Greenies or grinches?

The environmental group ForestEthics recently compiled its fourth annual “Naughty/Nice List” scorecard for 21 American companies in the catalog and direct-mail industry.

The group evaluated the companies based on four criteria, including the amount of post-consumer recycled content in the company’s direct mailings, the company’s efforts to reduce overall consumption, and whether the company cuts endangered forests to produce its catalogs. The group then gave the companies holiday-themed scores including “Naughty,” “Nice” or “Checking Twice.”

Sears, Lands’ End and J. Crew received low scores for “greenwashing” their paper with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification label, which “certifies forest destruction as usual practices that hurt people, deceive consumers and cheat taxpayers,” according to ForestEthics.

A record 11 companies made the “Nice” list—one more than in 2008 and four times as many as in 2006. The forestry group created the scorecards to encourage direct mailers to better their paper policies and standards. To read the full scorecard, visit forestethics.org.