The truth behind every eco claim on the shelf
EcoRate scans packaging, cross-references 14 regulatory frameworks across 63 countries, and returns a verified A–F grade in under two seconds. Built for consumers who are tired of being misled — and retailers who cannot afford to be non-compliant.
EcoRate · © 2026
EcoRateA $339 billion market with no independent verification layer
Sustainable packaging is one of the fastest-growing categories in global commerce. More than half of the environmental claims printed on that packaging cannot be substantiated — and until now, no platform has connected consumer awareness, brand accountability, and regulatory compliance in one system.
EU regulators flagged over half of all green claims as vague, false, or impossible to substantiate. US enforcement is accelerating — 73 greenwashing lawsuits were filed in 2025, a 30% increase year over year.
California SB 343 restricts recyclability labeling from 2026. The PACK Act targets unverified "recyclable," "compostable," and "reusable" claims. Greenwashing settlements regularly reach millions to tens of millions of dollars.
Rising to 90% among consumers aged 18–24, and 54% say they will pay more for verified sustainable products. But without independent verification, that intent cannot translate into informed purchasing.
Seventy years of relocating blame onto the person holding the package
A consumer standing in a supermarket aisle did not choose the packaging. The manufacturer chose it. Yet for seven decades, the environmental cost of that choice has been presented as a failure of individual behaviour. This is a documented pattern, and it is the reason independent verification does not yet exist.
Established by packaging and beverage manufacturers. Over the following two decades it popularised the concept of "litter" as a matter of individual conduct, at a period when deposit-return legislation was under active consideration.
A single television advertisement establishes the framing that would hold for fifty years: waste is what people do, not what manufacturers produce. Container deposit legislation stalls across most of the United States.
BP engages Ogilvy & Mather and launches the personal carbon footprint calculator in a campaign reported at $211 million. Before it, the term barely registered in search data. Within four years it was ubiquitous.
Extended Producer Responsibility exists to correct this. Sixty-three countries have now legislated on a single premise: that responsibility for packaging belongs to the party that selected the material, not to the person who happened to buy what was on the shelf.
The legislation is in place. The instrument to measure compliance with it is not. Without measurement, regulation risks becoming the same deflection in a more sophisticated form — obligations that exist on paper while the practical burden of discernment falls, once again, on the individual shopper.
EcoRate points the instrument the other way
Carbon calculators, footprint trackers, and personal eco-scores all measure the consumer. EcoRate does not score the shopper. It scores the manufacturer, at the moment of purchase, with the shopper acting as the sensor. The grade belongs to the package, not to the person holding it.
Receive the information required to choose between what is actually available, without being assigned responsibility for choices made upstream. No guilt mechanic, no personal score, no implication that trying harder would solve a structural problem.
Gain a route to compliance that does not require a lawsuit to discover, and visible credit when they genuinely improve. A reformulated package produces a better grade and reaches the shoppers who will act on it. Improvement becomes commercially legible.
Can meet obligations across multiple jurisdictions from a single view, identify at-risk products before enforcement rather than after, and demonstrate compliance posture to regulators, investors, and their own boards.
Obtain systematic visibility into compliance patterns at no cost to the public purse, allowing enforcement resources to be directed where breaches are concentrated rather than where a complaint happens to arrive.
Historical account drawn from reporting on the Keep America Beautiful campaign and on BP's 2004 carbon footprint campaign, including Mark Kaufman's analysis for Mashable and subsequent academic commentary.
The alternative is not theoretical — several countries have already legislated it
A recurring objection to packaging reform is that it is impractical. It is not. Multiple jurisdictions have enacted binding limits on packaging and continue to operate functioning retail markets. The United States has not, and American consumers have correspondingly fewer options and no way to see the difference.
Plastic packaging on unprocessed fruit and vegetables has been prohibited in phases since January 2022, with full application scheduled for mid-2026. Produce labels must be compostable. Tea bags may not be plastic. Restaurants above a certain capacity must serve dine-in meals on reusable tableware. Newspapers and advertising may no longer be mailed in plastic wrapping.
