In my opinion, greenwashing is one of the biggest obstacles we face when making these changes in our home. I have been greenwashed plenty and it took practice to recognize it and navigate it. I’m here to help you figure it out too!

What is greenwashing?

It’s when a company uses packaging and wording on their products to make the items look ‘green’ or ‘eco friendly’. Usually in the form of white or green packaging. It’s a marketing strategy to make the company look more eco friendly. It can also be used as a cover up to look sustainable and cover up less sustainable practices. It’s often used to hide some wrongdoing from the customer. They are trying to capitalize on the growing demand for more environmentally sound products.

Why is this dangerous?

Because these products are usually far from clean! You can’t rely on the packaging when choosing clean options for your family! I was greenwashed many times by products I thought were clean because they looked expensive or had all the jargon on the label. It’s deceiving and just makes the whole process harder for those of us trying to do a little better every day!

How can you keep this from happening to you?

Learn to read labels! This is a skill and it takes time! I highly encourage you to learn to use the website EWG.org. They have so much information and knowledge on reading ingredients and what to look out for! Once you learn the basics, you’ll be able to make the call on your own! It just takes practice.

Here are a few things to look out for:

1) When the label sends you to the website to look for ingredient lists. This is super sketchy in my opinion. If the ingredients aren’t fully listed on the bottle then that is a red flag. Typically because every time I go to the website to look for the ingredients, they give me the run around. ie, they are very hard to find if I can find them at all. Products that do this often include natural deodorants and laundry products.

2) When a company doesn’t disclose what they use in the fragrance in their products. They can hide 1,000s of chemicals under that one word and they aren’t legally obligated to share that. The word fragrance is considered a trade secret and is protected. This is where many companies hide chemicals in products. Scary right? If a company discloses this, I know it’s a good product!

3) Green labels or pricier looking bottles. I was duped many times by cute looking bottles on the shelves at Target. I also used to think that if it was a little pricier then it had to be good, right? This is not the case. Again, the proof is in the ingredient label!

4) These words on a label. Make sure they can back up their claims with the ingredient list.

pediatrician recommended
eco friendly
all natural
dermatologist recommended
organic/gluten free

You can see the recipes, DIYs, and all my cleaning advice here on the blog! Best advice is to just start paying attention! Have you been greenwashed? Tell me about it in the comments!

XO

Sarah

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