No fooling around PLEASE…..
good eco-ethical, easy “user experience” at the Store
In this post:
APPs to use while shopping,
APPs for before you go to the store,
or Prevent Food Waste APPs,
And lets develop these APPs for each country on planet Earth
…a list at the bottom of other posts about the UX of eco-ethical APPs
ECO-APPs/2 – FOOD APPs
Just give me simple Shopping eco-ethical UX APPs that I can use to shop in my country, that scan barcodes and help me choose from the worst polluter to the most eco-ethical product – what I can afford.
Remove the distractions. ECO-APPs/2 – Food
Automate away everything that distracts a customer from what she/he needs. So they can follow thru on what we are in the store to do.
There seems to be 2 types of general “grocery store type” shopping APPs.
- APPs that are the result of an organisation’s research, checking companies and brands themselves, based on their own standards. Their APP only uses their own data base and lists those companies/brands that comply with their own standards of eco-ethics.
- APPs that take the data from many such organisations to build a data base. Their APP is usually based on bar codes for as many products as possible rating each company/brand based on the collective input of all their data.
Find the place, words, way to advertise, that will give YOUR PRODUCT / SERVICE an eco-ethical friendly user experience…….. Here are examples to consider for food….
APPs to use while shopping – ECO-APPs/2
The Yellow are my remarks.
The Blue – the organization offering the APP. Maybe their words will inspire you.
Shop Ethical!
An almost Everything Shopper APP with scanner or the Guide Book, for Australia. I can not get the APP on my iPhone in Israel, but this has got to be an excellent example of a shopper APP enforcing my conviction that such Shopper APPs are better when available for one country. This is also an excellent example of a Shopper App that concentrates on the actions the shopper is involved in, and leaves out the distractions.
Simple but logical rating system. A good place to start thinking about this.
Shop Ethical! is a project of the Ethical Consumer Group.
A community based, not-for-profit organisation and network, set up to promote more sustainable purchasing practices for the everyday consumer. We are based in Australia.
We produce the popular Shop Ethical! Pocket Guide and APP drawing from our extensive database of products, companies and issues. In one place you will find information on the environmental and social track record of the companies behind common brands; from Food & Drink, Appliances, Baby, Clothing, Electronics, Household, Office Supplies, Personal care, Pet, Retail Stores, Toys
The pocket guide or App – What are you supporting when you shop? Who did you vote for today? Our guide or app helps you match your shopping habits with your values. Over 130,000 guides sold since 2008! In it’s 9th edition, with updated 2019 edition
“Simply, ‘Thank you.’
I am so grateful that you have done all the hard work, so that lazy/tired/child-distracted mothers like me can confidently tell their whining 8 year olds “no, we are not buying that, because the people who will get our money hurt other people, animals, or pollute the environment ”. I have always wanted this information, but have never had the spare energy to go and find it myself.
You have done a brilliant job.”
Annie, Boronia, VIC
==========On Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 7:43 AM Clint Healy <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Lesley,
The Shop Ethical app has a feature by which the user can create a personal list of her/his favorite brands.
If someone wants information about our app, they can ask me.
Regards,
Clint Healy
Ethical Consumer Group
www.ethical.org.au
Shop ethical! book | app | web | e-store | facebook
Buycott
Shopper APP with FAST scanner, detailed information per company, suggests alternatives….but it is based on “campaigns”, not straight forward grades of the product/company like ranking 1-5 for its eco-commitment. And once you start joining their campaigns, they start to urge you to get more people to join.
Also, as much as they say they are international, they are not completely. I believe as far as barcodes/UPC is concerned it is not only impossible, but not reasonable. Keep the APP “region/country” based. Do not try to cover the whole world.
I tried to check the barcode of my local can of Colman’s dry mustard, which is an international product, and the APP can not find it.
I check a package of Doctor’s Brushpicks, which I bought in the USA, and in a snap it gives me all the details. It is USA based.
This APP, based on campaigns, “supporting”, “conflicting” and others, not a ranking system. If I am out shopping, I have no time for this….. This is why I believe that Buycott, is not a good eco-shopping APP, although its scanner is a good fast one and the data behind this scanner is very thorough. If it needs the campaigns to make money, I think it should find another way and help consumers increase their preferences to include planet Earth.
The APP is available to integrate into your website or for developers to use.
Vote with your wallet
“Buycott has millions of users from 192 countries, and is available everywhere. However, certain regions do not yet have the wide product coverage that we have in North America.”
We’re up to date – We’re adding thousands of new products every day to keep the data fresh.
We’re international – Our product database contains products from every country from America to Zimbabwe. Our comprehensive product API provides data for over 150 million products from every corner of the globe. ????????????
We’re fast – Our servers respond to millions of requests every day, most in under 90 milliseconds.