Delivery packaging is subject to binding limits: empty space may not exceed half the parcel volume, with void fill counted as empty space, and only one layer of disposable wrapping is permitted. Separate recycling legislation restricts materials that are difficult to recycle, including PVC and coloured PET.
A national standard governing food and cosmetics packaging caps the cost of all packaging materials other than those in direct product contact at 20% of the sale price, with enforcement through inspection and substantial penalties for breach.
Loose produce sold from open market stalls, with shoppers bringing their own containers, remains ordinary practice across much of the region. Costa Rica's 2019 plastics law goes further than most, prohibiting single-use bags, straws and tableware, banning expanded polystyrene outright, and placing a statutory duty on retailers to encourage customers to carry purchases in their own containers.
What this means for the United States
Taken together these markets establish something more pointed than a comparison. Loose, minimally packaged retail is not an innovation awaiting invention — it is the historical default that industrialised retail displaced. Across much of the world it never stopped operating. The United States did not fall behind on adopting a new idea; it industrialised produce retail more completely than almost anywhere else, and the packaging arrived with the format.
The United States has taken a different route — extended producer responsibility in six states, the PACK Act federally, and labelling restrictions in California — which places the obligation on producers without prescribing materials directly. That approach depends entirely on the ability to verify whether obligations are being met. Without measurement it is unenforceable at scale.
The same gap appears in reverse elsewhere. Several countries have enacted packaging legislation without the administrative capacity to monitor compliance with it. Law without measurement is as inert as measurement without law.
That is the gap EcoRate fills, in both directions. The verification layer that makes producer-responsibility regulation function where it exists, and the visibility that lets a shopper see how a product compares to what is sold elsewhere for the same purpose.
Sources: French Ministry for Ecological Transition and Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor on the AGEC law; Hong Kong Legislative Council research on over-packaging regulation in South Korea; published analysis of GB 23350-2021. Regulatory detail is summarised and subject to amendment; EcoRate maintains current mappings within the platform.
From barcode scan to compliance report in under two seconds
EcoRate's six-stage pipeline connects individual consumer scanning behavior to brand-level compliance intelligence and regulatory reporting — automatically, and at scale.
A consumer opens EcoRate and scans a product barcode or photographs the packaging. The scan triggers an instant lookup across a database of more than 75,000 verified products. Results return in under two seconds.
Claude reads every environmental claim on the label and cross-references it against FTC Green Guides, California SB 343, the PACK Act, EU PPWR, EPA packaging standards, and nine further frameworks simultaneously. Each claim is assessed for accuracy, substantiation, and certification status.
EcoRate's scoring algorithm evaluates twelve weighted factors: material recyclability, post-consumer recycled content, carbon footprint, certification status, EPR compliance, biodegradability, and six further criteria. Every product receives a defensible, auditable grade.
When the AI identifies a misleading claim, it generates a flag naming the specific claim, the regulation it contravenes, and a confidence score. Flags above 85% confidence surface to consumers and route to the brand's compliance dashboard. Community members may add supporting evidence.
Retailer and brand clients access a live dashboard showing which products are being scanned, eco-score trends across their catalogue, which SKUs carry compliance risk, and AI-generated packaging upgrade recommendations ranked by impact and cost.
The compliance layer monitors regulatory calendars across all active jurisdictions: EPR fee schedules in Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Oregon, Washington and New York; PACK Act certification deadlines; SB 343 filing dates; and EU PPWR enforcement timelines. Alerts route to client compliance teams ahead of every deadline.
Three portals. One verified data layer.
EcoRate operates as three entirely separate applications sharing a single verified sustainability database — consumer, commercial, and administrative. Data never crosses between client accounts.
Barcode and photo scanning
Scan any product in any store and receive a verified eco grade with a plain-language explanation in under two seconds. No account is required for basic scanning.
AI greenwash detection with legal citation
When a product makes an unverifiable claim — "biodegradable," "eco-friendly," "responsibly sourced" — EcoRate identifies the specific regulation it contravenes and assigns an AI confidence score.
Personal impact tracking
Plastic avoided, CO₂ equivalent saved, and eco points earned across every purchase decision. Weekly challenges and a community leaderboard sustain engagement.
