It did so by claiming its Kitchen Tidy Bags and Garbage Bags were “50% Ocean Plastic Recycled”.
The Federal Court said this claim was incorrect, and more than 2.2 million products were supplied in this packaging over this period.
Instead, the products were made from about 50% plastic waste which had been collected from communities in Indonesia with no formal waste management systems.
The communities were up to 50km from the sea and the company used non-recycled plastic, processing aid and dye.
“Claims about environmental benefits matter to many consumers and may impact their purchasing behaviour,” said ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.
“This is also a significant matter because consumers have limited or no ability to independently verify the accuracy of the claims made on packaging,” she added.
“And it also disadvantages competitors who are accurately communicating their environmental credentials.”
Cass-Gottlieb said Clorox used a blue colour and wave imaging on the packaging.
Clorox was ordered to set up an Australian Consumer Law compliance programme, publish a corrective notice on its website, and pay part of the ACCC’s legal costs.
The Australian regulator said it encouraged businesses to innovate and offer environmentally sustainable products, but they had to be clear and accurate when making representations about them.
“We take allegations of greenwashing extremely seriously and will continue to monitor claims made by businesses and, where appropriate, will take enforcement action on misleading environmental claims.”
Clorox co-operated with the ACCC during its investigation and the legal proceedings and made admissions.
The deceptively branded products were discontinued in July 2023, after it became aware the ACCC had started investigating.
The ACCC said the packaging of Clorox’s small, medium, and large Kitchen Tidy Bags had statements including “‘50% Ocean Plastic Recycled Bags” which were deceitful.
The investigators also examined the fine print on the packaging.
One such dubious turn of phrase was: “These bags are made from 50% ocean recycled plastic, and have the trusted strength of Glad® to hold household waste on its way to landfill.”
The regulator said various statements were insufficient to dispel the false or misleading ocean plastic representation.
“From about 6 March 2022, Clorox began updating the packaging to include the statement ‘Made using 50% Ocean Bound Plastic*’ on the front of the packaging.”
But that was also not accurate, the ACCC said.
In Australia, Clorox supplied various consumer goods, including garbage bags and “kitchen tidy” bags, under the Glad brand.
The products subject to the Federal Court proceedings were available in major Australian supermarkets including Woolworths and Coles.
Clorox told the Herald it took seriously its obligations to package and market products with accurate and substantiated claims.
“While the ACCC and the Court recognised that Glad did not intend to mislead consumers, we respect this outcome and see this as an opportunity to further enhance our practices and reaffirm our commitment to offering products that help reduce environmental impact and meet consumers’ evolving needs,” the company said.
