BuzzBallz under fire after being accused of 'greenwashing'
Greenwashing, described as an ‘abuse of green marketing’, occurs when a company makes false or misleading statements about the environmental benefits of a product or practice.
Claims of this nature have recently been levelled against BuzzBallz, a beloved brand of pre-mixed cocktails that have taken the ready-to-drink category by storm in recent years.
The company has responded to the recent allegations, apologising for ‘oversights’ in its mission statement and FAQs.
The BBC reported that the BuzzBallz UK site, owned by major American alcoholic beverage firm Sazerac Company, previously claimed that you could recycle the drinks’ packaging on Britain’s kerbsides.
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In a now-deleted mission statement, it also alleged to ‘love the planet as much as we love a good cocktail’ and that it had an active partnership with TerraCycle.
However, experts have branded the claim an act of greenwashing; the Global environmental action body WRAP has stated that as the PET plastic ball cannot be separated from the aluminium lid, BuzzBallz packaging cannot be successfully recycled.
What’s more, TerraCycle, which involves consumers collecting packaging and sending it to be recycled, only operates the BuzzBallz scheme in the United States, not Britain, the BBC reported.
In a statement, the business said: “We very recently went through a global website update and the information pertaining to TerraCycle recycling for BuzzBallz was incorrectly copied and does not apply to the UK market as of today.
"We apologise for the oversight and have since updated our website to reflect the correct position for UK consumers."
According to Adam Herriott, the head of packaging at WRAP, there is actually nowhere in Britain that allows BuzzBallz to be recycled.
This is despite now-deleted claims made by the company online that allegedly stated: “Yes, our packaging is recyclable. Please recycle your empties where local facilities allow.”
“They're a mix of two very recyclable materials that put together makes an unrecyclable format. No local authorities will accept these at the kerbside,” he informed the publication.
"If they end up at a sorting facility, they could end up contaminating the plastic stream because of the metals in there and that could be very problematic for plastics recyclers that get into the machinery.”
Accusations regarding the sustainability of the brand have been lodged by freelance ESG marketing professional Lauren McGee, who told The Grocer the packaging was ‘downright disastrous’.
She explained: “The BuzzBallz brand feels like a regressive step for the drinks industry.
“It has emerged at a time when we have plenty of knowledge about the damaging impact of single-use plastics, let alone packaging that cannot then be recycled due to mixed materials.
“The world doesn’t need another RTD brand generating excessive emissions and littering our streets. It needs more companies that think about the end life of a product while it is being created.”
FOODbible has contacted BuzzBallz for comment.
Ella Scott