(MONEY Magazine) – So you want to be an environmentally correct consumer? Very commendable. But before you head to the supermarket, try this shopping quiz:

Which type of product is best for the environment? The one that is: a) recyclable b) degradable or c) ozone-friendly?

The correct answer is: d) hard to say. None of the three terms tells you enough to be meaningful. Nevertheless, these days you are forced to decipher ''green'' claims on everything from toilet paper to refrigerators. Nearly 400 supermarket products launched last year boasted on their packaging that they were good for the environment, more than twice the number in 1988, according to Marketing Intelligence Service, a Naples, N.Y. research firm. Trendy retailers are pushing the green too. The Sharper Image now sells $99.95 automated can crushers for recycling, and Mo Siegel, founder of Celestial Seasonings, is starting Earth Wise, a manufacturer of household cleansers and trash bags. There are dozens of Earth-conscious mail-order catalogues with names like Ecco Bella and WeCare. And all over the country so-called eco- preneurs, like Paul Hirschberger and Elly Katz (see the box on page 101), are opening environmentally friendly specialty stores. Unfortunately for consumers, some environmental marketing is mere greenwashing. ''I would estimate that about 15% of the claims are true, about 15% are false, and the rest fall into a gray area,'' says Joel Makower, co- author of The Green Consumer (Penguin, $9.95). The reason for the muddle is that few environmental terms on products have strict legal definitions. Complains Texas assistant attorney general Steve Gardner: ''The attitude of marketers seems to be: if you can't make it better, make it up.'' And, frequently, make it more expensive. ''In a few cases, businesses are simply price gouging,'' notes Carl Frankel, editor of the Green MarketAlert newsletter. ''But more often, prices for green products are higher than competitors' because their manufacturers are too small to achieve economies of scale.'' The handmade Sun Frost refrigerator, for example, which uses less than half as much electricity as a comparable General Electric model, costs $2,350 vs. $600 for the GE. At an annual electric-bill saving of $60 a year, it would take more than 25 years to break even.

Some relief may be on the way. The Federal Trade Commission is now considering whether to issue industry guidelines on environmental labeling. But the agency isn't likely to act before year-end, and even if it recommends changes, manufacturers will probably take several more months to implement them. In the meantime, what's a well-meaning consumer to do? First of all, be skeptical of what appear to be seals of approval to help you hack your way through the green jungle. The not-for-profit group Green Cross now plants its certification insignia on 350 household products. A green cross means the organization has collected as much as $10,000 from a company to run tests that verify the manufacturer's green claims. Still, the insignia doesn't mean the product is totally safe for the environment. Green Cross gave its approval to Dolco's egg containers solely because they contained recycled polystyrene, even though the plastic foam does not disintegrate. A Green Cross spokesman says that her group rates only specific claims, rather than reviewing a product's larger environmental effects. To find the merchandise that is better for the environment and to identify those products with labels that are particularly vague or misleading, MONEY interviewed environmentalists, scientists, retailers and government regulators. They offered six shopping tips:

1) Choose products with less packaging than the competition. Each year the average American discards nearly a ton of trash, more than 30% of which is packaging. By looking for the least-packaged brands, you'll ease the strain on landfills and often save money too. On a recent grocery-shopping trip to a Washington, D.C. Safeway, for example, Nissin Food's Cup O'Noodles soup (with vegetables and shrimp), packaged with a polystyrene cup, cost 79 cents for 2.25 ounces, while the company's Oodles of Noodles, without a cup (or the additional ingredients), cost 39 cents for three ounces -- more than 50% less per ounce. Keep an eye out for reusable containers. Downy fabric softener is now available in small cartons of concentrate (about $3.30) that you can use for refilling larger plastic bottles. 2) Try to buy products made of natural ingredients. Untreated materials generate fewer toxic chemicals in their production than processed ones. Companies that bleach paper white, for example, use a process that creates dioxin, a potential carcinogen. Household cleaners are also a major source of toxins. Some laundry detergents contain fluosilicate, often used as a pesticide. Annie Berthold-Bond, author of Clean and Green (Ceres Press, $8.95), suggests using a combination of soap flakes and either Borax or Arm & Hammer washing soda, made with natural ingredients. 3) On labels, look for specifics about recycling, not merely the words recycled or recyclable. True, using products made of recycled material is generally better for the environment than using ones that aren't. But many recycled goods may be less helpful than you think. Manufacturers often label paper products and cans recycled even if only some of their contents are reused material. For instance, only 25% of the average recycled plastic bottle is actually recycled. Moreover, advertising a product as recyclable is meaningless if you can't recycle the material in your town. For example, only a handful of municipalities today recycle juice-box packaging, which contains compressed layers of paper, plastic and aluminum. In December, the New York City Consumer Affairs Department charged drink-box makers Combibloc and Tetra Pak (used for Mott's, Hawaiian Punch and Gatorade) with falsely claiming in newspaper ads ! that their containers can be recycled ''as easily as this page.'' Both companies have since stopped running the ads. Your best bet is to look for brands that specify the percentage of recycled material, such as Fort Howard and Marcal paper products, which contain 100%- recycled pulp. If you have trouble finding 100%-recycled products, try a mail-order house such as Real Goods (800-762-7325) or Seventh Generation (800-444-7336). 4) Dismiss those labels that say ''degradable'' or ''biodegradable.'' At best the claims are meaningless, since nearly everything degrades eventually. Sometimes, however, as the crumbling Great Wall of China attests, you need to wait thousands of years. If your garbage, like that of most people, ends up buried in landfills -- where no air, water or light penetrates -- nothing will degrade for decades. And materials that degrade quickly aren't necessarily safe for the environment. For example, some substances, like detergents, emit toxic chemicals as they break down, warns Debra Lynn Dadd, author of Nontoxic, Natural and Earthwise (Jeremy P. Tarcher, $12.95). Many state and local environmental officials consider claims of degradability to be inaccurate. Last year, seven state attorneys general sued Mobil for false advertising because of claims on its Hefty garbage-bag boxes that the bags were degradable. Mobil has since agreed to settle the suits with no admission of any wrongdoing.

