PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Corrective Notice

Following proceedings by the ACCC and settlement terms agreed with Clorox Australia Pty Ltd (Clorox Australia), the Federal Court of Australia has declared, by consent, that Clorox Australia contravened the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) by supplying and promoting its ‘50% Ocean Plastic Recycled’ kitchen tidy bags and garbage bags in its ‘GLAD to be GREEN’ range packaged including as shown in the images below, thereby making false or misleading representations that the bags were made of 50% recycled plastic waste collected from the ocean or sea, when this was not the case.

In fact, the GLAD kitchen tidy and garbage bags were made from 50% recycled plastic waste that was collected from communities with no formal waste management system up to 50 kilometres from a shoreline, and not from plastic waste that was collected from the ocean or sea.

Clorox Australia made the representations about its kitchen tidy bags between about June 2021 and July 2023, and about its garbage bags between about May 2022 and July 2023. Clorox withdrew the supply of both products to retailers in July 2023.

The Federal Court has ordered that Clorox Australia:

• pay a penalty of AUD$8.25 million and make a contribution of AUDS$200,000 towards the ACCC’s costs;
• refrain from making similar representations in the future;
• implement an ACL compliance program; and
• issue this corrective notice.

While Clorox did not intend to mislead consumers that the 50% recycled plastic waste was collected from the ocean or sea, it apologises to any consumers who were misled.

Further information about the Court’s decision can be found on the website of the Federal Court of Australia and in the ACCC’s media release.