Another UBC Blog

I like to think of myself as a conscious consumer. I try to research companies and their products before I consider purchasing them. Below are some the tools I use when making informed decisions, check them out:

Ethical Consumer

Ethical Consumer are an UK-based, independent, not-for-profit co-operative founded in 1989, whose mission is make global business more sustainable through consumer pressure. They have several tools available for consumers including:

• Product Guides: For many product categories, Ethical Consumer have created an in-depth guide in which you can learn more about the category’s enviro-social impacts as well as explore a ranked score-table of companies with products in that category. The tables are incredibly detailed, scoring companies out of 20 on metrics ranging from pollution and environmental reporting to animal rights and testing, workers’ rights and supply chain management to political activities and tax avoidance. What makes them better than Good Guide is that they provide specific information on why companies were given a particular rating.
• Magazine: 6 times a year, Ethical Consumer publish a magazine outlining the key developments in the sustainable business world. These feature well-researched articles and research reports with the most current data available.

There are 2 downsides to Ethical Consumer however. Firstly, it costs $55 a year to become a member and access most of their information. The reason for this somewhat steep pricing (not really, how much is $4.50 a month really?) is that membership is their primary source of revenue. They do not spam you with meaningless advertising just for money. You can access the score-tables of their product guides for free though. So even if you don’t subscribe, it can be a great place to start your research. The 2nd downside is that, because they are UK-based, most of the companies and products they rate are also UK-based. They do include most of large, multinational companies though, such as P&G. The thing is, all of these companies have incredibly low ratings and all of the high raters are small, independent, UK-based companies. There are quite a few mid-sized, international companies though, like Method.

Good Guide

Good Guide are basically a less detailed version of Ethical Consumer. While they do provide detailed health, environmental, and social ratings, you can’t see specifically why companies achieved the rating they did, you only see a number. This does make me somewhat dubious towards the ratings, but their methodology, as they describe it, seems sound. The key benefit of Good Guide is that it features all of the brands North Americans realise. It is most definitely out of date for some products and companies so take their ratings with a pinch of salt. Nonetheless, it can be a great place to start your research, and their app and website are incredibly quick and easy to use on-the-go when you don’t have time to conduct serious research.

EWG

The Environmental Working Group produce 2 guides for consumers: Skin Deep (for personal care products) and Healthy Cleaning (for cleaning products). They provide detailed information on the health and environmental impacts of the products we use everyday. Their rating system makes it easy to quickly check which products are best in a category, while also providing links to where their information comes from.

The big question. Should consumers have a choice in sustainability or should all products on the shop shelf be from responsible sources? I have conflicting thoughts about this topic and see it as a double-edged sword.

Some of my favourite sustainable companies.

On one hand, I believe that consumers should do their due diligence and take the time to research companies before purchasing their products. This is because, even though many companies claim to be sustainable, only some are making real changes to their business. In an age where greenwashing is so prevalent and the authenticity of  certifications are questioned, the onus is truly on the consumer to wade through the BS spewed by companies to find the truth. While this may seem daunting at first, there are several tools available for consumers to use (see this post about my favourite tools).

On the other hand, I believe that all companies should be sustainable. It is the right thing to do and the only way the Earth can sustain our consumerist culture (yes, it’s me again, Britta). While I may want people to question their purchases and ask themselves if they truly need something before purchasing it, I realise that this is not likely to happen. It is way easier for companies to become more socially and environmentally responsible than for society to change its attitudes towards spending (it will take decades for the latter to occur, with companies like Patagonia leading the charge).

It’s hard for me understand the attitudes and mindset of unsustainable companies. For me, sustainability is the right thing to do, simple as that. I know that companies aren’t perfect, I don’t expect them to be, but I do expect companies to be doing something to become more sustainable. Sustainability is a journey and while companies like Method are ahead of the pack, many others have yet to make their first steps along the path of enviro-social responsibility. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for companies to do the right thing.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We’ve been hearing it all our lives. I’m sure we’re all familiar with the below symbol:

But what many people don’t realise is that this is actually a hierarchy. It’s Reduce, then Reuse, then Recycle. For example, let’s say you see a jar of jam on a shop shelf. You’re first thought should be, “Do I really need this jam?” This is a great question to ask yourself, and not only for environmental concerns. We live in a culture of overconsumption; a capitalist, consumerist cesspool of unnecessary goods and services. Sorry to go all Britta Perry on you, but you really should ask yourself if you truly need something before you buy it.

OK, getting back on track. If you decide that you really need the jar of jam, the next best thing to do is reuse the glass jar after you’ve finished the jam. Tea mug, pencil holder, plant pot; there are a multiplicity of ways to reuse the jar (and items in general, just Google it, there are so many fun, creative ways to reuse things). If you can’t find a decent use for the jar, the absolute last thing to do is recycle it. We get so focused on the recycle part, we sometimes forget that it’s actually at the bottom of the pyramid.

Or is it? It turns out that the 3R’s are just a simplified version of the Waste Hierarchy, a framework developed by the European Union for their Waste Framework Directive.

Prevention is similar to Reduce, as is Prep for Re-use and Reuse, and obviously Recycling is the same in both cases. Other Recovery is the last resort prior to disposal and generally refers to energy recovery, that is using various processes to turn the waste into heat, electricity, or fuel, AKA waste-to-energy.

The other difference between the 3R’s and the Waste Hierarchy is their target audience. The 3R’s are targeted at consumers and show what actions an individual can take, while the Waste Hierarchy dictates what society should be doing as a collective whole. I think it’s great that the EU developed a framework to guide waste management in the entire continent and, because it is a directive, all member states of the EU must use the framework to develop waste management and waste prevention programmes. We’ve talked in class about how slow organisations are to implement sustainability initiatives so YAY for mandatory compliance!