>Scan barcodes when shopping to learn product history & make an informed decision
>Get your message across by notifying the product owners of your decision
>Join crowd-sourced campaigns to get behind causes you care about
EWG’s Healthy Living
Shopper APP with scanner, very fast with graded ratings
covers personal care and the grocery store, USA.
This APP is close to my ideal of how I could use it while shopping:
Scan a product:
The scanner is very fast, but apparently only works in the USA.
Review its rating:
The review is maybe a little too much, if I am in the grocery store, but could be reviewed later at my leisure. Very Thorough
Pick the better choice:
The words “Find better-rated “product” category … and when you tap on this, the total list of other products of the same category comes up. The total list is rather long, but starts with the greenest brands. I can scan the shelves, scan the list and find brands that are better than the one I might have chosen, but do not have to be the most expensive. Maybe just a little more expensive and a little greener.
Do you know what’s in your tap water? What about your shampoo? What pesticides are on your tomatoes? Which large agribusinesses get your tax dollars and why? What are GMOs? What do they do to our land and water?
More than two decades ago, EWG set out to answer these questions, and more, and to empower you to get to know your environment and protect your health. With breakthrough research and education, we drive consumer choice and civic action.
Healthy living just got that easy.
Just scan a barcode, search by name or browse by category, and EWG will give you an easy-to-understand 1-10 score (1 being the best!) backed by science you can trust.
APPs to use before you go to the store – ECO-APPs/2
Better World Shopper
BETTER WORLD SHOPPER
This is an evaluation of companies…. over 2000. website/APP
APP without scanner, but very fast. In a list of catagories from Airlines to Water & Wine, with a simple grade per company – no detailed information about the company. The user can get a single (but collective) opinion about a company. You can search, on their website or APP to find which companies are the most responsible about Human Rights, Environment, Animals, Community, and Social Justice.
Very straight forward and extremely simple to use. Instantly useful, if all you are looking for is a product/company’s ethical grade. But not much use, if you want to move up slowly in consumer responsibliligyt and as your budget will let you . APP based on accumulated data
BETTER WORLD SHOPPER is a public research project dedicated to making social and environmental data available to consumers who wish to utilize their dollars as votes in order to help build a better world.
76 public research sources — 30 years of data both USA&World
HowGood
The “creme de la creme” of Food Brand researchers, giving us the most sustainable list of food products on the market in the USA, today.
We have to get passed the notion that the way to convince the greater world population is to convince us to pay more for sustainable brands. There are lots of people out there who would love to be able to pay more, but can not afford it. Sure, we can tell them that less food will help them stay healthy. Wish it was that simple.
Maybe it is important that we have HowGood’s system to point us to the best eco-committed companies and food producers, but it misses all the “regular folks”. Sure 73% of Millennials report they are willing to pay more for sustainable brands. But how about the other 82.48% (6.15 billion people) that can not afford to pay more.
The APP that gives them a compromise, lets each of us move slowly up and internalize that need to move up. If a consumer sees that he/she can go slightly up in price and include some sustainability/ healthier brand….slow but sure will change. The more we buy from only committed produces, the sooner prices of the most sustainable will go down. There will be lots of consumers that will move closer and closer to the more sustainable products.
It all boils down to making it easier and easier for the consumer to feel the difference.
HowGood – By gathering data from 350+ independent sources, and rolling up our sleeves to understand on-the-ground realities from our partners, our Research and Data Team has comprehensive insights into sustainability that are unique to HowGood.
We have rated over 250,000 products, with only 5% of the industry earning the highest rating. The in-store ratings can be found on the shelves of hundreds of stores across 26 states and are also accessible via the newly released app. As an Amazon Associate HowGood earns from qualifying purchases.
The App no longer exists…………………..
Are Delivery Services a way to stop the waste? ECO-APPs/2 – Food
How to solve the world’s plastics problem: Bring back the milk man
Small dairies throughout the USA are already reviving the milk man by offering delivery services. And it’s not just milk. Refillable beer (2 litre) growlers are staging a comeback, with Whole Foods and Kroger stores offering in-store beer taps. Startups are trying to help people refill reusable soap containers at home, and millions of consumers are already refilling SodaStream bottles in their kitchens, a sign that there’s a market for reusable bottles.
or Prevent Food Waste
Why here? Well, as most of these kinds of APPs say, food and food preparation are some of the biggest emitters of CO2 and 1/3 of it is thrown away on a daily basis instead of used. Why not try to use the food and keep from wasting already emitted CO2 – prevent waste and save?
Finding ways to get us all to eat perfectly good surplus food is a CO2 conserver and another way to make our eco-ethical user experiences more real and more friendly.
There is one BIG PROBLEM ! These organizations, have not all really figured out how to handle increases in “single-use-packaging” which is mostly plastic! Any company that can offer these groups good solutions, might start their own Waste Rush ! And there are already good reasons to find these solutions!
