ACCC takes GLAD-bag manufacturer to court for ‘ocean plastic’ claims
The ACCC has instituted Federal Court proceedings against Clorox Australia, manufacturer of GLAD-branded garbage bags, for allegedly making false claims it used recycled ‘ocean plastic’ in its GLAD Kitchen Tidy Bags and Garbage Bags.
The ACCC alleges the company claimed these bags were made of 50 per cent recycled ‘ocean plastic’ collected from an ocean or sea, “when that was not the case”, with the plastic collected from communities far from the ocean.
“We allege that the headline ‘ocean plastic’ statements and wave imagery on the GLAD bag packaging, and the use of blue coloured bags, created the impression that these GLAD bags were made from plastic waste collected from the ocean or sea, when this was not the case,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.
“We are concerned that, by its alleged conduct, Clorox deprived consumers of the opportunity to make informed purchasing decisions, and may have put other businesses making genuine environmental claims at an unfair disadvantage.
“This action reflects our enforcement priority to take action against businesses making false or misleading environmental claims. Increasingly consumers choose the products they buy based on their environmental impact, and in doing so they must be able to rely on the environmental claims made by businesses being accurate.”
The ACCC is seeking declarations, penalties, injunctions, an order to implement a compliance program, corrective notices, costs and other orders.
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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