Today, the European Consumer Organization BEUC together with its members from 13 Member States has filed a complaint to European authorities for misleading commercial claims by major drinking water bottle traders about the recyclability of their products.
According to the analysis conducted by BEUC together with ClientEarth and ECOS – Environmental Coalition on Standards, the claims of companies such as Coca-Cola, Danone, and Nestlé Waters/Nestlé mislead consumers and do not comply with the EU rules on unfair commercial practices.
The following claims were of concern:
- 100% recyclable: This term is ambiguous as it depends on many factors such as the available infrastructure to collect material, the effectiveness of the sorting process, or appropriate recycling processes. The recycling rate for PET beverage bottle bodies is estimated at only 55 percent in the EU with only a 30 percent chance of becoming a bottle again.
- 100% recycled: This claim wrongly implies the entire bottle is made exclusively from recycled materials. In reality, bottle caps cannot be made of recycled materials by EU law and labels are rarely made from recycled material either. Instead, adding non-recycled plastic to the bottle body is common practice.
- Use of green imagery: Closed loops, green logos or nature images are used for branding many water bottles across Europe. They prompt the false idea of climate neutrality, endless plastic circularity and may even give the impression that the bottles would have a positive impact on the environment.
Ursula Pachl, BEUC Deputy Director General, commented: "Using '100% recycled/recyclable' claims or displaying nature images and green visuals that insinuate that plastic is environmentally friendly is misleading consumers. Such claims however can be found on many water bottles sold across Europe. The problem is that there’s no guarantee it will be fully recycled once it’s in the bin. This greenwashing must stop. The EU is taking much welcomed steps5 with how to help clean up the market from deceiving green claims. However, it will take years before new regulatory measures will apply and there is no time to waste, so we expect authorities to take action quickly."
Source: BEUC
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