Sourced reference · verified 14 September 2026 · 16 CFR Part 260
What the FTC Green Guides require
Most of the Guides is principle. But six provisions carry actual numbers, and those are the ones a claim is tested against. This sets out the numeric tests, what the Guides say about certification seals, and the status of a revision that has not arrived.
The Guides are not a statute. They explain how the Commission applies Section 5 of the FTC Act to environmental claims — conduct inconsistent with them can be challenged as a deceptive practice.
Status
The version in force is fourteen years old
The text currently in the Code of Federal Regulations is the 2012 revision. The FTC opened a review in December 2022, took roughly 7,066 comments by April 2023, and has published nothing since.
That gap is itself a trap. Commentary written during the review discusses proposals — changes to the 60 percent recyclable threshold, treatment of the word "sustainable" — that were asked about, not adopted. Anything presented as a new FTC rule on green claims should be checked against the eCFR text before it is relied on.
- 1 October 2012Revised Guides announced
The FTC issued the revised Green Guides, updating guidance that had stood since 1998. Published in the Federal Register on 11 October 2012.
- 20 December 2022Regulatory review opened
The FTC published a request for public comment as part of its ten-year review cycle — docket FTC-2022-0077, Matter No. P954501 — asking about the 60 percent recyclable threshold, degradation timeframes, compostable facility availability, carbon offsets and climate terminology, and whether to address the word "sustainable".
- 31 January 2023Comment period extended
The FTC extended the deadline by 60 days, from 21 February to 24 April 2023.
- 24 April 2023Comments closed
Roughly 7,066 comments were received through Regulations.gov.
- 14 September 2026Still the 2012 text
No revised Guides have been issued. The text in force in the eCFR remains the 2012 revision.
The numeric tests
Six provisions with a number in them
Everything else in Part 260 is a substantiation principle. These six are the ones with a line a claim either clears or does not.
- § 260.8Degradable
- Complete decomposition within one year
- An unqualified degradable claim on an item that enters the solid waste stream is deceptive unless the item "will completely decompose within one year after customary disposal." Landfilled, incinerated or recycled items effectively never meet it.
- § 260.12Recyclable
- Facilities available to at least 60 percent
- An unqualified recyclable claim requires recycling facilities available to "a substantial majority of consumers or communities where the item is sold" — which the Guides define as at least 60 percent. Below that, the claim must be qualified.
- § 260.5Carbon offsets
- Disclose delays of two years or longer
- Marketers must use competent and reliable scientific and accounting methods, must not sell the same reduction twice, and must clearly disclose if the emission reduction will not occur for "two years or longer." Reductions already required by law cannot be claimed.
- § 260.7Compostable
- Breaks down at the same rate as the rest
- Requires evidence that all materials break down into usable compost "in approximately the same time as the materials with which it is composted." If facilities are unavailable to a substantial majority, the claim must say so.
- § 260.15Renewable energy
- All, or virtually all, of the process
- An unqualified "made with renewable energy" claim requires that all, or virtually all, significant manufacturing processes be powered by renewable energy. Fossil fuel use must be matched by renewable energy certificates.
- § 260.16Renewable materials
- Entirely, minor components aside
- The claim must be qualified unless the product or package, excluding minor incidental components, is made entirely with renewable materials — and the marketer should identify the material and say why it is renewable.
Seals
A mark that does not say what it certifies
Section 260.6 is the provision that connects this page to the rest of the site. A seal which does not convey the basis for its certification is likely, in the Commission's reading, to convey a general environmental benefit — and an unqualified general environmental benefit claim is deceptive under § 260.4.
Two consequences follow. A mark on packaging needs accompanying language saying what it actually verified. And third-party certification does not transfer the substantiation burden — the marketer still has to hold evidence for every claim the seal reasonably conveys to a consumer.
Index
Seventeen sections
- § 260.1Purpose, scope and structure
- § 260.2Interpretation and substantiation
- § 260.3General principles
- § 260.4General environmental benefit claims
- § 260.5Carbon offsets
- § 260.6Certifications and seals of approval
- § 260.7Compostable claims
- § 260.8Degradable claims
- § 260.9Free-of claims
- § 260.10Non-toxic claims
- § 260.11Ozone-safe and ozone-friendly claims
- § 260.12Recyclable claims
- § 260.13Recycled content claims
- § 260.14Refillable claims
- § 260.15Renewable energy claims
- § 260.16Renewable materials claims
- § 260.17Source reduction claims
Questions
Are the FTC Green Guides law?
Not in themselves. The Guides are administrative interpretations that explain how the FTC applies Section 5 of the FTC Act to environmental marketing claims. They do not carry independent penalties, but conduct inconsistent with them can be challenged as a deceptive practice under Section 5, which does.
What does the FTC mean by recyclable?
An unqualified recyclable claim requires that recycling facilities be available to a substantial majority of consumers or communities where the item is sold. The Guides define a substantial majority as at least 60 percent. Where availability is lower, the claim must be qualified to disclose the limited availability.
Can I call a product biodegradable?
Only if it completely decomposes within one year after customary disposal, and you can substantiate that. Because most items go to landfill, incineration or recycling — where that does not happen — an unqualified degradable claim on such an item is deceptive under § 260.8.
When were the Green Guides last updated?
The current text is the 2012 revision. The FTC opened a regulatory review in December 2022 and the comment period closed on 24 April 2023, drawing roughly 7,066 comments. As of 14 September 2026 no revised Guides have been issued, so the 2012 text remains in force.
What do the Green Guides say about certification seals?
Under § 260.6 a seal that does not convey the basis for its certification is likely to convey general environmental benefits, which the Guides treat as deceptive. Third-party certification also does not relieve the marketer of its own obligation to substantiate every claim the seal reasonably conveys.
Do the Green Guides cover the word sustainable?
The current text does not address it. Whether to do so was one of the questions the FTC put to the public in its 2022 review, and no answer has been published.
Method
What this page does not settle
Open items
- Whether a revision is coming. The review has been open since December 2022 with no published outcome. No date is asserted here because none has been announced.
- State law. The Guides do not preempt state or local requirements, and several states regulate recyclability labelling independently. Not covered here.
- Penalty exposure. Enforcement runs through Section 5 and, for textiles, the Textile Fiber Products Identification Act. The mechanics of penalty calculation are outside this page.
Sources
- 16 CFR Part 260, Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims — the operative text. eCFR
- Federal Trade Commission, Green Guides rule page — the 2012 revision and its Federal Register history. ftc.gov
- Federal Register, request for public comment, 20 December 2022, docket FTC-2022-0077. federalregister.gov
Thresholds and definitions are quoted from the regulatory text. Dates for the review come from the Federal Register notice and the Commission's own press releases. Where the text is silent — on the word "sustainable", for instance — that silence is recorded rather than filled.
Sources verified 14 September 2026.