How to Spot Greenwashing: A Practical Guide for Eco-Conscious Families

*Collaborative Post

If you have tried to shop more sustainably for your family, you will know the feeling. Every other product seems to be eco-friendly, natural, planet-safe or kind to the earth, usually in a soft green font with a leaf somewhere on the packaging. Some of those claims are backed by real change. Others are little more than marketing, and telling them apart takes more time than most busy parents have.

That is what greenwashing relies on. The good news is that a few simple habits make it much easier to see through, and the rules on green claims are getting stricter on both sides of the Channel.

What greenwashing actually is

Greenwashing means making a product or a company look more environmentally friendly than it really is. Sometimes it is a vague word with nothing behind it. Sometimes it is a true claim about one small part of a product that distracts from a much bigger impact elsewhere. Either way, it steers well meaning shoppers towards choices that may not be greener at all.

A typical example is a bottle labelled made with recycled plastic, where only a small share of the material is actually recycled, or a cleaning product sold as natural that contains the same ingredients as its conventional rival. Neither claim is necessarily false, but both create an impression the product does not fully deserve.

Common greenwashing tricks

• Vague words such as eco, green, natural or conscious with no explanation.
• Hidden trade-offs, like recyclable packaging on a product with a heavy footprint.
• Irrelevant claims, such as boasting about something the law already bans.
• Home-made logos and badges that look like certifications but are not.
• Carbon neutral claims based mostly on buying offsets rather than cutting emissions.

The rules in the UK

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority published its Green Claims Code in 2021. It says claims must be truthful and accurate, clear, complete, fair in their comparisons, based on the full life cycle of a product and backed by evidence. Since 2025, new consumer law powers allow the CMA to fine companies directly for breaking consumer law, up to ten percent of their global turnover, which has made brands take the code far more seriously. The Advertising Standards Authority also rules on misleading green adverts.

New EU rules from September 2026

Across the EU, new rules on green claims apply from 27 September 2026. Generic claims such as environmentally friendly are banned unless a company can prove recognised excellent environmental performance, claims of climate neutrality based on offsetting are banned, and sustainability labels must come from certification schemes or public authorities. Many brands sell in both the UK and the EU, and their wording is now starting to differ between the two.

Campaigners and consumer groups watch those differences closely. Because brand websites show the version meant for the visitor’s country, researchers use ProxyWing’s ISP proxies to see each country’s version of a product page as a local shopper would, and compare the claims side by side. When a claim disappears from the EU site but stays on the UK one, it is worth asking why.

Labels worth trusting

Independent certifications are far more reliable than a brand’s own badges. FSC for wood and paper, the Soil Association for organic products, Fairtrade for fair pay to farmers, GOTS for organic textiles and the EU Ecolabel are all backed by published standards and independent checks. B Corp certifies the company as a whole rather than a single product, which is useful context but not a guarantee that every item is low impact.

Greenwashing in products for kids

Baby and children’s products are a favourite area for green claims. Wipes described as flushable are a common example; in the UK, look for the Fine to Flush mark, which shows a product has passed a water industry test. Bamboo is often sold as a natural fabric, but much bamboo clothing is viscose, made with an intensive chemical process. Toys made from recycled plastic are genuinely positive, but check how much of the product is actually recycled material.

Questions to ask before you buy

• What exactly is greener about this product, and compared to what?
• Is there evidence, such as a certification or published data?
• Does the claim cover the whole product or just the packaging?
• Could I use less, reuse or buy second-hand instead?

The last question is the most powerful. The greenest product is often the one you already own, or the one someone else has outgrown.

What to do if you feel misled

If an advert makes a green claim you think is misleading, you can complain to the Advertising Standards Authority. Concerns about products can go to Citizens Advice, which passes information to Trading Standards. Brands also respond to customers who ask for evidence, and a polite email asking what backs up a claim can be surprisingly revealing.

Greener habits that beat any label

Labels help, but habits matter more. Buying less and choosing things that last, repairing what breaks, passing clothes and toys between families and refilling rather than rebuying all cut waste far more than switching to a slightly greener brand. Local swap groups, refill shops and second-hand apps make these habits easier than ever, and children tend to love the treasure hunt of a charity shop or a toy swap.

None of this has to be perfect. Every greenwashed product you skip and every item you reuse is a small vote for the kind of shopping that genuinely helps, and children who grow up seeing it learn the habit for life.

FAQ

Is recycled packaging enough to make a product eco-friendly?

Not on its own. Packaging is often a small part of a product’s footprint, so look at the whole product.

What is greenwashing?

Making a product or company look more environmentally friendly than it really is, often through vague or misleading claims.

Which eco labels can I trust?

Independent certifications such as FSC, Soil Association organic, Fairtrade, GOTS and the EU Ecolabel.

Are carbon neutral products really carbon neutral?

Often the claim relies on buying offsets, which is why new EU rules ban climate neutral claims based on offsetting.

*This is a collaborative post. For further information please refer to my disclosure page.