Community ratings and verification
Active users rate, review, and flag products. Community-contributed data feeds directly back into the scoring algorithm — accuracy compounds as the user base grows.
Premium includes unlimited scanning, full greenwash reports with citations, an ad-free experience, and detailed personal impact analytics.
View the demoLive eco score across every SKU
A–F grades for your entire catalogue, updated as regulatory databases change. Anonymised competitor benchmarking shows where you stand without exposing rival identities.
EPR and PACK Act compliance tracking
Real-time status across California, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, Oregon, Washington and New York. PACK Act certification per product. Automated alerts before every filing deadline.
Customer scan intelligence
Which products customers scan, what they do afterwards, and which environmental claims drive purchase versus shelf abandonment. Behavioural data no other source provides.
AI packaging upgrade recommendations
"Switch PVDC wrap to PE film and this SKU moves from Grade C to Grade B." Recommendations ranked by compliance impact and estimated cost, with supplier database integration.
Audit-ready compliance reporting
One-click export of your full compliance posture, formatted for EPR filings, ESG disclosure, and board reporting.
Starter covers up to 500 SKUs, Professional up to 2,500, Enterprise unlimited with custom compliance reporting, audit exports, and dedicated account management.
Request a demonstrationPre-seed round — $300,000 on a SAFE
Raising at a $2.5M valuation cap to fund full product development, database expansion to 200,000 products, and the first fifty enterprise clients. Allocation: 40% engineering, 25% database and AI, 20% commercial, 15% legal and operations.
Four diversified revenue streams
Consumer subscriptions, B2B compliance SaaS, verified brand advertising at point of scan, and aggregate data licensing to ESG funds and policy researchers. No single stream exceeds 37% of projected revenue.
Regulatory tailwind, not regulatory risk
EPR legislation now spans 63 countries. PACK Act, SB 343, and EU PPWR enforcement create a compliance obligation that makes this platform a necessity rather than a discretionary purchase.
Defensible position
A 75,000-product verified database representing years of collection lead time, a patent-pending detection algorithm, compounding network effects from community verification, and B2B lock-in through compliance reporting integration.
Full investor materials — business plan, financial model, and pitch deck — are available on request under NDA.
Request investor materialsThe compliance deadlines creating urgency now
EcoRate monitors fourteen regulatory frameworks in real time. These are the five carrying the most immediate consequence for brands and retailers.
Federal legislation specifically targeting unverified "recyclable," "compostable," and "reusable" claims on consumer packaging. Mandatory certification deadlines with FTC enforcement authority behind them.
New labelling restrictions take effect in 2026. Prohibits the chasing-arrows symbol or any recyclability claim unless that specific material and form is genuinely recyclable in practice. Penalties reach $50,000 per day.
EPR frameworks now span 63 countries, eliminating regulatory arbitrage and standardising compliance requirements globally. Six US states operate active programmes with fees assessed on packaging weight and material type.
Full enforcement across all 27 member states. Minimum recycled content mandates and packaging reduction targets. Applies to every US brand with European distribution, not only European companies.
Last revised in 2012 with updates pending. State attorneys general are filling the enforcement gap — 73 greenwashing cases were filed in 2025, led by California with 39, followed by New York, Washington and Ohio.
FDA food-contact standards, USDA organic certification, state plastics bans, How2Recycle labelling guidance, EU Ecodesign Regulation, OECD EPR policy across 38 member countries, and emerging state legislation.
Where EcoRate stands today
This is a working platform with live infrastructure — not a concept awaiting funding. The material below reflects what exists and what is actively in progress.
All three portals are operational and publicly accessible. Consumer application, retailer dashboard, and administrative control layer — fully interactive, no login required.
Fourteen frameworks mapped to scoring criteria, including the PACK Act, California SB 343, six state EPR programmes, FTC Green Guides, and the EU Packaging Regulation — with exemption categories defined and their evidentiary basis documented.
Twenty-four TypeScript modules comprising the scoring algorithm, greenwash detection engine, state management, API service layer, and component library.
