But with the insidious, deceptive, government-approved product labeling, buying green may be accomplishing very little and in some cases, may be causing great harm. And many of us feel more comfortable buying something with the now familiar triangle of arrows indicating a recycled product. Many families feel safer since they installed the water filter and more and more people every day are buying organically made goods. Currently, there are no federal laws governing what a seller can say about a product. But the guidelines carry no force of law and compliance is strictly voluntary.
Many states have advertising regulations, but enforcement is largely non-reactive.
Nothing is done unless someone complains. But this term has been widely abused. Some products labeled as recycled are made from reconditioned or reused parts or are made from industrial scraps that would normally be reused anyway. Some products that contain only 10 percent waste material and 90 percent virgin material will claim to be recycled. If you don't see percentages of how much post-consumer waste is used in the product, beware.