Going green sometimes just 'greenwashing'

As more Puget Sound businesses jump on the eco bandwagon by taking action to reduce their environmental impact, some companies are simply rebranding themselves as "green" but are changing very little about the way they operate, which can earn them the disgraced term "greenwashed."

Organizations that make changes to be better stewards of the earth are lauded as green companies, and should be supported, environmental groups say. But companies that seek to profit from the ever-increasing environmental movement by superficially labeling themselves as green because they now do something like carry organic soap should be publicly rebuked for deceiving consumers, they add.

The term ‘greenwashing’ was coined by New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld, who has been a proponent of many historic environmental acts and U.S. endangered species initiatives. Westerveld said he saw a trend of companies making silly small changes and then parading their so called environmental sacrifice through marketing efforts.

Environmental experts says that many companies still don’t realize that by reducing their operational consumption habits or offering truly green products, it can save their company money long term.

At FROGBOX, for example, the company biodiesel trucks, a solar powered website, and the service alone helps people reduce customers’ environmental impact by re-using plastic boxes instead of using cardboard moving boxes.

Going green, experts say, doesn’t have to be a sacrifice.