The TRUTH About

We bring a refillable water bottle everywhere we go, sign up for paperless billing and recycle. We do all these things because we’re told it’s the environmentally responsible thing to do. But is that really true?

Some companies that push bottled water and paperless billing, for example, are actually greenwashing the public.

What is greenwashing? It’s the act or practice of making a product, policy or activity appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is, according to Merriam-Webster.

How do you know if a company is greenwashing you? First, their advertising is filled with meaningless buzzwords such as natural, eco-friendly, sustainable, green and waste-free – without explaining how they relate to the product.

Second, companies push “environmentally responsible” products, but their raw materials, manufacturing operations and supply chain are anything but environmentally responsible.

In fact, a Harris Poll found that 72 percent of North American company executives surveyed admitted they were fully aware their company was greenwashing the public.

Bottled Water

An example of greenwashing is bottled water. Companies are convincing consumers it’s safer to drink water sourced from a crystal clear stream and in a plastic bottle than it is to drink their own municipal tap water in a glass. These companies are greenwashing on two counts. First, many companies claim their water comes from a babbling brook, when it’s really tap water. Second, companies are charging consumers for something they can access for free.

Single-use plastic bottles are recyclable, so no harm no foul. However, this assumes all plastic bottles get recycled. Of the 8.3 billion tons of plastic bottles produced annually (worldwide), only 9 percent are recycled. The remaining 91 percent end up in the oceans – killing more than 100,000 marine animals and 1 million seabirds a year – as well as in landfills.

Companies also fail to mention not all components of the bottle can be recycled – in particular the label and cap. Single-use bottles also can’t be infinitely recycled because the process downgrades the plastic’s quality to the point where it becomes useless and ends up in the landfill.

Paperless Billing

When it comes to paperless billing, by not having a hardcopy statement mailed to us, we believe we’re saving trees. Wrong. Companies push paperless billing because it’s cheaper for the company, not because it’s environmentally responsible.

They don’t have to purchase the paper or pay an employee to create and print an invoice, then put it in an envelope. And the company doesn't have to purchase the postage to mail the invoice.

Paper milling does not cause deforestation. The demand for sustainably sourced paper creates a financial incentive for foresters to responsibly manage their land.

"Paper is one of the few products on earth that already has an environmentally sustainable, circular life cycle," says Kathi Rowzi, Two Sides North America president.

Two Sides challenges greenwashing companies in a non-confrontational way by educating senior management and CEOs with facts from legitimate, third-party sources that substantiate the distinctive sustainability properties of paper products and the steady, continuously improving environmental record of the North American paper industry.

"North American paper is made from an infinitely renewable natural resource – trees that are purposegrown, harvested and regrown in sustainably managed forests," she explains. "It's manufactured using mostly renewable, carbon neutral bioenergy in a process that uses water, but in reality consumes very little of it. And paper products are recycled more than any other material. But many consumers believe paper is bad for the environment because corporations and other organizations they trust are telling them so."

Rowzi says 65 percent of consumers who have seen anti-paper greenwashing are influenced to go paperless, and that is a huge threat to the economic security of the over 7 million people who depend on the healthy North American paper, printing and mailing industry.