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In the bike industry, there has been a movement towards branding certain chemical components (chain lubes, greases, etc.) as "biodegradeable" and/or "nontoxic". One example is this white lightning grease. Essentially all of these products are proprietary, and so it's not possible to independently verify whether it stands up to these claims.

What is the legal requirement for these companies to label products as "biodegradeable" or "nontoxic"?

Edit: ack, I should've been clearer: I am in the US, and am inquiring specifically about US law.

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  • "I am in the US, and am inquiring specifically about US law." just a note in case you aren't familiar, Law.SE has a practice of allowing answers for any jurisdictions.
    – Andrew T.
    Commented Sep 23 at 5:49
  • Thanks for the heads up! Am I expected to accept answers which deal with other jurisdictions, or am I able to leave it open in anticipation of answers specifically dealing with my jurisdiction?
    – Lucas Myers
    Commented Sep 23 at 15:01
  • Car grease has always been non-toxic. You can seal burn wounds with it.
    – Neil Meyer
    Commented Sep 23 at 18:19
  • @LucasMyers answer acceptance is 100% on OP. You're free to accept the most helpful answer for you, or not accepting any answers at all, or change the accepted answer, whenever you feel it.
    – Andrew T.
    Commented Sep 24 at 5:43

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The claims must not be misleading or deceptive

The Competition and Consumer Act prohibits deceptive and misleading conduct in trade or commerce and creates both a tort-like avenue of recovery (including for pure economic loss) and an offence subject to multi-million dollar fines.

Specifically for environmental claims, the claims must be “true and accurate”, be of material environmental benefit (so a 1% reduction in emissions does not support a claim of “reduced emissions”), be supported by evidence, not hide important information, explain any conditions, not be overly broad, and use clear plain English.

So “biodegradable” means that all of the product, including the packaging (unless explicitly excluded) breaks down naturally in the environment without human intervention into harmless chemicals of insignificant size.

“Toxic” when used scientifically means “this stuff will kill you”, but in everyday usage, it means “this stuff will hurt you” - it’s the second definition that you must be able to support. Reference to the Safety Data Sheet should show that it is “non-hazardous” to support a claim of non-toxic. Additionally, if it’s non-toxic to humans but will kill your cat stone dead, you can’t make the claim without being very, very clear about that.

The SDS for Crystal Grease would seem to support a claim of non-toxic. The claim of biodegradability is more problematic as only the organic part of the product is biodegradable: how much isn’t?

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  • Thank you for the clear answer, I made an error in not specifying my country. As a follow-up, I'll ask: for online advertising in products sold in many countries, must they adhere to all countries' laws? That to say, would there be some kind of penalty to White Lightning (via the Australian government, I suppose) if it was shown to be not biodegradeable?
    – Lucas Myers
    Commented Sep 22 at 1:01
  • @LucasMyers follow up questions need to be asked as questions, not in comments
    – Dale M ♦
    Commented Sep 22 at 8:21
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    @LucasMyers If you advertise in country X, you must adhere to X's advertising laws. I don't think it matters where the product is sold.
    – Barmar
    Commented Sep 23 at 20:49

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