The ACCC initiates legal action against a manufacturer of GLAD bags over their assertions regarding ‘ocean plastic.’

Australia’s competition watchdog has brought the manufacturer of GLAD bags to court over accusations of making false or misleading claims about their products containing recycled ocean plastic. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced today that it has commenced proceedings in the Federal Court against Clorox Australia. The ACCC alleges that Clorox misrepresented that its GLAD kitchen tidy bags and garbage bags were composed of 50 percent recycled ocean plastic sourced directly from an ocean or sea, when in fact, the plastic was collected from communities in Indonesia up to 50 kilometers away from the shoreline and not from the ocean itself. ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb stated, “We allege that the headline ‘ocean plastic’ statements and wave imagery on the GLAD bag packaging, and the use of blue colored bags, created the impression that these GLAD bags were made from plastic waste collected from the ocean or sea when this was not the case.” She added, “We are concerned that, by its alleged conduct, Clorox deprived consumers of the opportunity to make informed purchasing decisions, and may have put other businesses making genuine environmental claims at an unfair disadvantage.”