Environmental Leader

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that the second in its series of public workshops being held as part of the agency’s regulatory review of the Green Guides will cover green packaging claims.

Last month, advertising trade associations asked the Federal Trade Commission to take its time and hold more workshops (it held its first workshop in January covering the marketing of carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates) before making any changes to its green marketing guides.

The workshop, which will be held in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2008, will look at: trends in packaging and the resulting environmental packaging claims; packaging terms currently covered by the Green Guides and whether the perception of these terms has changed over the past decade; new green packaging terms not currently addressed in the Green Guides; claims based on third-party certification and consumer perception of such claims; the impact of scientific and technological changes, including the use of new packaging materials and their impact on the environment;the current state of substantiation for green packaging claims; and the need for new or updated FTC guidance in these areas.