"Manufactured with 50% plastic waste from the sea" – misleading advertising

If plastic waste is collected from beaches and used in the production of new products, this is very much to be welcomed. In addition, this has a nice advertising effect when the new products are marketed with this fact. However, the specific statements must absolutely correspond to the truth.

A washing-up liquid manufacturer advertised a certain number of its washing-up liquid bottles with the statement that the bottle consisted of "50% plastic waste from the sea". In fact, the plastic used for the manufacture of the bottles was collected in Brazil on the beach, but also along river courses and canals at some distance from the sea, and was not washed ashore from the sea.

A competitor regarded this as unfair misleading conduct and applied for the issue of an interim measure.

The Regional Court (LG) Stuttgart in 2018 confirmed the interim measure that was issued against the dishwashing liquid manufacturer. He was prohibited from asserting or allowing it to be asserted in the course of business that the dishwashing liquid bottle consists of 50% plastic waste from the sea.

The dishwashing liquid manufacturer appealed against this judgment. He takes the view that the bottles actually consist of 50% marine plastic. The raw material of the bottles actually originates from the Guanabara Bay in Brazil and was collected there. From this, the PET flakes were produced, which made up 50% of the bottles. Furthermore, the dishwashing liquid manufacturer justified the appeal by stating that the waste would have been washed out to sea with the next high tide if the collections he had arranged did not exist.

The court's decision on plastic waste from the sea

The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Stuttgart did not share the opinion of the dishwashing liquid manufacturer and upheld the preliminary injunction with Urteil vom 25.10.2018 – Az. 2 U 48/18 in this respect.

In the view of the Stuttgart judges, the "50% statement" constitutes misleading advertising.

The consumer understood the statement to mean that 50% of the weight of the bottle was made from plastic that had already reached the sea and was taken directly from the sea for the purpose of recycling. The average consumer would not consider that it could be plastic waste that had previously been in the sea but had washed back ashore. Still less would he expect it to be waste that had not yet reached the sea.

Conclusion

The Higher Regional Court (OLG) Stuttgart takes the view: "Plastic that has never been in the sea is not

plastic from the sea."