The Color of Money

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But politics prevailed over the Supreme Court's decision, and the law was repealed in the California State Legislature a few days later. The marketing law was replaced by the FTC guidelines. Several states-Indiana, Wisconsin, Maine, Rhode Island, and now California-have adopted the FTC guidelines as law, which in turn makes them binding.

The FTC guidelines may be broader than the California law, but they are much more general. For example, the 10 percent postconsumer—waste minimum is no longer a required standard for the use of the recycled label. Seven out of 10 of the most recent FTC actions involve the deceptive use of the word recycled.

The FTC, following the clause written into the original guidelines requiring it to review the guidelines every five years, is in the middle of the review process. Both environmentalists and FTC officials predict that the guidelines will not become stricter, nor will they become rules that are in any way enforceable by penalty of law.

Former Assistant Attorney General of New York Andrea Levine, who worked on the Green Marketing Task Force, says she thinks that the guidelines have done some good: "What we saw five years ago we don't see on the market now. It sends a message they're [the guidelines] going to be enforced." The EDF and Californians Against Waste, however, believe that the guidelines will remain largely the same, less because of their effectiveness and more because of the nation's current antiregulatory political climate. As manufacturers continue to rush to appear green, the guidelines will remain vague and voluntary California's stringent truth-inadvertising law may be constitutional, but it is not politically palatable.

Recyclable and recycled claims are the first items up for review by the FTC this year. Currently, there are no minimum standards for th euse of the chasing-arrows symbol.

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