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“Eco-friendly” is easy to print on a box. It’s much harder to prove. This page explains how we decide what to say about a product’s environmental claims, so you can check our work and use the same questions yourself.
The rules we measure against
United States: the FTC Green Guides. The Federal Trade Commission’s Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (16 CFR Part 260) explain how the FTC expects environmental claims to be made so they don’t mislead consumers. They were last revised in 2012, and the FTC asked for public comment on updating them in December 2022. (FTC) When we last checked (31 Oct 2026), we hadn’t found a revised version, so we work from the current text; see the FTC’s Green Guides page for any update. They aren’t a law on their own, but the FTC uses them when it decides whether a claim is deceptive.
Points from the Green Guides we use most: – Broad claims are risky. Unqualified claims like “green” or “eco-friendly” are very hard to back up, because people read them as meaning a product has no real environmental downside. – Qualifiers must be clear and nearby. If a claim only applies to part of a product (say, the packaging), it should say so plainly. – Compostable and recyclable depend on access. If the facilities aren’t available to a substantial majority of the people a product is sold to, the claim should be qualified, for example “compostable in industrial facilities, which may not exist in your area.” – “Degradable” has a time limit. An unqualified “biodegradable” claim implies the whole item breaks down within a reasonably short time (the Guides say one year) after customary disposal. The Guides call unqualified degradable claims deceptive for items customarily thrown out to landfill, incinerators or recycling, because complete decomposition won’t happen there within a year. – Carbon offsets need sound accounting, and should disclose if the emission reductions won’t occur for two years or longer. – Seals and certifications shouldn’t imply a broad benefit that the certifier didn’t actually assess.
These are our plain-English summaries. Read the full text at ecfr.gov (sections 260.4 general benefit claims, 260.5 carbon offsets, 260.6 certifications, 260.7 compostable, 260.8 degradable, 260.12 recyclable).
Australia: the ACCC’s guidance. In December 2023 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission published Making environmental claims: A guide for business, which sets out eight principles. We apply them to every claim we write about:
- Make accurate and truthful claims.
- Have evidence to back up your claims.
- Do not hide or omit important information.
- Explain any conditions or qualifications on your claims.
- Avoid broad and unqualified claims.
- Use clear and easy-to-understand language.
- Visual elements should not give the wrong impression.
- Be direct and open about your sustainability transition.
In 2026 the ACCC added a separate guide, Making emissions claims to consumers, which applies the same approach to carbon and emissions claims. (ACCC)
The questions we ask about every claim
- Who is making it? The brand, a retailer, or an independent certifier? We always say which.
- What exactly is claimed? “Made with 50% recycled plastic” is checkable. “Planet-positive” isn’t.
- Which part? Product, packaging, shipping or the whole company?
- What’s the evidence? A test report, a certification we can look up, a published lifecycle study? We link it if it exists. If it doesn’t, we say so.
- What are the conditions? Industrial composting only? Recyclable only where curbside programs take it? Carbon neutral through offsets rather than cuts?
- What’s left out? A “recycled” jacket can still be one you’d replace in two seasons. Durability, repair and spare parts often matter more than the headline claim.
How we write about it
- Brand claims stay brand claims. We write “Brand X says its packaging is compostable” and link their page, not “the packaging is compostable.”
- No vague words without a reason. We won’t call anything “eco-friendly”, “green” or “sustainable” unless the same sentence says why.
- Numbers come with a source and a date. Specs come from the manufacturer or a certification body, and we note when we checked.
- No health claims. For air purifiers we say what a filter is designed to capture (for example PM2.5 or smoke particles), not what it does for your body. Health guidance comes from agencies such as the US EPA, AirNow and Australian state health departments.
- No invented testing. If we haven’t used a product, we don’t pretend we have.
- No invented deals or prices. We don’t publish “was/now” prices. If a price appears, it’s labelled “price at time of writing” with the date checked and the source.
How we pick products
When we recommend something, we look for: – Verifiable performance figures: for example AHAM-verified CADR for purifiers, or the stated watt-hours, output wattage and battery chemistry for power stations. – Longevity: replaceable filters and batteries that are actually sold, published cycle life, warranty length and repair options. – Honest running costs: filter replacement schedules, energy use where published. – Fit for the reader: room size, renting vs owning, US vs Australian plugs and standards.
Affiliate commission isn’t a criterion. A product we can’t earn from can still be our pick.
Corrections
If a brand updates a claim, or you think we’ve got something wrong, tell us. We fix errors and note significant corrections at the bottom of the article.
Sources
- US Federal Trade Commission, Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, 16 CFR Part 260: ecfr.gov
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Making environmental claims: A guide for business (Dec 2023): accc.gov.au
- ACCC media release on the eight principles: accc.gov.au
- ACCC media release on emissions claims guidance: accc.gov.au
- FTC, Green Guides topic page: ftc.gov
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