Business plan, financial model, investor presentation, regulatory analysis brief, technical architecture documentation, and deployment guides.
Provisional patent application covering the greenwash detection methodology and A–F scoring algorithm is prepared for filing with the USPTO.
Applications prepared for Class 9 (mobile applications) and Class 42 (software as a service) with the USPTO.
Expo and EAS configuration complete. Android preview build and iOS TestFlight distribution are the immediate next deliverables.
Express API with authentication and AI integration is built and ready for deployment to the production environment.
Explore the working platform
All three portals are running below with live interactions, real greenwash detection logic, and complete compliance data. Nothing here is a static mockup.
Fully interactive · No authentication required · All three portals accessible
Independent by design, and by financial structure
EcoRate exists to make packaging compliance measurable. That work has value to regulators only if the platform is demonstrably independent of every party it assesses — including government. We have structured the organisation accordingly.
Our position on public funding
EcoRate does not accept government funding for its operations. Competitive research grants that fund specific development work — and confer no editorial control, no governance rights, and no equity — are appropriate and we pursue them. Ongoing operational funding from any agency is not, because it would create a dependency that undermines the independence on which our assessments rest.
Revenue comes from the retailers and manufacturers whose products we assess. Their subscription confers no right to influence, suppress, or pre-approve any grade or flag, and that separation is contractually explicit in our Terms of Service. The same principle applies to every stakeholder.
Regulatory and academic institutions may request our aggregate dataset at no cost: violation rates by product category, which frameworks are most frequently contravened, comparative compliance across jurisdictions, and trends over time. All records are de-identified. No equivalent dataset currently exists in the public domain.
Our twelve-factor scoring methodology, including the weighting applied to each factor and the regulatory mappings behind each assessment, is documented and available on request. Assessments that cannot be examined cannot be relied upon, and we publish accordingly.
Every grade adjustment, methodology change, and dispute outcome is recorded in an immutable audit log with the stated reason and the date. This record is available to regulators reviewing any determination, and to any manufacturer contesting one.
We participate in rulemaking consultations, submit public comment on proposed packaging and labelling regulation, and welcome dialogue with agencies developing policy in this area. We hold no lobbying position and represent no industry interest.
- De-identified aggregate compliance datasets for research or enforcement prioritisation
- Methodology documentation and regulatory mapping detail
- Quarterly public compliance reports, freely distributed
- Technical input to consultations on packaging and labelling policy
- Pilot evaluation of our data against an agency's own enforcement priorities
- Accept operational funding that would create financial dependency
- Enter governance arrangements conferring influence over our methodology
- Provide data identifying individual users to any party, including public authorities, absent valid legal process
- Present our assessments as findings of legal violation — they are documented opinion, not adjudication
- Represent any commercial interest in a policy proceeding
Requesting data or opening a dialogue
Write to us stating your institution, the nature of your interest, and the data or documentation you require. We respond to all enquiries from public bodies and academic institutions within one business day.
Resources for journalists, researchers, and regulators
EcoRate provides data, analysis, and expert commentary to journalists covering sustainability and consumer protection, to academic researchers studying packaging compliance, and to regulatory bodies developing policy.
A concise single-page summary of the platform, mission, technology, and market position — suitable for journalists, analysts, and regulatory stakeholders.
Request document →Our periodic analysis of greenwashing claim rates by product category, regulatory violation trends, and state-level EPR compliance across the US market.
Request report →Commentary on sustainable packaging regulation, AI-driven compliance technology, greenwashing enforcement trends, and consumer sustainability behaviour.
Media enquiries →We actively seek collaboration with regulatory agencies, academic institutions, ESG data providers, and environmental organisations on packaging sustainability research.
Discuss partnership →Start a conversation
Whether you are a retailer managing compliance obligations, a journalist investigating greenwashing, a regulator developing policy, or an investor evaluating the opportunity — we respond to every enquiry within one business day.
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The compliance infrastructure the packaging market has been missing
Sixty-three countries now regulate packaging producer responsibility. Enforcement is accelerating. The verification layer connecting consumers, brands, and regulators does not yet exist at scale — EcoRate is building it.