Products on European supermarket shelves reportedly have misleading claims about their packaging contents.

What's happening?

According to The Guardian, brands like Kraft's Heinz Beanz to Mondelēz's Philadelphia cream cheese use plastic made by the oil company Saudi Aramco. It's the world's largest corporate air polluter, and it opposes the U.N.'s plastic treaty proposal to reduce plastic production.

While Saudi Aramco has labeled some of its plastic as "circular," that's not necessarily true.

The petrochemical industry can make pyrolysis oil that can be used to create new plastic items from plastic waste. But it can only make up no more than 5% of the raw materials needed to make new plastic. The other 95% has to come from completely new naphtha, which comes from petroleum.

The worst part is that materials made with 5% pyrolysis oil can still be labeled as 100% recycled when the process is done.

"This is unfair to consumers — recycled content should be physically part of the final product," Lauriane Veillard, a policy officer at the NGO Zero Waste Europe, told The Guardian.

This kind of action is known as greenwashing and doesn't help the environment at all.

Why is greenwashing concerning?

Greenwashing sees companies use eco-friendly marketing to look like they're doing good for the climate. It often involves hiding the true nature of manufacturing, as Saudi Aramco does with its packaging.

When companies don't truly act with the environment in mind, they create false hope and stall progress. This lying can harm consumer trust and sales when uncovered. 

The only real gain here is environmental harm. And companies compound that harm when they're also top polluters, like Coca-Cola.

What's being done about greenwashing?

The Guardian stated that the oil industry is looking to expand plastic production as demand for non-renewable energy declines. 

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By continuing to report on situations like these, news outlets can expose greenwashing schemes and create awareness of what actually motivates plastic production.

You can help by being more aware of how companies make their products. By staying informed about greenwashing companies, you can choose products that are better for the environment when possible. Consider buying food and household goods from a refill store if there's one near you.

You can have even more of an impact by encouraging people around you to make planet-friendly decisions as well.

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