Clorox will reportedly discontinue claims that its Green Works Natural Cleaning wipes are biodegradable and that they disinfectant following a reccomendatin from The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. NAD, the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, examined advertising for the product following a challenge by Method Products, Inc., a competing maker of natural cleaning products.
NAD noted in its decision that it recently has had the opportunity to review several cases involving advertising for products that claim to be “biodegradable.”The difficulty, NAD noted, is in establishing how various claims of “biodegradation” are understood by consumers and how such claims can be properly substantiated.
NAD noted that for most products that enter the solid waste stream, “customary disposal” typically means disposal in a landfill, degradation is slow and uncertain and although the Clorox presented evidence in support of its biodegradability claim, Clorox asserted that it would permanently discontinue the claim as it transitions to new packaging and instead bill the product as “compostable.”