Shopping

Designed by Malcolm Coxall

1001 Ways to Save the World

Free to read, free to reproduce

· General
· Where to shop
· What to buy
· What NOT to buy
· Packaging
· Labelling
· Quality and Environment
· Durability and Environment

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YOUR choice!

Tip 1101	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Buy Local Produce	Local produce requires less energy than transported food. It is fresher and more nutritious. If not then buy food transported by sea. Air-freighted food is the worst (strawberries from south America for example)	What: ZZZZ How: AAA	Green: Easy:

Local Production

Tip 1112	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Avoid Buying Plastic goods	Plastics, in general, don't last as long as more real materials, are hard to recycle, are NOT biodegradeable and use valuable hydrocarbons	What: Buy the same products in natural materials like glass, wood, earthenware, metal etc How: Look for alternatives in natural materials.	Green: Easy:

Plastic Products

Newspapers

Tip 1103	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Don’t use plastic shopping bags - use your own bags	We consume and dump mega quantities of plastic supermarket bags to do our shopping. We only keep them for a few minutes and then they are dumped. What a colosal waste of materials and energy.	What: Bring your own cotton bags or other reusabale bags to the supermarket with you and refuse the supermarket bags. Simple! How: Refuse plastic and paper bags from the shop. Use cotton shopping bags or reusable bags Cotton bags are readily available these days and if they aren't use other strong, re-usable bags when you go shopping. Keep them handy and when you drive to shop just leave them in the car!	Green: Easy:

Tip 1105	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Don’t buy or use disposable goods such as razors, plastic cups etc	Most disposable products have a permanent alternative, cups, glasses, nappies, razors etc. all have a permanent "original" product. In general, disposable products are much more expensive than their permanent alternative and are more pleasant to use. Most importantly, disposable products create massive amounts of waste in their production and disposal.	What: Just don't buy disposable anything. How: Buy the real thing.	Green: Easy:

Tip 1102	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Don’t buy multiple copes of the same newspaper in the same household	Its silly to buy the same disposable thing twice on the same day and it save you money and reduces waste and CO2	What: Just organise yourselves. How: Buy one type of newspaper per household	Green: Easy:

Tip 1104	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
When possible, buy products in BULK	Buying products in BULK is usuall cheaper, uses less packaging (and waste), and reduces transport costs to your home.	What: Lots of products are now available in bulk packaging. If its cheaper and sensibly packaged then this is a good buting choice. How: Look for alternative bulk packaging for the products you want. Detergents are a good example, but there are now many other products bulk packaged. If you are shopping locally, ask your local shop to get Bulk products for you...... they will be delighted, of course.	Green: Easy:

Plastic bags

Buy in Bulk

Disposable Products

Tip 1106	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Cellophane isn't too bad, if you can find it.	Cellophane wrapping isn't too bad. Its biodegradable and made from cellulose which is a natural material. Cellophane looks like plastic but is not.	What: If a product is wrapped in cellophane, its much better than products wrapped in the more common polythenes etc. Its hard to recognise cellophane if you don't know it so this is for the experts! How: Learn how to distinguish cellophane from conventional plastic packaging.	Green: Easy:

Cellophane packaging

Tip 1107	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Don't buy tropical hardwood products species unless FSC certified.		What: Avoid tropical hardwood products (including plywoods made with teak/mahogany and other endangered species unless the source is a properly managed sustainable forest. How: Don't buy hardwood products unless they have an FSC label on them. Unless its FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified, don't buy tropical hardwoods or hardwood products.	Green: Easy:

Tropical Hardwoods

Tip 1100	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Read the Label!	The most important first step in responsible shopping. If you don't read the label, you don't know what you are buying.... thats it. You can be buying good products, manufactured in appalling conditions by children in Egypt, or in concentration camps in Burma, or food containing gene manipulated vegetables or grain from the USA, or products containing preservatives or E numbers you don't want to eat! Read the Label and get informed so you understand it.	What: Read the labels, look at the following: Country of origin.... Is it OK politically? Country of origin ....... Is it necessary to ship this stuff that far!? Ingredients: Any mention of GMO or Gene - anything, then DUMP IT. Ingredients: Any mention of preservatives or colourings: DUMP IT, not necessary these days. Organic: Look for one of the authorised Organic labels, if its Organic you are onto a winner. Fairtrade: The Fairtrade label guarantees suppliers have been paid fairly for their goods, usually in the developing world. Buy Fairtrade products whenever you can. Manufactured in: Watch this one. "Packaged in" doesn't mean "Product of" or "Manufactured in". The origin of raw materials and where its packed are little games played by the food mega-conglomerates to sell goods into the EU. Check out aspargus (Chile), garlic (china) etc etc.... all packaged in the E.U. How: Get informed, and READ the Label	Green: Easy:

