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Inc.com’s recent story, Is Your Product Really Eco-Friendly, breaks down the coming changes with the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides.

Here’s what we learned:

Any claims of being eco-friendly must be backed by scientific evidence or you could be penalized.

“In recent years, businesses have increasingly used ‘green’ marketing to capture consumers’ attention,” said FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz. “But what companies think green claims mean and what consumers really understand are sometimes two different things.”

The new Green Guides will recommend when terms like “degradable” and “recyclable” can be used.

Degradable = if a product is capable of decomposing in a landfill within a year.
Recyclable = the facilities needed to recycle the item must be widely available – as opposed to only available in a few places with very good recycling programs.

“Most companies really do want to comply,” Leibowitz said. “They want to sell products in an environmentally friendly way. But for those companies that don’t, that fall on the wrong side of the final Green Guides, we’re going to go after them.”

Find more on the FTC’s current Green Guides here.