Gone are the days where the most valuable utility on our mobile devices and Nokia 3310’s was the illustrious game to end all games, Snake. Thanks to Steve Jobs, we now live in a modern age where at the touch of our very finger tips, as an alternative to the world wide internet, applications have transcended modern technology and become integrated into our everyday lives. Constantly evolving and enhanced by trends such as our increased affinity towards wearable technology, apps continue to provide branded content but serve meaningful purposes that can aggregate all the vital components we deem as essential for true efficiency and time saving! What better way to use technology as a force for good than by downloading the innovations of disruptive developers who have sought to bring sustainable practices to you in simply one swipe. Whether it’s ethical consumption, disrupting the way we shop, reducing your carbon footprint, surveying the provenance of your purchases across various categories or donating your waste, as of 2019 there really is an app for everything.
Here’s a selection of some of my favourite in no particular order to help handle your sustainable conundrums, so free up your storage, archive those WhatsApps and get installing! A X
Good On You
Promotes the concept of wearing the change you want to see. Good on You provides a much needed ethical brand rating system, advice and information on your beloved clothing companies. Influenced by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development goals and endorsed by ethical pioneer Emma Watson, this app enables you to use your purchasing power to make your fashion choices a force for good.
Rent the Runway
This radical app that has over 10 million users is a monthly subscription and luxury fashion rental service. It’s vision of ‘Buy less, wear more, be you’ certainly encourages the adaptation of a sustainable mindset towards fashion focused on a shared economy and creating your very own closet in the cloud. Dealing directly with designers and fashion houses, the latest in season pieces from current collections are readily available for loan. For those interested in this concept, listen to Business of Fashion’s podcast with co-founder of Rent the Runway, Jennifer Hyman here
Regain App
Regain rewards it’s users for recycling and transforms your unwanted clothes into discount coupons. Approximately 50 trailers of discarded garments find themselves in landfills each day in the UK, so this has been created to prevent garments going to waste and serving no future utility. Users place their unwanted items in a box (minimum of ten), locate and deliver the items to their nearest drop off point and gain access to discount codes!
Oroeco
For the die hards, Oroeco rewards you for your carbon consumption. You can track your climate impact with the world’s best carbon footprint calculator and see how each element of your life creates an impact to global warming. This could be through travel, eating, shopping or home energy choices. It also allows you to compete with your friends in a similar fashion to Map my Run but replacing mileage with saving the planet!
Buycott
An app for the activists that allows users to scan barcodes when puroozing the aisles of stores. Buycott highlights if the producer of the item has any tarnished records on ethical, environmental or governance grounds. It also allows users to create or join campaigns on issues that matter to them ranging from environmental abuses, violation of human rights and identifies companies to avoid. It provides not only information on brands, but the large corporations that own them to enhance transparency on ownership and accountability.
Too Good To Go
This app allows you to fight food waste and feast on the food that restaurants would otherwise have thrown to the curb. Get your hands on a selection of treats from your favourite establishments in the form of a magic bag using location services. With over 18,583 partners including Yo Sushi and Planet Organic, Too Good to Go is the perfect option if you’re in search of a late-night supper!
Olio
Coined as the app for the food sharing revolution, Olio connects shops, cafes, neighbours and communities to share food and care for the environment. With over 900,000 users, they have redistributed over 1,258,668 portions of food and has its own voluntary community of over 30,000! One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and if you’re going on holiday with a need to empty out your cupboards/fridge/freezer you can find a home for what would otherwise have been thrown away.
Karma
A similar concept to Olio, Karma rescues unsold surplus food from retailers. It’s 500,000 users are able to purchase food at half price from partners including the likes of Deliciously Ella, Aubaine and Whittards.
HowGood
A data driven sustainable platform, food guide and catalogue with over 100,000 food products analyzed through sixty indicators like ingredient supply, community impact, food processing or the level of producer commitment. School yourself on the provenance and production of your snacks and dinner from a societal and environmental perspective prior to purchasing.
Refill
Helps you hydrate and locate your nearest watering hole. With over 14,000 refillable water stations across the UK, with Refill you won’t have to cave on buying that plastic water bottle.
Happy Cow
An oldie but a goodie, Happy Cow is the equivalent of Tripadvisor for the veggies and vegans! As London is one of the world’s most vegan friendly cities, whether you’re a meat eater searching for some carne free delights and plant based options, you won’t have to swipe and search for long!
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