Airline’s Green Giveaway Backfires

There’s an interesting post from Libby Rosenthal on the International Herald Tribune’s Business of Green blog about a green promotion that backfired.

Each person in economy class on a flight Rosenthal was on (the carrier was not named) was given a paper bag containing a head set, foam earplugs, a tube of moisturizer, a plastic eye shade, and a tube of toothpaste. “Take Care of Yourself and the Environment” the bag said, continuing: “This amenity kit has been made earth-friendly through the use of natural, biodegradable and recycled materials.”

But Rosenthal never received an amenity kit before – even though she’d flown the same flight previously. Wasn’t it more earth friendly to have no amenity kit?
The toothbrush was made from “biodegradable corn,” but the plastic tube of moisturizer read “please recycle” without saying how.

And it was all made in China – a country Rosenthal says is known for high factory emissions. “To get to Europe, where my flight began, these items had to be transported around the world,” Rosenthal writes. “More emissions still.”