An Australian garbage bag giant has been ordered to pay over $8million after it falsely claimed it products were partly made of recycled ‘ocean plastic’. 

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took Clorox Australia to the Federal Court over the false claims made between June 2021 and 2023. 

The packaging for its ‘GLAD to be GREEN’ kitchen bags claimed to be made from at least 50 per cent recycled ocean plastic. 

The products were actually made from 50 per cent plastic waste collected in Indonesian communities without formal waste systems, located 50km inland. 

The rest was made from non-recycled plastic, along with processing aids and dye. More than 2.2million of the products were sold between 2021 and 2023. 

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb accused Clorox of undermining confidence for Aussies looking to be environmentally conscious. 

‘Claims about environmental benefits matter to many consumers and may impact their purchasing behaviour,’ she said.

‘When those claims are false or misleading, this is a serious breach of trust, as well as the Australian Consumer Law.’

The court found that the packaging ‘connoted a relationship between the products and the ocean,’ and that the word ‘green’ implied ‘environmental-friendliness’. 

It criticised Glad for the broader impact of false environmental claims, noting the ‘societal harm [that] arises when conduct undermines consumers’ confidence in environmental claims’. 

It also stressed that while ‘the development of products that minimise adverse environmental impacts is beneficial,’ these claims are ‘useful for consumers only if they are accurate’. 

Clorox was ordered to implement an Australian Consumer Law compliance program, publish a corrective notice on its website, and contribute to the ACCC’s legal costs.

The GLAD bags in question were discontinued in July 2023, shortly after the ACCC began its investigation.

Between June 2021 and about 13 November 2022, GLAD included a disclaimer in small font on the back of their bags. 

It read: ‘*Made using 50% ocean bound plastic that is collected from communities with no formal waste management system within 50km of the shore line’.

From March 6 2022, GLAD changed the packaging again, this time saying it was ‘Made using 50% Ocean Bound Plastic*’. 

A new disclaimer was added that read ‘*Made using 50% ocean bound recycled plastic that is collected from communities with no formal waste management system within 50 km of the shore line’. 

The ACCC says these changes were ‘insufficient to dispel the false or misleading ocean plastic representation’. 

The act has been branded as ‘greenwashing’, which the ACCC defines as when ‘a business uses any claim, or omits key information, that makes a product or service seem better or less harmful for the environment than it really is’. 

‘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,’ Ms Cass-Gottlieb said. 

A 2023 report by the ACCC into greenwashing found that 57 per cent of businesses surveyed in Australia made claims that ‘raised concern’ regarding their validity into environmental practices. 

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, Clorox said that ‘GLAD Australia takes seriously its obligations to package and market its products with claims that are accurate and substantiated.’

Adding ‘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.’