Insight

Greenwashing, how to detect it

Nowadays, the quest for a good green reputation drives companies to highlight their sustainability features in communication and marketing, although in many cases this occurs in unclear and not fully transparent fashion. Thus, specific claims can be misleading, and it turns out difficult to disentangle between greenwashing and reliable statements. Came into being in 1983 by green activist Jay Westerveld, the word “greenwashing” refers to the idea of “a brushstroke of green paint passed over” that is, giving a green veneer to actions disguising not so truly righteous features.

So how can the veracity of some claims be verified? There are several signs that can be picked up: in this bit on sustainability we have highlighted seven of them.

Fedrigoni pays extreme attention to transparently disclosing its products and their identity, including their sustainability features. We only state what can be proven and measured, progress after progress.

Bits on Sustainability are written by Fedrigoni’s Sustainability Team.

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Bit #7: Greenwashing