Clorox Australia is facing legal action from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over allegations it made false or misleading representations about certain Glad-branded kitchen and garbage bags being partly made of recycled “ocean plastic”.

Clorox advertised that its Glad Kitchen Tidy Bags and Garbage Bags were made of 50 per cent plastic collected from the ocean or sea. However, the ACCC found that the plastic was collected from communities in Indonesia up to 50 km from a shoreline.

“We are concerned that – by its alleged conduct – Clorox deprived consumers of the opportunity to make informed purchasing decisions and may have put other businesses making genuine environmental claims at an unfair disadvantage,” said Gina Cass-Gottlieb, ACCC chair.

“This action reflects our enforcement priority to take action against businesses making false or misleading environmental claims.”

Cass-Gottlieb added that a growing number of consumers choose the products they buy based on their environmental impact, and in doing so, they must be able to rely on the environmental claims made by businesses to be accurate.

Clorox withdrew both products from supply to retailers last July.

The ACCC seeks declarations, penalties, injunctions, an order to implement a compliance program, corrective notices, costs, and other orders.

Clorox supplies various consumer goods in Australia, including food care and waste disposal products sold under the Glad brand.