The saying ‘it’s not easy being green’ no longer rings true. The options for buying cleaner, more ethical, lower carbon products are growing by the day. So much so, in fact, that there are almost too many options. Here is Blagger’s pick of the top five online ethical or eco superstores.
Nigel’s Eco Store is one of the longest-running online ethical outlets, and it’s well stocked with everyday essentials, like detergent-free washing products, quick boiling kettles and environmentally-friendly pencils. It’s run from Brighton by, not surprisingly, Nigel, who maintains a blog highlighting events and new products. It was also named winner in the shopping category of Yahoo!’s Finds of the Year for 2007.
The Offset Shop is great for those times when you absolutely positively have to shop from one particular retailer, like Sainsbury’s, Boots or PC World. If you go to those stores – and dozens more – by clicking through the links here, it offsets 1kg of carbon for every £2 you spend. There are even car insurance deals which offset a massive 2900kg, equivalent to the amount pumped out by the average family car in a year.
Ethical Superstore runs along much the same lines as Nigel’s Eco Store, and has direct links to your favourite ethical brands, such as Ecover and Cafedirect, so you can do your shopping at speed. We particularly liked the charity gifts section, allowing you to donate mosquito nets, seeds and solar-powered water purifiers to the third world any time of the year, not just at Christmas.
GuardianEcoStore is a re-branded eco-outlet running under the banner of the UK’s most stylish newspaper. Pricing is available in pounds, euros and dollars, but this is more than a money-making affiliate store, as direct links to Tread Lightly, where it encourages readers to make a weekly eco pledge, shows that the environment really matters to this paper.
Ecotopia Eco shop has some wonderfully quirky products, like the return to sender labels specifically for junk mail, mens’ solar shavers and bags made in the Philippines from gathered rubbish. The only thing we don’t like is the delivery charges that apply on orders up to £100 (as with GuardianEcoStore). At Nigel’s Eco Store it’s only £75.
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Great selection of sites. My site has seen a definite rise in interest in eco, ethical and sustainable gift choices for every occasion over the last 6 months, so definitely a tide of change coming.