Greenwash Watch: The EcoKaddy
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 01. 9.08
Image on right from Tim Caynes
Well perhaps it is just jargon watch. Two years ago a company introduces the "shopping caddy" for grocery stores as a size between hand tote baskets and full shopping carts. It was red. People liked them and the manufacturer says "Before long we began receiving calls from these same eco-smart shoppers wanting to purchase their own Shopping Kaddy, not only to facilitate their shopping but to also use it instead of plastic shopping bags."
So they changed the colour to green and rebranded it "eco-Kaddy". But is it a) really any different from every granny cart or bundle buggy that have been around for years? b) is there anything "eco" about the way it is made? c) can people please stop calling everything "eco"?
They do talk a good line in their website: "The Eco Kaddy can be one of your small lifestyles changes to help save the earth. We have seen the explosion of reusable bags onto the market in 2007. Nearly every store has jumped onto the craze of offering reusable bags with their logos all over them. You can get reusable bags for as little as 99 cents from some grocers. We'll ignore for the moment that these bags are mass produced in Asian sweatshops which exploit child labour, pay low wages, have substandard working conditions, and lack basic rights and freedoms. Or you can spend $199 for designer reusable bags that accesorize your shopping attire or make social-political statement."
Fine. But no matter how you paint a story around it, what we have here is a plastic bundle-buggy. Changing the plastic to green does not make it eco. ::Eco-Kaddy found in ::the Star
"c) can people please stop calling everything "eco"?"
Amen.
Convergent evolution, with a happy extra benefit. What's the big? They make a produkt that's never been made before (ie a more fashionable and well designed caddy because of the low center of gravity) and it just happens to convey a benefit. Just because something isn't INTENTIONALLY designed to help the environment doesn't mean it can't. This is not the same as all-terrain Segways.
We have gotten to a point were the words like "eco", especially "Green". Every time somebody tells me about a "green" product I have to ask: "what makes it green?" The color?
Please keep the greenwash patrol out there. It will help trehuggers differentiate real environmentally conscious products from green-washed ones
Unfortunately, buzzwords such as "eco", "green", and "alternative" are necessary if we want to see change. The public at large won't make changes they aren't comfortable with, and the more they hear these words, the more comfortable they get, even if most of it is greenwashing.
Amen too - and they could at least use a capital 'E'
This looks ok, but can anyone suggest a decent, foldable shopping carrier for an urban, carless male, that won't make me look like a COMPLETE tool?! Thanks!
I can't imagine that this plastic box would stand up to the abuse my metal granny cart has endured over the years. Overloaded, up and down the stairs, tossed in the back of a moving truck, dropped, knocked over . . . Plus, it doesn't fold flat!
Maybe they should put an ipod dock on it and rebrand it as "i-eco-Kaddy" that way they hit all the hot demos at once!
You'd think it would at least fold up. As it stands now, you have a laundry basket with a long handle and wheels. I would love to see this as a foldable design, like my foldable wheeled cooler with extendable handle.
On top of all that, I don't see any mention of where the plastic comes from, whether it's 'safe' for a child with biting tendencies, or whether it contains recycled materials.
Come on greenwash watchers, those are the easy details to look for.
It looks like it would be useful for taking on public transit (outside rush hour, of course).
Go to Office Max and look at the Pack-n-Roll File Cart and you get much the same thing but better (Big wheels that can handle a city sidewalk, carries up to 80 lbs, aluminum handles).
But yeah, I'd rather have an old granny cart I can pimp out with 22" spinners and a thumpin' bass.
I actually bought my granny cart secondhand! In my opinion, THAT'S green.
It's plastic. Gas and plastic are passe.