One of the regulars on AmwayTalk, MichMan, often passes Amway world headquarters in Ada, Michigan. He sent me this photo of a great billboard that’s up nearby. When he first mentioned it in the AmwayTalk forums, another poster, Deb, mentioned that Amway introduced the word “biodegradable” to the world with it’s first product, L.O.C. – Liquid Organic Concentrate. L.O.C. was one of the first commercially marketed biodegradeable cleaning products, meaning it’s components break down safely without damaging the environment.

I thought that sounded a little hyperbolic, Amway introduced “biodegradable” to the world? I know they’ve been “green” since the beginning, but that seemed a stretch. Then I started digging. I found this source that says the first known use of the word “biodegradable” was in a scientific text in 1961, barely a year or so after the founding of Amway. I then found sources from 1962, 1963, and 1964 (link broken) that all mentioned Amway marketing biodegradable products – that’s within a year of the first known use of the word.  Continue reading Amway: Part of the green movement. Before there was one. →