Read the Label

Shop Local

Tip 1101	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Shop Local	Local shops provide a service, they are our neighbours and they take more care, in general, about what they buy and sell.	What: Favour small local shops with your business- How: Get as much as possible from your local shop.	Green: Easy:

Buy seasonal foods rather than exotic foods

Tip 1108	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Buy seasonal foods rather than exotic foods	Exotic Foods need a lot of transport from foreign producers, use a lot of energy and are less fresh than local produce.	What: Buy seasonal foods not exotic foods or out of season foods How:	Green: Easy:

Buy high quality "White Goods"

Tip 1109	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Buy high quality white goods that are really durable and need to be replaced less often and are energy-efficient.	High quality white goods tend to have a longer life than cheaper products and so are cheaper in the long run, reduce resource consumption per annum of use, and tend to be more energy efficient.	What:The more often you have to replace white goods the more you waste. You waste your money, energy to manufacture and transport and you create unnecessary recycling or worse still, landfill waste How: Do the research before you buy something, check the reviews in consumer websites and spend a little bit more to get durable quality	Green: Easy:

Avoid Packaging or Give it back to the shop

Tip 1110	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Minimal packaging, biodegradable packaging, packaging from recycled materials.		What: How: Leave the big stuff at the shop …. This encourages the shop to reduce the packaging from its suppliers	Green: Easy:

Buy Refillable products

Tip 1110	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Buy refillable household cleaning products		What: If you really need to buy them at all, use refillable cleaning materials How:	Green: Easy:

Avoid Buying PVC products

Tip 1113	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Buy nothing made with PVC.	Not all plastics are the same. PVC is dangerous to manufacture, is dangerous to live with, and hard to recycle: Avoid PVC like the plague, including PVC windows,	What: Check the label. If its PVC, forget it. How: If its PVC, just say "no", there are alternatives...	Green: Easy:

Buy plastic products only if they will last

Tip 1114	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
If you buy plastic goods buy things which will last	If you have to buy plastic products then buy something which lasts a long time. Otherwise you are basically buying a disposable product with a large energy cost.	What: If you buy plastic products buy durable products. How: Look for quality plastic products that will last.	Green: Easy:

Buy clothes made with Natural fibres

Tip 1115	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Buy clothes made with Natural fibres	Because these materials are biodegradable, and cotton and linen are plant products, and actually contribute to reducing CO2, whereas synthetic textiles originate with petrochemicals and are rarely biodegradable and are net producers of CO2 in their manufacture	What: Avoid clothing made with synthetic textiles or mixtures of natural and synthetic textiles How: Check the label. Look for cotton, linen, wool, silk, andora etc. Acryls, poly..anything is all synthetic	Green: Easy:

Never buy aerosols

Tip 1116	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Never buy aerosols.	Aerosols use “propellant” chemicals under pressure to atomise their liquid contents. These propellants were once partly responsible for damage to the ozone layer… these are now banned. Newer propellants however, whilst not so damaging, are still chemical contaminants of our atmosphere..... there are plenty of alternatives.	What: Don't buy anything using an aerosol spray mechanism How: If you must use domestic chemicals use manually pumped sprays. Buy sprays which use “finger power” to atomize their contents.	Green: Easy:

Buy Recycled Products

Tip 1117	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Buy products made with recycled materials	It helps the emerging recycling industry and reuses valuable materials, thus saving the use of “new” raw materials like oil and trees. It saves energy and reduces CO2 output.	What: There are many products on the market these days made from recycled materials such as plastic and paper. How: Check the label and try to favor these products	Green: Easy:

Avoid Big supermarket chains

Tip 1119	Why do it?	Do What? and How?	Is it Easy? Is it Green?
Don't shop in large supermarket chains	World food production and the prices paid to farmers is dictated by the mega food supermarket chains. They have no conscience about forcing producer prices down to starvation levels, forcing down quality or importing food products across the planet which can be grown localy. Also, you will be suprised that shopping locally may actually be cheaper.... especially when you consider the travel costs, the coffee and the damage to your head after 4 hours in a megastore.	What: Just get out of the habit of shopping in the "out of town" supermarkets. How: Gradually buy more of your shopping in local shops and gradually reduce and eliminate all your business with large supermarket chains	Green: Easy:

Shopping