Is Honest Company Greenwashing? An Expert Breakdown!
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Greenwashing refers to any company trying to appear eco-friendly rather than putting the same effort into actually being one. Those companies put up a front for customers to attract a larger crowd because the environmental impacts of businesses have become a significant make-or-break factor for many individuals. However, a thorough investigation of the products and practices of any company can help uncover the truth.
The brand that is being put under the microscope for this article is Honest Company. The brand was made carrying the values of transparency, inclusivity, and diversity at its very core as it aimed to produce eco-friendly products for parents. Jessica Alba, the co-founder of the company, faced many challenges after becoming a parent and felt that almost all parents share the same concerns like not having enough baby products companies that sell organic and environmentally-friendly items.
With this concern in mind, the owners decided to create a brand that will be 100% transparent and put parents at ease while shopping for their children. The mission statement of the brand is that health and wellness come before all else, especially where children are concerned. The brand considers the people and the planet its responsibility.
“We care about all people and the planet.”
When it was launched in 2011, the main products sold by the brand were items for baby care, home cleaning, and personal care markets. It was only available online at the start but now some stores like Walmart keep its products as well. In 2015, it began selling beauty products as well which also feature skincare products.
The name Honest Company is a very good marketing strategy for the brand because it creates a quite friendly and inviting image of the brand and allows individuals and other companies to scrutinize it fully. In a way, it is allowing all kinds of criticism to be directed towards it.
Sustainability Rating: 5/10
Category: Baby Products, Beauty Products
For: Women, Kids
Products: Baby Clothing, Diapers, Wipes, Skincare
Style: -
Quality: Medium, High
Prices: -
Size: According to ages 0 - 5
Fabrics: Polyester, Polyester Blend, Organic Cotton, Rayon
100% Organic: No
100% Vegan: Yes
Ethical and Fair: No
Recycling: Yes
Manufacturing Countries: Mexico, China, USA
Certifications: USDA, EWG, Green Seal
The question that arises is whether Honest Company is as honest as it claims to be. Its purpose is to make conscious living available for people right from the very start so that their babies can be exposed to organic products ever since their birth. It also believes in giving back to the community due to which it regularly donates skincare, beauty, and other products to individuals and families. Moreover, the team at Honest Company partakes in volunteering activities that work to provide people with free meals and cleaning up.
It has partnered with Baby2Baby to provide basic baby care essentials to children living in less-than-desirable communities in the USA. Its partnership with Plant My Tree is quite admirable as it aims to plant 1000 trees to celebrate its goal of producing recyclable packaging. It claims to be committed to sustainable packaging for which it began an initiative called “Beauty Restage”. Through this, the brand aims to lessen waste production by reusing, refilling, and recycling. Some of its products like Baby Laundry Detergent have been certified by EPA’s Safer Choice Program which includes passing through a complex criterion set by the organization.
Furthermore, it also received the Green Seal Certification for Conscious Cleaning line which ensures that products have certain environmental standards before providing certification. The brand reduced 85% of the plastic used in this collection in under 2 years to get it where it is today. It also has certifications by USDA and EWG for apparently half of its products. It also adopted a design model that enables customers to refill bottles containing products so that they can be used for longer times instead of being discarded immediately. It has also been looking into plastic alternatives that can help minimize the use of plastic in the products.
Honest Company provides a detailed summary of all the steps that it goes through for the creation of even a single product to keep it eco-friendly and organic. It believes that customers have the right to know where the item that they buy is coming from. That is why it has created a No List that contains over 3500 materials that it considers toxic and would never use in any of its products.
As much as it values what materials go into its products, it also values the places where they are being manufactured. Honest Company swears that it ensures that its manufacturing partners follow strict protocol but it also admits that it uses factories based in China. China has a reputation for providing unsafe working conditions and discrimination based on gender in its workplaces. Workers are often maltreated to the point that they collapse from over-exhaustion. This casts doubt on Honest Company’s trustable and amicable image because as a company that is made based on an ethical and sustainable foundation, unclarity about its factory conditions does let down your hopes.
Also, it advertises the Honest Wipes as being 100% plant-based and the diapers as being eco-friendly but it still uses some petroleum-based products and polypropylene in the inner layers of the diapers that come in contact with the skin. While its diapers are better than its competitors for using chlorine-free wood pulp, it seems like the company does sneak in some inorganic materials under the guise of 100% organic items.
Moreover, its wipes are said to be biodegradable on the front packaging but at the back, it contradicts itself because rayon is present in the wipes and it is a non-biodegradable material. In addition, some ingredients like limonene and linalool should be avoided as they have been recognized as allergens but multiple products of Honest Company contain either of the two ingredients like the foundations, conditioners, shampoo, body wash, and more.
Honest Company has also been involved in a lot of lawsuits over the years in which it was sued for using inorganic materials and misleading customers by labeling a certain material as being 100% organic when it was not. In most of the cases, the brand decided to settle the case which indicates that it might be guilty or else it would have fought to clear its name.
We can safely assume that while Honest Company is an eco-friendly brand that has taken many steps towards the good of the planet and people, it is not as organic and environmentally friendly as it portrays itself to be which shows that the brand has been greenwashing to an extent. Its efforts towards sustainability are still admirable because it is in a way better place than many of its competitors.
Planet | The Honest Company, Inc.
Our Story | About Us | The Honest Company
The Honest Company: As Eco-Friendly As They Claim? (bettergoods.org)