The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has warned that it will look into brands using misleading terms such as ‘recyclable’ and ‘biodegradable’ on products where this does not apply.
After carrying out qualitative research on use of the terms recyclability, biodegradability and compostability, ASA will seek to crack down on incorrect use of these terms.
Key findings from the research were:
Key findings from the consumer research and issues-led review:
- People are engaged with green disposal at home, usually in the form of regular recycling collections. They’re proud of their efforts and see waste management as a way of ‘doing their bit’ for the environment.  
- Participants were most focused on how they dispose waste at home, and felt it was unfair to ask them to do more outside the home, such as taking recycling to specific drop-off points. 
- Participants broadly treated green claims in ads uncritically. This uncritical acceptance risked consumers having an oversimplified understanding of the terms and how waste is disposed of. 
- While people are likely to understand ‘recycling’ or ‘recycled’, they’re much more confused about ‘compostable’. Participants were most unsure about the term ‘biodegradable’, and expressed anger and frustration when they learnt that this term could refer to an unlimited timescale and that some products can release toxins upon degrading. 
- There were widespread calls for stronger transparency about the length of time a product that’s described as ‘biodegradable’ takes to degrade, as well as specific disposal risks.  
- Participants also emphasised the importance of having clearer information on disposal of product parts, as well as where products need to be taken to be responsibly disposed.
Interestingly, consumers believed that they should be able to recycle within the confines of their own property, and felt that brands were breaking an unspoken contract if their packaging needed to be taken by the consumer to another location for recycling. Consumers actually said that if the packaging said it was recyclable or compostable, then it should be able to be collected for recycling at home without them having to take it elsewhere to be recycled.
Those interviewed for the study also said they were concerned when they found out that recycling bins could be contaminated by the incorrect disposal of non-plastic and compostable items for example.
There was also some scepticism that local authorities and government were not disposing of products correctly even when consumers put items in the correct bin.
Following on from the research, ASA is now investigating claims being made by advertisers on recyclability, compostability and biodegradability using artificial intelligence and human monitoring.
The full report can be found here.
