Members of the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) include scores of plastics and petrochemical companies, including multinational giants like BP and Amcor Packaging. Founded to counteract rising consumption concerns regarding the harms of single-use plastics, the association most recently hired a public relations firm to devise a campaign to rebrand plastics, especially those made from PET (i.e., polyethylene terephthalate).

The resulting Positively PET campaign spent a reported $1.8 million on multiple measures designed to change public perceptions. For example, NAPCOR entered into sponsorship deals with six highly visible social media influencers, whose followers number in the millions. During a three-month period in 2024, the campaign reportedly reached an audience of 12.2 million consumers.

These various content creators target distinct audiences, yet the messaging underlying the campaign is largely consistent. Sponsored posts emphasize the functionality and recyclability of plastics, while downplaying any potential risks to human health and the environmental footprint created by such products. The Everywhere Family, one prominent influencer, offered a reassuring description, claiming that “PET bottles are a closed-loop, zero-waste system.” In addition, NAPCOR hired the actor Dennis Quaid to appear in an educational-style segment, available to be broadcast on traditional channels. The segment also featured alleged experts who extolled the virtues of big plastic.

The glaring problem? These claims are deceptive, to say the least.

Even if single-use plastic products and items containing PET technically can be recycled, recent estimates suggest that more than 70 percent of single-use bottles are not. Instead, they usually are incinerated or thrown into landfills, and both of these outcomes contribute significantly to environmental degradation.

Such efforts represent just one of the latest examples of corporate greenwashing by actors in the plastics sectors. For literal decades, environmental watchdog groups have been calling out such purposefully misleading marketing campaigns, meant to make products seem more eco-friendly than they actually are. Some other notable examples include marketing claims centered on companies’ uses of “oxy-degradable plastics,” which are single-use plastics that have been mixed with chemicals that quicken the rate of decomposition. But such a “solution” simply increases the rate at which microplastics degrade and enter the water or soil, where they in turn wind up in other products, including the foods that people consume. Other misleading terms, like “bioplastics,” “fully recyclable plastic,” and “ocean-bound plastic,” have come under fire too.

The impacts of such campaigns are not limited to their immediate outcomes. A recent study suggests that 84 percent of social media creators are reluctant to mention sustainability, citing audiences’ rising skepticism and distrust of greenwashing efforts. Such trends are particularly unfortunate, considering evidence that social media content has substantial and meaningful potential to encourage more sustainable habits among consumers at large.

Some environmental groups expressed hope that a recent multinational effort to draft a plastic treaty would curb both the production of the focal products and misleading attempts to promote them as environmentally less detrimental. But those efforts remain ongoing, and the actual passage of the treaty seems uncertain. The plastics industry and its lobbying efforts through NAPCOR reflect its staunch and continued opposition to such measures too.

Discussion Questions

1. Despite growing awareness of corporate greenwashing, why might campaigns like the ones waged by NAPCOR succeed in shifting public perceptions?
2. How can environmentally conscious content creators present convincing posts that encourage sustainability efforts, whether independently or in partnership with brands?

Sources: “Content Creators Hold Back on Promoting Sustainability Amid Greenwashing Fears,” Sustainable Brands, September 14, 2023; Hiroko Tabuchi, “Inside the Plastic Industry’s Battle to Win Over Hearts and Minds,” The New York Times, November 27, 2024; “How to Recognize Plastic Pollution Greenwashing,” Plastic Pollution Coalition, April 19, 2023