When green becomes greed: The risk of Eco-washing in a circular economy :

Eco-washing in a circular economy happens when companies use recyclable or circular or

zero-waste labels to polish their image and reputation without fundamentally reducing any

environmental harm or resource use. Launching tiny circular pilot projects while 99% of the

business stays linear is one way in which it shows up. Another manner in which we may find it is

the advertisement of take-back schemes that have no transparent data on what actually gets

reused or recycled.

In genuine circular economies, the primary goal is to reduce materials that are used in production

processes, keep products and materials at their highest value for as long as possible, design out

waste and not to just create a compelling recycling story. When everything is termed as circular,

nothing is circular, and then the carpet is laid down for the entrance of eco-washing disguised as

innovation.

Dangers of eco-washing are ever humungous. It does not just mislead, it drives active damage to

sustainability efforts by wasting the time, trust and money that could have been spent on

identifying more practical and real solutions. Public trust in sustainability narratives erodes when

people discover the superficiality of the much-hyped circular initiatives. This makes the citizens

more cynical and less supportive to necessary transitions or pay the required green premiums.

There is also the case of a consequential opportunity cost where capital flowed into branding

heavy impact-light schemes instead of into repairing infrastructure, materials innovation or

robust recycling systems. While claiming to be smart and circular, poorly designed waste and

resources in the global south including India lock cities.

There exist many examples in today’s world where green became greed in the circular economy

space:

Fashion brands often launch conscious or recycled collection while the overall production

volumes and textile waste keep rising. H&M came up with their ‘Conscious Collection’ which

was supposed to be sustainable and eco-friendly. They were using a scorecard system to inform

customers about the green credibility of products. This later came crashing down when a report

by Quartz revealed that these scorecards misrepresented the products as more eco-friendly than

they were.

Another similar example is Shein, a popular brand from China, which has time and again boasted

about its eco-friendly products and decent working conditions. They even went so far as to

mention how they have been certified by the International Organization for Standardization

(ISO) for compliance with the “strict labor standards set by international organisations such as

SA8000”. It’s worth mentioning that the ISO does not issue any certificates whatsoever, rather it

simply sets standards.

To one of the planet’s biggest brands then, Apple, which has been ordered to stop claiming

carbon neutrality for certain models of Apple Watch in Germany. The reason being that the claim

wasn’t sufficiently backed, with flimsy support from (brace) offsetting through Eucalyptus tree

planting in Paraguay. These plantations have been criticised by ecologists who call them ‘green

deserts’ but the court also found deeper issues. “There is no secure future for the continuation of

the forest project” , the court said. Three-quarters of the land in question was only leased to

Apple through 2029, with no certainty of any continuity after that date.

A few unique solutions that can be opted for are hard core metrics over soft stories. The

organisation can hold companies accountable to report simple and comparable indicators like

percentage reduction in the raw materials used, reparability scores, product lifetime and actual

reuse rates, independently audited. These should be linked to incentives(tax benefits,

procurement preference) and penalties(fines) so that storytelling comes at a cost rather than a

reward.

Business models that earn from durability, sharing and repair: subscription libraries for tools,

leasing models for appliances or refurbished electronics as default should be encouraged. Public

policy can back this with reduced GST/VAT on repair services and second-hand goods.

Develop public, open digital labels or apps where environmental claims are traceable: a QR code

on a “circular” product should open a transparent dashboard showing materials, supply chain,

take-back performance, and third-party assessments. Civil society and universities can play a role

in independently rating and flagging suspicious claims.

Supporting the real circular workers

In countries like India, informal waste pickers, repair workers, and second-hand markets already

do the heavy lifting of circularity. Any serious circular policy should integrate and formalize

them with social protection, skills training, and fair payment, rather than replacing them with

glossy but shallow “green” projects.

In conclusion, when green morphs into greed through eco-washing, the circular economy risks

becoming a hollow promise that stalls planetary healing. True sustainability demands us to pierce

the veneer: champion sufficiency, enforce audited metrics and empower real circular actors like

informal recyclers in India.

By wielding transparency, policy incentives, and consumer scrutiny as weapons, we can once

again reclaim circularity as a force for regeneration and equity- not corporate camouflage. The

time for verdant facades is over; the era of sacrificial and verifiable progress begins now.

-- Avni Dwivedi