FTC Settles with Company over Biodegradable Claims Since Product Not Normally Composted

The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement October 22 with a company that makes clothing and other textiles from processed bamboo. According to the FTC, The M Group, d/b/a/ Bamboosa, falsely claimed that its rayon products were made of bamboo fiber, retained bamboo's antimicrobial properties and were biodegradable. The Commission acknowledged that any plant or tree could be used as the cellulose source for rayon, and that Bamboosa's product indeed started with bamboo, but contended that the final product was rayon and retained none of the antimicrobial properties of raw bamboo. (The product apparently now is labeled "viscose derived from bamboo.")

Perhaps of even more interest was that the FTC continued to hold to its position that Bamboosa's products were not biodegradable because they will not break down in a reasonably short time after disposal. Most clothing and textiles are disposed of either by recycling or in a landfill, and the FTC takes the position that it is virtually impossible for such waste to biodegrade in a landfill within a reasonably short time. (Earlier this summer the FTC charged Kmart, Tender Corp and Dyna-E International with making false claims that their moist wipes products were biodegradable because those products are customarily disposed of in landfills, incinerators and recycling facilities "where it is impossible for waste to biodegrade within a reasonably short time.")

TIP: Be very careful claiming "biodegradable" when marketing a product which is not customarily composted.