The ways they describe what they do, might just be good inspirations for YOU.
OLIO
APP and website They are set up for the world. It is rather funny. I am in Israel, no one nearby is using the APP, but if I want to, I can pick-up food & non-food items all over Europe….2-3,000 km away.
Very easy to use and seems very thorough. The APP includes a “forum” where you can message about relevant issues. They also send out lots of email updates, with articles and waste information.
They list the accumulative number of APP users, portions of food shared, and volunteers working with them. Too bad they do not add the amount of CO2 emissions they prevent.
OLIO’s system shares food free – from neighbor or business to neighbor.
OLIO connects neighbours with each other and with local shops so surplus food and other items can be shared, not thrown away.
If you love food, hate waste, care about the environment or want to connect with your community, OLIO is for you.
Where is OLIO available? OLIO is available to be used anywhere in the world, and food has been successfully shared in over 32 countries so far!
The APP navigation is in English, however listings and messaging can all be written in local languages. We plan to translate the web APP into different languages at some point in the not too distant future. Already also in Spanish.
Food Runners
Website and APP
I have a friend in San Francisco, who uses this APP and has both a regular weekly delivery that she helps with and because the APP is so well put together, when she has spare time, she opens the APP, finds a delivery during the time she is free and can sign up to take care of it.
Here is another organization that could list, at least, the accumulative CO2 emissions they prevent or save.
Alleviating hunger and preventing waste in San Francisco, USA
Food Runners is currently delivering over 17 tons of food a week that would otherwise be thrown away. With help from our volunteer coordinator, our paid truck driver and people like you, we can provide enough food for over 20,000 meals every week in San Francisco.
Whether it is called Food Waste, Food Rescue, or Food Recovery, Food Runners is a leader in the effort to keep edible food from being discarded. Food Runners picks up excess perishable and prepared food from businesses such as restaurants, caterers, bakeries, hospitals, event planners, corporate cafeterias, and hotels and delivers it directly to neighborhood food programs.
Karma
Karma‘s system is not free. Unsold restaurant and grocery store food at discounted prices.
The APP is set up so that you choose something and pay for it within the APP. The website is in the 3 languages, where their APP is now being used.
Karma, Is interested in going into additional markets…..
They show (as of today):
Items rescued per month: 50.000
Tonnes of food saved: 295
Days of car use compensated (CO2): 28,000
The APP that helps you rescue unsold food from being wasted
From the Michelin-starred Aquavit to Hummus Bros, Magpie, and Detox Kitchen, this Swedish start up helps the consumer discover unsold food from nearby restaurants, bars and cafés in many parts of Sweden, London (UK) and Paris (France).
Karma is continuing to expand internationally in 2019, aiming to hire 100+ new positions in the upcoming months.
Yes we are originally from Sweden and operate everywhere in Sweden.
This is how we work:
– Food is uploaded to Karma
Restaurants, grocery stores, bakeries and cafes upload their surplus food at specific times, often between 2pm and 6pm.
– You buy the food
You buy the food you want directly in the Karma app at a lower price.
– AndYou pick up the food
You pick up the food on location as take-away. Show your order to the personnel in order to get your food!
Too Good To Go
toogoodtogo.co.uk is also not free. Discounted food, bought within the APP. Down load the APP, find your favourite food at a lower price, go rescue it! ……………… in 10 languages
This APP, which first launched in Denmark, is moving along….. Their approach seems to be doing well and preventing more CO2 emissions as they see it.
It’s a no brainer!
As one of their businesses said: “With the amount of time, money and energy that goes into producing and preparing food, it makes no sense to waste anything that is still perfectly edible. The benefits of new customers discovering your business, while preventing food waste and recovering costs is just – a no brainer!”
Active in 11 European countries, this food waste APP helps to combat the issue by providing a platform for various kinds of food preparation companies to sell left over food at reduced prices via their APP.
Become a Waste Warrior today Save a meal – make a difference. It’s as simple as that!
Have you got leftover food? Reduce your food waste, earn a little extra and meet new customers. Sounds good? Join us today!
As of Today
12,455,349 Meals saved globally
=
24,911 Tonnes of CO2
Each meal saves the planet from 2Kg of CO2.
Calculation source: The EPA – United States Environmental Protection Agency.
On Mon, Mar 4, 2019 at 2:52 PM Nicoline Koch Rasmussen <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi!
Yes we also have fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers and many other product categories. Check out our app for the full range.
Our packaging is as sustainable as possible and in our store (selling surplus food from producers) we urge people to bring their own bag.
About the CO2, we mention it every time you save a meal with how much CO2 you have avoided and what that amount equals in “normal” terms, such as a shower or a turned on light bulb.
