The top ethical shopping smartphone apps

The countdown to Christmas has begun. Charlotte Reid looks at the latest smartphone apps that can help you to shop ethically over this holiday.

Blue & Green Tomorrow recommends the following apps in the run-up to an ethical and sustainable Christmas.

• The Good Shopping Guide – £2.99

This one is less of an app but more like a portable version of the Ethical Company Organisation’s book of the Good Shopping Guide. It includes handy tables allowing you to compare famous brands on their environmental, animal welfare and human rights records whilst standing right in the aisle.

Available on iTunes.

• Good Guide – Free

The Good Guide instantly reveals if a product is ethical, green or healthy just by scanning the barcode. It then gives you the science, health and environment ratings for that product. The app has information on over 120,000 products, in food, personal care, household cleaners and more. It will then let you know if this item is ethical or not.

You can also choose the categories that you are most interested in like nutritional value, environment and climate change. The app will then be able to rate products based on your personal preferences.

Available on iTunes and for Android.

• Season App – £1.49

As we have our food imported throughout the year, we might now be used to having whatever food we want, whenever we want. But Season App wants to make people realise the variety of produce available when you buy fruit and vegetables according to the seasons. Even though what we eat for Christmas dinner might be traditional, there could be something new out there to try on the plate this year.

Available on iTunes.

• Love Food Hate Waste – Free

Love Food Hate Waste, the organisation which encourages people to stop wasting food, has released an app to help people out. It contains tips and hints so people think more about their food shop, to make sure they do not waste any food.

It also includes a portion size planner to help you prepare the right amount of food and to not create anymore waste, as well as a meal planner that allows you to plan your meals for the week, making sure you only buy the food you actually need. It also contains over 350 recipes to make dinnertime more inventive as well.

Available on iTunes.

• greenMeter – £3.49

When you are travelling to the shops in preparation for the big day, then environmental savings can still be done during your journey. One obvious way is to walk if you can, but if you have to drive then greenMeter lets you know when your driving could be more efficient.

The app uses the phone’s accelerometer to rate how efficient your driving skills are by telling you when to lay off the gas. Not only will it teach you how to drive in an environmentally friendly way but it will also help to reduce your fuel consumption.

Available on iTunes.

Christmas can be a more challenging time to balance being ethical and environmental with relaxing and a well-deserved rest, as our recent report into ethical shopping showed.

Picture source: Yutaka Tsutano