SC Johnson goes green – or does it?

By mudlark • January 24th, 2008

SC Johnson has come up with a new ‘green’ rating system for their own products. Just days after Clorox rolled out their GreenWorks line, SC Johnson is responding with their “Greenlist.” Some of their products, including Windex, Pledge, Fantastik Orange Action, and Toilet Duck will have the Greenlist label slapped on the front.

What does Greenlist mean though? Well, precisely nothing. According to SC Johnson it rates the ingredients it uses with a 0-3 rating based on things like biodegradability and toxicity. 3 is ‘best’ and quite obviously 0 is on the other end of the spectrum. So what’s the problem? SC Johnson developed the rating system themselves. They hired their own scientists to rate the ingredients. They made up the label and all the guidelines therein.

That’s something akin to Greenwashing. Slapping a label or qualification on a label that has no third party backing is meaningless. This can be seen as SC Johnson’s effort to jump on the green bandwagon and respond to efforts by their competitors to go green. Unfortunately, it only shows that they have no understanding of the green audience.

Environmental Leader and Tree Hugger both have further helpful information on the GreenList labeling procedure. As far as we see it her at Broom Huggers, all of the products are pretty useless. Windex can be made at home, as can furniture polish, toilet bowl cleaner, and actually healthy and safe orange-powered cleaners. If you’re determined to buy cleaning chemicals at the store, opt for something with third-party qualifications. There’s power in being an informed consumer.

Comments(5) Cleaning products, News, Reviews, Shopping

Comments

By Jeana on January 24th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

This is why I try to stick to companies that deal with ONLY natural products. If a company makes all of it’s products natural it’s shows me they care about your health, safety and wellness. I don’t trust a company that has most of it’s products filled with thngs we don’t need but then come out with the “Hey, look, we can do organic/natural too” product. To me it’s just the same box of Cheerios with a different label!!

(Not that Cheerios are actually bad for you, it was just an example!)

By Michael on August 26th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

It would seem that it is good to encourage companies like SCJohnson to produce more natural products, but as long as there is still a market for the current products that they are selling, it doesn’t make fiscal sense for them to just drop them. It’s the law of supply and demand. and the more folks purchase green options, the more demand there will be and the more emphasis it will get from companies.

By Nicole on October 10th, 2008 at 6:54 pm

Ok I have something to add. SC Johnson tests on animals, also making them un-green. Yes they go the Whole 9 yards pouring their cleaning agents in rabbits eyes (to see if it makes them go blind) and pumping it in dogs stomaches (to see how their digestive tract reacts to it). SC JOHNSON IS DEFINATELY NO GREEN, THEY ARE FREAKISH ANIMAL ABUSERS!