The Art of Greenwashing – and How to Spot it

In 2022, Coca-Cola promised to make 25% of its drinks available in refillable or returnable bottles. Fast forward to late 2024, and the company quietly removed this pledge from its website, replacing it with a new goal of using 35%-40% recycled material in packaging. Sounds good, right? But here’s the catch: back in 2019, Coca-Cola had already promised to use 50% recycled material by 2030. This is a perfect example of greenwashing—making eco-friendly claims, then backtracking or not following through. Companies like Coca-Cola are experts at creating the illusion of progress without actually changing their practices.

Greenwashing isn’t hard to understand, but it’s more sophisticated than ever. At its core, it’s about misleading consumers about a company’s or product’s environmental impact. Companies make empty promises or use buzzwords to make it seem like they’re doing better for the planet—when, in reality, they’re just hoping you’ll buy the “green” story they’re selling.

Here’s my breakdown of the 4 most common greenwashing techniques:

Blatant BS Greenwashing
This one might seem easier to spot, but it can still be tricky. Companies like Coca-Cola and ExxonMobil make very public sustainability promises but offer no transparency or follow-through. They’ll claim to use recycled materials or reduce carbon emissions, but don’t provide real metrics or actionable plans. Essentially, it’s an empty promise to “do better” while continuing business as usual. How to spot it: Check if the company’s core business aligns with its environmental promises. Coca-Cola, for example, still relies almost exclusively on single-use plastic bottles—no amount of eco-friendly wording changes that.

Lazy Greenwashing
Lazy greenwashing is simply slapping “green” symbols or language on a product with minimal or no real environmental benefits. Think green-colored packaging or the unregulated use of buzzwords like “natural,” “earth-friendly,” or “recycled materials.” While these terms can be relevant, they’re often abused to make products seem sustainable without any real effort to improve business practices. How to spot it: When you see products that only differ in color, packaging material, or the use of vague terms like “fewer,” “less,” or unsubstantiated claims of being eco-friendly, chances are it’s lazy greenwashing.

“Everything Can Be Recycled” Greenwashing
This is most common with plastics – the chasing arrows symbol is slapped on everything. The truth is, most plastics can’t be recycled, no matter how much Big Oil has brainwashed us with recycling campaigns. Another example is brands like Colgate, Gillette, Taco Bell, Brita, and others using TerraCycle to “recycle” at no cost to consumers. The reality is most of those toothbrushes, disposable razors, sauce packets, water filters, and cigarette butts (seriously, what are those getting recycled into?) can’t be recycled in any meaningful or cost-effective way. As one plastics industry executive said, “If the public thinks that recycling is working, then they are not going to be as concerned about the environment.”

Sneaky Greenwashing
Sneaky greenwashing is one of the hardest to spot, but it’s widespread across industries. Companies have countless ways of disguising their fake environmentalism, but two major tactics are distraction and confusion. Distraction is diverting your attention from bigger environmental issues or harmful practices with selective marketing of narrow benefits or noble-sounding campaigns. An example of this is Procter & Gamble promoting its “Keep Forests as Forests” campaign while continuing to source toilet paper from Canada’s boreal forests, which is a vital ecosystem. Confusion relies on opaque or complex terms that hide much uglier realities. “Chemical recycling,” for example, often just means burning plastics to make fuel, a highly toxic process. Then there’s “carbon offsets,” a complicated and ambiguous system that lets polluters continue their harmful practices without addressing the root cause or working toward real, long-term solutions.

How to spot it: These methods are subtle, so it’s tough to pinpoint them. But if you see a company highlighting one small positive feature while ignoring larger, more significant environmental harms—like deforestation or pollution—it’s worth digging deeper. Some key questions to ask include: What concrete steps is the company actually taking to fulfill its environmental promises? Do the claims align with the company’s broader practices? Are the certifications legit, or are they just industry-backed “stamps”? (like the “Sustainable Forestry Initiative”.) Are there hidden trade-offs they’re not telling you? Such as bottled water companies boasting about using recycled materials while extracting water from drought-prone communities.

There are, of course, countless other ways companies greenwash, often using a mix of tactics at once. So don’t beat yourself up if you’ve fallen for some of these — I’ve been there too! What I encourage you to do is take a closer look at the brands and companies you support most. Research whether their environmental practices truly align with their claims and, more importantly, with your values. As a consumer, you have real power to push companies toward better practices. And of course, you can always vote with your wallet, supporting businesses that are genuinely working to improve the planet—not just paying lip service or hoping you won’t notice how bad their impact really is. Dig deeper into Greenwashing and what you can do about it by going to greenwash.com.