For the first time, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken nationwide action against a system that misleads consumers about the recycled content of plastic products.

A ProPublica investigation in June showed how the plastics industry uses a controversial accounting method called “mass balance” to tout plastic products as having 20 or 30 percent recycled content, even though they physically contain less than 1 percent recycled content.

This is a manipulation of numbers that occurs only on paper and inflates the advertised recyclability of one product by reducing the advertised recyclability of another, often less lucrative product. Because this is done only for marketing purposes, it has been criticized by environmentalists as a greenwashing tactic.

According to a guideline published this month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), companies seeking the federal government’s seal of approval for their sustainable products are no longer allowed to use such complicated calculations.

The EPA’s Safer Choice standard is a voluntary program that allows manufacturers to label their dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent and other products with the Safer Choice label. The roughly 1,800 products that have received this distinction include household cleaners sold in grocery stores and niche products such as industrial carpet stain removers. Until now, the program’s criteria focused on encouraging brands to reduce their use of toxic chemicals. But the updated standard, released on August 8, also tightens requirements for sustainable packaging; plastic packaging must contain at least 15% recycled materials.

A key requirement is that the content must be determined “by weight”, which practically eliminates mathematical trickery.

“This is the tipping point” that will allow us to end the mass balance “scam,” said Jan Dell, a chemical engineer who founded The Last Beach Cleanup, a nonprofit organization that fights plastic pollution.

It is the latest of several actions by the Biden administration to combat the plastics crisis that is flooding communities, oceans and even our bodies with toxic material that doesn’t break down in nature. Last month, the White House announced that the federal government – the world’s largest buyer of consumer goods – would stop buying single-use plastics by 2035. Reuters also reported that U.S. negotiators in ongoing negotiations on a United Nations plastics treaty would support global limits on plastic production.

The EPA’s decision shows that President Joe Biden’s team is taking more aggressive action to curb plastics, said Anthony Schiavo, senior director at Lux Research. Schiavo’s company analyzes global trends in new petrochemical and plastics technologies.

The new rule effectively excludes from the program all products made with a much-vaunted chemical recycling technology called pyrolysis. ProPublica’s investigation found that it is so inefficient that it can’t deliver more than 10% recycled content. In practice, it yields much less. Mass balance was the key to commercializing these products and the technology.

A prominent plastics industry trade group defended mass balance, pointing to its use in other products such as paper and fair-trade chocolate. “Mass balance is a widely accepted accounting tool used by a variety of industries that would encourage higher levels of recycling in the overall economy,” Adam Peer, senior director for plastics sustainability at the American Chemistry Council, said in an email.

The EPA annually presents awards to participants who have excelled in its program. 2023 honorees include The Clorox Co., Rust-Oleum, Ecos and Seventh Generation, which increased their inventories of less toxic cleaning products and educated consumers about the Safer Choice program.

ProPublica asked these four companies whether it would be difficult to switch to plastic packaging that meets the 15% limit. None responded to requests for comment.

The EPA did not comment directly on the rule’s impact on pyrolysis or mass balance. The agency instead referred ProPublica to comments it made to the Federal Trade Commission last year on mass balance, calling them misleading and advising against promoting it. “It would be clearer to focus on calculations that incorporate the actual amount of material used,” the agency told the FTC.

After an earlier version of the EPA’s rule, released in November, left open the possibility of using mass balance, activists like Dell warned the agency about the shortcomings of that accounting method. And a group of state and local officials, including the attorneys general of 11 states, expressed similar reservations about the EPA’s definition of recycled content.

In its response to those comments, the EPA wrote that the final rule was written to “respect this consumer expectation” that “products with labels indicating the use of recycled content also contain recycled content from consumer products.”

“Common sense prevailed here,” said Peter Blair, who co-authored the activists’ comments with Dell. Blair, director of policy and advocacy at the environmental group Just Zero, said he was thrilled that the EPA’s final decision prioritizes “truthful, accurate” labeling of recycled content for a program that doesn’t explicitly address plastic.

The activists’ campaign reflects growing pressure to scrutinize and regulate the marketing of plastics – especially those recycled using newer technologies. European regulators have banned the most extreme form of mass balance. And the FTC is revising the Green Guides, which dictate how companies can advertise recycled content in sustainable products. Those agencies are also considering allowing mass balance.

Blair hopes the EPA decision will set a precedent for the federal government’s stance.