Our mission is to fight food waste at scale and globally. We are starting with Europe.
Best Nicoline
Nicoline Rasmussen
Head of Marketing
[email protected]
toogoodtogo.dk
Foodcloud
Food producers and retailers supply surplus foods to charities. They are very well established in Ireland and the UK.
FoodCloud was founded by 2 young ladies, Ms. Aoibheann O’Brien and Ms. Iseult Ward in Ireland.
Their website shows that they have a very complete transparency policy and it looks like a good place for others to see what steps one must take in any country to do what they have done.
FoodCloud is very interested in helping people worldwide start the same kind of projects.
65,625 tonnes of CO2 saved!
All such Food rescue APPs could show their CO2 savings! Like this one.
Foodcloud brings together supermarkets and charities to find uses for any unsold food. We are not currently able to accept hot food for distribution to charities, or prepared food from restaurants and hotels.
The technology platform is used by FoodCloud daily and our team continually develops new features and improves existing aspects of the system. We have been commended for this work in the following awards:
• Winner of Green Awards – Green Technology Award 2019
• Net Visionary Awards Winner – Best use of technology for social good 2017
• Winner of Digital Agenda Impact Award 2017
FoodCloud’s retailer app is currently in use in Ireland and the UK.
Our aim is to offer our solution to communities around the world who can benefit and achieve our vision of a world where no good food goes to waste. We are currently interested in hearing from charities and businesses globally that could benefit from our solution.
On Wed, Feb 27, 2019 at 7:16 PM Ciara O’Regan <[email protected]> wrote:
Hi Lesley,
Thank you for your email and your interest in FoodCloud.
You have guessed correctly – we are currently licensing our platform to customers across Europe, Australia and North America.
It is the first step for us in working towards having a global impact.
Kind regards,
Ciara O’Regan
Project Manager
e: [email protected]
Things are starting up around the world! ECO-APPs/2 – Food
Tekeya
Tekeya, started only in these first months of 2019.
The App is the idea of Ms. Menna Shahin, who tells me that she is working 20 hour days. She is working with the assistance of 2 APP developers.
It is set up to be used in Egypt, in both Arabic and English.
I wonder if they will look into Greenhouse Gas concerns and list them somehow, as Cairo is considered one of the smoggiest cities.
On Thu, Apr 18, 2019 at 1:46 PM TeKeya Food App <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Lesley ,
The application facilitates a platform for providers (restaurants and grocery stores) and consumers (customers and charities) to connect.
It covers several categories:
>>Unsold restaurant and grocery store food (definition: perishable, food not sold on day of preparation and/or close to expiration dates) sold at reduced prices.
>>The second category is leftover/ excess food which is donated to Charities at no cost/free.
The App is free.
I built the app from the bottom up with a Tech team. https://tekeya.io/
Long term plans: Tekeya Green B2B model and expansion to Arabic Region countries.
Menna Shahin
TeKeya Food App
Not Just a Food Application
Through Tekeya, food providers will upload information about their excess food products to sell at a reduced prices. It will also help consumers across various layers of the society to enjoy a meal for a reasonable price, while fighting the waste of food and protecting the environment. Charitable organizations will also benefit from the app, which will give the opportunity for food providers to donate food, at no cost, to charitable organizations.
The word Tekeya goes back to Egyptian history; although the word currently carries a negative connotation, in its original use Tekeya was used to refer to a building or tent that the less fortunate would be directed to when they were in need of food and shelter.
Inspired by the original usage of the word, Menna Shahin, the founder of Tekeya, decided to launch an app that would help those who are less fortunate in a unique way. In the words of Menna herself, “through Tekeya, one part of the app will help food providers upload information about their excess food products, and then resell them at reduced prices.”
Karim Mustafa, administrator of the app’s free food section on the app, told Al-Monitor that Tekeya has already succeeded in attracting a number of charities, including some with large outreach networks.
Akla! = Wonderfull: So, one more time:
- simple UX Shopping APPs
- remove the distractions from what I have to do – shop and consider what I buy
- for one country or region to make the barcodes clear
- scan barcodes fast with comprehensive information
- help me choose from the worst polluter to the most eco-ethical product – by using a grading or ranking system. So I can choose what I can afford.
- produce category lists of all similar products, so that I can see all products that I can choose from.
ECO-APPs/2 – Food
This is a series of posts about promoting Eco-Ethical USER EXPERIENCE (UX) to ward off the “temperature ticking time-bomb”. Can we make it easier for us all to master the art of “climate conscious buying”?
The Words
The Eco-Anxiety
Product Design Review – Form should still follow Function
The APPs – The different kinds
>Transportation APPs
>Clothing, etc. APPs
>Food APPs
>Carbon Footprint and more kinds of APPs
The Gases
Pulling in the Excess CO2