If consumer packaging has taught one lesson, it should be this: Always check for asterisks.
That’s the lesson one Redditor preached after posting a pair of photos of single-use coffee pods in the r/Anticonsumption subreddit.
The first photo shows the entire box of pods, with “RECYCLABLE*” written largely in the corner. But the second photo shows what’s written in tiny print below the asterisk: “Check locally — Not recycled in many communities.”
Photo Credit: Reddit
Photo Credit: Reddit
“Ahhh yes, I love greenwashing a product that isn’t environmentally friendly already,” the OP wrote.
That term, greenwashing, is a popular one among those with anti-corporate sentiments, including many people on this subreddit. And it’s an important one in environmental circles.
Greenwashing is when a company makes exaggerated or untrue claims about its environmentally friendly practices, policies, and products. As an example, think about oil companies that pledge money toward cleaning up plastic waste, while actually being massive polluters and huge contributors to our rising global temperatures.
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The tactic works because consumers typically want to feel good about their purchases and want to believe they are doing something beneficial for the environment. It’s also more prevalent than you may think, as a study found that 40% of the green claims made by companies worldwide could be misleading to consumers.
In this case, the large font on the box could make consumers think they’re buying an environmentally friendly product that is easily recyclable, while the tiny print confirms the actual truth.
“If it was so evident that most places would not accept the plastic, then they just shouldn’t have put it on the box,” one comment said.
But this product is also troubling because single-use coffee pods create huge amounts of plastic waste, which typically end up in landfills or our oceans.
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“There’s zero regulation going on,” one commenter wrote. “No one is checking these plastic cups to see if they are safe or not. Just spurt boiling hot water straight through meltable plastic.”
Fortunately, some environmentally friendly options do exist, such as fully recyclable and reusable aluminum coffee pods.
“Funny thing is, all this stuff is just instant coffee, sugar, milk powder and some flavors,” one commenter wrote. “You get the same result by just buying the mix and put it into a cup with hot water. If you want to use your instant coffeemaker, get metal pods.”
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