Charlie's drops recycling claims after investigation

The Commerce Commission has been clamping down lately on vague 'green' claims made by products – with drinks maker Charlie's their latest target.

The company sells a product called Honest Water in what it describes as Eco Bottles. These bottles are made from PLA – which is a smart plastic that can break down into lactic acid when commercially composted. That's all well and good, but Charlie's was printing 'please recycle' on the bottles when in fact the bottles cannot be recycled in New Zealand yet and are often simply sent to landfill.

Following the investigation, Charlie’s decided to remove the 'please recycle' label from its Honest Water Eco Bottles from its next print run.

The investigation was initiated by a complaint sent to the Commission by community recycling organisation Wanaka Wastebusters. Spokesperson Gina Dempster said PLA bottles were good for events where they could all be collected at the end and composted en masse. However, in this case Charlie’s had set a very high standard for themselves by marketing their water bottle as the Honest Eco Water Bottle, she said, and they had failed to live up to it.

“We would encourage companies to talk to recyclers at the design stage, so that they don’t get any unpleasant shocks after they put their new packaging out on the shelves.”