McDonald Hopkins Environmental Alert: Going Green? FTC's New Proposed Green Guidelines May Have Marketers Seeing Red

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Oct 27, 2010, 02:18 ET

CLEVELAND, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- "It's not easy being green." That's what Kermit the Frog says, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) apparently agrees. On October 6, 2010, the FTC issued new proposed "Green Guides" intended to help marketers avoid making misleading environmental claims. While it may be trendy to "go green" or be "eco-friendly", the new proposed guidelines are designed to ensure that marketers of environmental claims do not deceive consumers. For instance, under the new proposed guidelines, if the product claims to be:

Degradable

The marketer should qualify the claim unless it can substantiate that the entire product or package will completely break down and return to nature no more than one year after customary disposal. Marketers are cautioned that they should not make unqualified degradable claims for items destined for landfills, incinerators or recycling facilities because decomposition will not occur within one year.

Compostable

The marketer must qualify the claim unless it can substantiate that all materials in the product package will break down into, or otherwise become a part, of usable compost in a safe and timely manner and that the product and/or package will break down at approximately the same time as the other materials with which it is composted.

Click below to read more of the proposed guidelines in the McDonald Hopkins Environmental Alert:

McDonald Hopkins Law Firm Alert; Going Green? FTC's New Proposed Green Guidelines May Have Marketers Seeing Red

http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com/alerts/alert.aspx?id=Ki3PHqNb-UKKySfKnft5Bg

For more information, please contact:
Theodore J. Esborn
216.348.5735
[email protected]

About McDonald Hopkins

With more than 130 attorneys in Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, and West Palm Beach, McDonald Hopkins is a business advisory and advocacy law firm focused on business law, litigation, business restructuring, labor and employment, government affairs, healthcare, and estate planning. The president of McDonald Hopkins is Carl J. Grassi. For more information about McDonald Hopkins, visit http://www.mcdonaldhopkins.com.

SOURCE McDonald Hopkins