how can you be sure you're not being sucked in by a bit of greenwash? (See the rest of article in the January/February 2007 Choice magazine).
In order to help consumers with this issue, as part of an international voluntary labelling code, the Good Environmental Choice (GEC) label has been set up in Australia, which is administered by the not-for-profit NGO, Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA). Their website contains a section on sustainable living including a link to join the National Sustainability Network, a "Green Consumer Product of the Month" feature, household and office tips and information about a wide array of household and office products such as adhesives and paints, photocopiers, clothing, timber products and eco-tourism. It's a really interesting site with lots of of other links, well worth perusing :-)
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