In the spring of 2007, TerraChoice sent research teams into six category-leading big box stores with instructions to record every product-based environmental claim they observed. We instructed the teams that, for each environmental claim, they should identify the product, the nature of the claim, any supporting information, and any references offered for further information. After recording 1,753 environmental claims on 1,018 products (refer to Appendix A), we tested the claims against current best practices in environmental marketing. The sources for these best practices include the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)1, the Federal Trade Commission2, Environmental Protection Agency3, Consumers Union4,.
