Clorox Australia has been ordered to pay $8.25 million for falsely claiming that certain Glad garbage and kitchen bags were made from recycled ocean plastic.
The Federal Court found that, between June 2021 and July 2023, Clorox misled consumers by labelling its Glad to be Green ‘50 per cent Ocean Plastic Recycled’ Kitchen Tidy Bags and Garbage Bags as containing at least 50 per cent recycled plastic waste collected from the ocean or sea.
In reality, the products were made from a mix of plastic waste collected from communities in Indonesia up to 50 kilometres from the shoreline, non-recycled plastic, processing aid, and dye.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Chair of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), said that claims about environmental benefits matter to many consumers and may impact their purchasing behaviour.
“When those claims are false or misleading, this is a serious breach of trust, as well as the Australian Consumer Law.
“This is also a significant matter because consumers have limited or no ability to independently verify the accuracy of the claims made on packaging and it also disadvantages competitors who are accurately communicating their environmental credentials.”
The court noted that the blue colour and wave imagery on the packaging, along with references to being “green”, created a strong association with environmental sustainability and the ocean.
“There is a particular societal harm that arises when conduct undermines consumers’ confidence in environmental claims. Environmental claims are useful for consumers only if they are accurate,” the court stated.
Clorox has been ordered to implement an Australian Consumer Law compliance program, publish a corrective notice on its website, and contribute to the ACCC’s legal costs.
While the company cooperated with the ACCC during the investigation and proceedings, it discontinued the products in July 2023, after learning of the ACCC’s interest but before formal action was launched.
A spokesperson for Clorox said Glad Australia takes seriously its obligations to package and market its products with claims that are accurate and substantiated.
“While the ACCC and the court recognised that Glad did not intend to mislead consumers, we respect this outcome and see this as an opportunity to further enhance our practices and reaffirm our commitment to offering products that help reduce environmental impact and meet consumers’ evolving needs.”
More than 2.2 million products were sold with the misleading labels during the period in question.
“We take allegations of greenwashing extremely seriously and will continue to monitor claims made by businesses and, where appropriate, will take enforcement action on misleading environmental claims,” Cass-Gottlieb said.
To stay up to date on the latest industry headlines, sign up to the C&I e-newsletter.