Environmental experts say the best thing you can do to limit waste is to avoid creating unnecessary garbage in the first place. Use cloth shopping bags instead of throwaway paper or plastic, for example. Steer clear of disposable products such as plastic razors or Styrofoam cups and opt for long-lasting, reusable alternatives. 5) Ignore ''ozone friendly'' spray-can labels and consider pump bottles. Many brands of aerosol shaving cream and deodorant now boast that they contain no CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons, which harm the ozone layer -- the blanket protecting the earth from dangerous ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Big deal. The U.S. Government banned CFCs from aerosols in 1978. Aerosols still contain hydrocarbons, such as propane, which contribute to smog. Some even contain HCFC, a CFC-like substance that many environmentalists maintain also threatens to deplete the ozone layer. To avoid these chemicals, use pump bottles or, to get a continuous spritz, use the new nonaerosol sprays, such as the $7.99 Biomat bottle from Biomatik (800-950-6478). Unlike the aerosol cans commonly used for hair sprays and deodorants, the new spray bottles don't require chemical propellants. They can be filled and refilled with liquids such as window cleaner or water-based paint. To create a chemical-free spray, you add compressed air by pumping up a device attached to the underside of the bottle. 6) Rather than relying on environmental ''life cycle'' analyses, search instead for energy-conserving products whose manufacturers have proof that using the items will cut your utility bills. Makers of disposable diapers and a trade group for cloth diaper services commissioned rival studies that attempted to measure the environmental impact of their products over their lifetimes, from manufacture to disposal. Not surprisingly, the studies drew opposite conclusions. The nonprofit group Green Seal, headed by Earth Day organizer Denis Hayes, will soon begin awarding life-cycle endorsements of paper products. Hayes says that over the next few years consumers will find the Green Seal on everything from soaps to water-saving devices. The entire-life-cycle concept may not be valid, though. Many scientists consider such analyses to be unreliable. ''Right now we do not have enough industry data to analyze most products' entire life cycle,'' says Allen Hershkowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental group. ''And the conclusions will vary depending on the assumptions you use.'' Hayes responds that for certain product categories, such as recycled paper, data do exist for limited studies. Some products, however, clearly require less energy to operate -- or conserve more resources -- than others. For example, compact fluorescent bulbs, which cost about $18 to $27, use 75% less electricity than $1.50 to $2 incandescents and last 10 times longer. If you can't find the bulbs at hardware or lighting stores, try the mail-order catalogues from the Energy Store (800-288-1938) or Energy Federation (800-876-0660). Low-flow showerheads ($10) reduce water consumption by as much as 50% and can save $100 a year on your water bill. They are available at hardware stores or mail-order firms such as EcoSource (800-274-7040). For additional help, you might subscribe to a publication that offers advice to environmentally conscious shoppers, such as the Green Consumer Letter ($27 a year; 1526 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036) or Green-Keeping ( ($22.50; P.O. Box 110, Annandale, N.Y. 12504). Joel Makower advises keeping in mind, though, that ''there is no such thing as a perfectly green product.'' Says he: ''Everything has some environmental impact. You can only minimize the damage.'' Still, spending your long green on products that do less harm than others is a start for keeping the planet healthy.