KEY POINTS:
- Some say the language used to promote products made from "ocean plastic" is confusing and misleading consumers.
- Some products labelled as containing ocean plastic are made from plastic collected up to 50km away from the sea.
- There are calls to create a clear definition of the term so that shoppers can better understand what they are buying.
Across Australia, more and more brands are telling consumers they're waging war on plastic to create a safer, healthier ocean.
Take Glad's recycled bin liners, for example. In bold capitals, the label boasts they are "50% OCEAN PLASTIC".
A little lower on the label, in a less prominent spot, "OCEAN PLASTIC" suddenly becomes "50% Ocean Bound Plastic*".
The block capitals vanish. An asterisk appears.
"Ocean plastic" or "ocean-bound plastic" in some cases could have been plucked from the landscape in developing countries up to 50km away from the sea. Source: AAP / Jennifer Lavers/PR IMAGE
In fact, it could have been plucked from the landscape in developing countries, up to 50km away from the sea.
"Made using 50% ocean bound recycled plastic that is collected from communities with no formal waste management system within 50km of the shore line," the explanatory note reads.
Glad didn't invent the definition for ocean plastic or ocean-bound plastic, as it's variously called. The 50km rule is in broad use by the commercial enterprises behind the rise of "ocean plastic".
But it's the kind of devil-in-the detail approach that has clean-up campaigner Heidi Tait incensed, and imploring the consumer watchdog and politicians to act.
'Extremely misleading'
Ms Tait is the founder of the Tangaroa Blue Foundation, which works to prevent, remove and track marine debris in Australia. And she recently told a government inquiry consumers are being taken for a ride.
While she didn't specifically mention Glad's bin liners, she took aim at a growing class of products that say they're made from 50 to 100 per cent ocean plastic, or ocean-bound plastic.
"We're allowing frameworks that have (overseas) waste pickers that might go and pick up rubbish 50km from the coast that may never have entered into the ocean," she told the inquiry.
"We are importing that waste as a feedstock to be manufactured into (new) products and then we are claiming that somehow we've cleaned up the ocean and it's going to have a benefit to our marine environment and to our wildlife.
"Those things are all extremely misleading."
Glad does not assert that it is cleaning up the ocean. Its language is focused on how "recycling ocean bound plastic reduces plastic pollution before it enters the ocean" and how that helps makes the seas safer for marine life.
Heidi Tait, founder of the Tangaroa Blue Foundation, isn't convinced that when consumers see headline descriptions like ocean plastic and ocean-bound plastic that they'll necessarily understand what they're buying. Source: AAP / Luis Ascui
"Glad takes seriously our obligations under the law and industry codes of practice to package and market our products with claims that are truthful and substantiated," it said.
But Ms Tait isn't convinced that when consumers see headline descriptions like ocean plastic and ocean-bound plastic - in the middle of their weekly shop - that they'll necessarily understand what they're buying.
California-based company Oceanworks is Glad's partner on it's ocean plastic recycled bags and describes itself as "a powerful responsible plastic sourcing engine that brings traceability and digitisation to the recycled plastic trade".
Oceanworks provides the recycled plastic feedstock Glad uses in its bin liners and says the material is harvested from the land, in places that lack efficient waste management systems.
One of the reasons for that is plastic waste that's been in the ocean is "hard to collect at scale" and is difficult and costly to use in manufacturing because it is typically degraded.
"We are by no means saying that every piece of plastic that is ocean-bound would have ended up in the ocean," Oceanworks co-founder and CEO Vanessa Coleman has told told AAP.
"But it's at very high risk of ending up there."
"To solve ocean plastic pollution, as a problem, you need to get the plastic out of the ocean that's already in there. But you absolutely also have to stop new plastic from going in."
Ms Coleman says there are ongoing issues around transparency in an emerging sector, including the absence of a regulatory framework.
"We have really emphasised transparency and trying to be clear about what is what. Because that is needed to get brands to do something," she says.
"So they know if they are trying to improve their supply chains, and make them more sustainable, it's not going to backfire."
Calls for a crackdown
There's no doubt the risks are high, with consumer confidence hanging in the balance, alongside risks of reputational damage for brands.
About two years ago, Australian-born hairdresser Kevin Murphy was forced to issue a public apology over claims the packaging for his hair care products was "100% Ocean Waste Plastic".
Ocean Waste Plastic is a brand owned by Pack Tech, a Danish packaging company.
Mr Murphy, in a video shared on Youtube, said he'd been humbled and promised to do better after the company's supplier said it "cannot guarantee that our current packaging that has 100% OWP on the label is in fact accurate".
Late last year, Bunnings withdrew a plastic storage bin that proclaimed: "I'm made from ocean bound plastic."
"While we were satisfied the product contained recycled material, we weren't satisfied with our supplier's claim it was ocean-bound," the retailer told the AAP news agency.
Ms Tait believes there's a clear need for Australia to develop government-approved definitions for ocean and ocean-bound plastic, so consumers can easily understand what they are getting.
While the government inquiry mulls that over, Tangaroa Blue and lawyers from the Environmental Defenders Office have urged the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to look carefully at products that are already in the marketplace.
The watchdog - which is halfway through a general crackdown on all types of greenwashing - has responded with a warning for all brands to tread carefully.
"Businesses should take care when making claims about using 'ocean plastic' or 'ocean-bound plastic' in their products. As there is no standard definition for these terms, this may leave consumers with a false impression," a spokeswoman told AAP.
"In the next couple of months, the ACCC will be releasing revised guidance for businesses about the steps they can take to ensure their environmental claims have integrity and are helpful for consumers."
Last month, the watchdog flagged a number of investigations after an internet sweep found that more than half of the 247 businesses reviewed had made concerning claims about their environmental or sustainability practices.
It has not named any of the companies.
AAP is not suggesting any wrongdoing by any of the brands mentioned in this article. AAP has sought comment from Kevin Murphy, and Pack Tech.
