REusable vs REcycling:

Everything you Need to Know About Greenwashing 

At The Candle Carousel, we want to put a spotlight on Greenwashing and educate our community on what this phenomenon is and how you can differentiate between the companies that are eco-conscious to the core and the companies whose eco credentials are purely surface level or worse, a scam. Here’s how to spot the tell-tale signs of Greenwashing. 

So What Exactly is Greenwashing? 

In case you haven’t heard of Greenwashing, this is a term that encompasses unethical companies that look from the outside like they embrace eco-friendly practices but they are in fact using sneaky tactics to appear this way and duping customers into thinking they are purchasing from a sustainable brand. Companies know that customers make a beeline for products that are environmentally sound and that many are willing to pay more for those products so they try to capitalize on this regardless of whether their eco-friendly credentials mirror what they preach.  

Greenwashing on a small scale could be something as simple as using the colour green in their logos and branding to make customers subconsciously associate their products with eco-conscious values. On a larger scale, it could be throwing about the term ‘recycling’ on their marketing materials and labels to create an eco-friendly aesthetic without revealing the full picture or having the accreditation to back it up. A common example of this is when companies rebrand a product or re-package a product to make it seem more environmentally friendly but the product is no more sustainable than it was before the rebrand, or it is simply the packaging that’s recyclable, not the product itself. 

Reusable vs Recyclable 

We’ve all been there, we’ve seen the word ‘recyclable’ and instantly presumed that this product is good for the environment. We enjoy the feel good factor that comes with the purchase. However, often, we don’t take the time to take a closer look. It is essential to dive deeper into a brand’s sustainability credentials and do your homework before you commit to a purchase as you could be falling victim to misleading labels. Did you know that reusable and recyclable are not the same thing and that it is always better to reuse an item than recycle it? In fact, recycling should be the last option you take. Why? Because recycling an item still uses a lot of energy and reusing does not. 

Here’s just a few of the advantages of reusing:

• It saves or delays purchasing and disposal costs
• It conserves resources
• It reduces the waste stream
• It causes less pollution than recycling or making new products from virgin materials

With hundreds of ways to reuse a product or its packaging, there’s plenty of opportunities to lower your carbon footprint. 

A Note on Our Eco-Credentials 

Like you, our dedication to being the best we can be is a work in progress. The Candle Carousel are advocates of sustainability and we aim to educate our customers and encourage them to dive deeper into the credentials of the brands they shop with. Of course, we couldn’t write a blog post about eco-friendly values without touching on our own. Our packaging is 100% recyclable and our products can be returned to be sanitised and reused by our team. You can find out more about our Refill Return Reuse Program here. 

Charlene the founder commented: ‘Whether our customers are just embarking on their reuse journey or they are a refillable pro, we want our customers to feel safe knowing that our brand is not just another Greenwash company but, like so many other amazing brands on the horizon, who genuinely and wholeheartedly care for our beautiful planet and want to be proactive in creating solutions to reduce landfills and littering the earth. We hope our customers can feel part of a community of like minded people who want to be reuse savvy.”

Got something to say about Greenwashing? Let us know in the comments.