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Rather than shop for the most budget-friendly or most well-known brand, more of us have a new criteria when it comes to shopping for products for our house and home. And, it begins with one major question. Do they align with my values? As questions about a company’s environmental impact shift into mainstream culture, supporting brands that take transparent actions to be better both socially and environmentally- reduce their plastic packaging, use natural ingredients, work with third parties to reduce CO2 emissions, recycle water, ensure that workers along their supply chain are paid a living wage, etc.- have taken the lead. Lizzie Horvitz, founder of Finch, a digital tool that provides sustainability ratings for everyday products, calls sustainable shopping ‘voting with our dollars’.
As consumers we can influence the market by consciously choosing more sustainable brands. As those brands perform better, other brands unwilling to actively minimize their impact will either be forced to change or face being replaced by sustianable brands. This is one of the goals of sustainable shopping according to Lizzie. And, it’s a goal that is easier to attain than many of us might think. As an environmentalist with 10+ years of activism under her belt, Lizzie built Finch to simplify the choosing and shopping process so that anyone can feel that they can shop sustainably without hours of research about materials or factories.
To help us all learn more about sustainable shopping, how these brands are different from their conventional counterparts and to gain a little insight into how we can all make a positive impact with our dollars (even when buying mundane items like toothpaste) Lizzie shared her expertise with The Wellness Feed.
What is the end goal of shopping sustainably?
It’s a common misconception that the purpose of shopping sustainably is simply to reduce climate-change impacts and feel better about yourself. It’s actually a lot bigger than that. When we shop for products that align with our goals and values, we’re supporting companies and essentially “voting” for those to do well and feel monetarily incentivized to make better decisions with their own products. Our end goal at Finch is that “un-sustainable” companies are losing market share to those that are making better choices, so they start doing better.
How is shopping sustainably different than choosing the most budget-friendly item?
Often, there is no direct correlation to budget and sustainability. Sometimes, the most sustainable option is twice as expensive because that company has taken additional measures to ensure the livelihoods of the manufacturing workers and only use the best sourced materials. Frequently, the most sustainable option is the cheapest because you’re buying something that lasts forever (like a reusable paper towel) instead of consistently buying single-use items. Sometimes when you’re paying more, it means the product lasts longer or there are fewer negative externalities that you’d have to pay for indirectly, so the idea that practicing sustainability will always hurt your wallet is simply untrue.
What problem is your company trying to solve?
Finch’s overarching goal is to create clear and direct demand for sustainable products so that we can show a real business case to all companies. It’s easy for companies to continue “business as usual” because they think consumers don’t really care or they can get higher margins by using fewer quality materials. If we can show shoppers that there’s an easy way to make better decisions without requiring a master’s degree in sustainability or spending hours scouring the internet, it will trickle down until companies will start feeling the change.
When you talk about sustainability or a company’s environmental footprint, what do you mean?
We think of sustainability in the same way it’s been defined for decades: living in a way that meets your needs without compromising the needs of future generations. From an environmental standpoint, that means not clearcutting trees that contributes to deforestation, for example, but there are also many social considerations. When we’re forcing 10 year-olds to work in less than optimal conditions, that’s failing future generations. So, it’s really a mix of planetary boundaries and social considerations.
What hurdles are you facing trying to create a straightforward rating system?
There are two main hurdles we face. First, science is evolving every single day, so something that was true six months ago may be disproven by more data shortly afterwards. Our algorithm is designed to change with the science, but it comes with a risk of confusing people.
Another hurdle is that a favorite answer to a sustainability question is “It depends.” Are you living in a place where water is scarce? Will you use this product every single day? These are just a couple of questions from among hundreds that will depend on the sustainability of a product that someone is purchasing, so we are making a lot of assumptions to get to a place that is accurate enough, but still not perfect. We’re really transparent about explaining that we’ll never have the exact impact without understanding the buyer and the supply chain perfectly, which we simply cannot do at scale. We always say “it’s better than anything else available,” so that keeps us going.
What hurdles are brands facing to make more sustainable choices throughout their sourcing or production process?
More sustainable practices and materials are easier at scale, and sometimes they’re so nascent that the market hasn’t corrected the supply and demand. Smaller brands, especially, have a difficult time buying affordable materials (like post-consumer recycled, for example) because they cannot meet the minimum numbers and it’s prohibitively expensive. Pre-competitive collaboration is getting more popular, but it’s a journey.
What is the harm that conventional products cause?
We rate products based on six different impacts: climate, water, human health, ecological, waste, and raw materials. A conventional product can do everything from impacting a shopper’s endocrine system if they use harmful chemicals, to using packaging that will land in the landfill, and everything in between. It really depends on the specific impact area and composition of product.
What is the best way that we can all shop more sustainably?
Finch offers an extension that you can download to find out how all of your favorite products are scored. Our website also has a lot of helpful information on specific categories.