Our Top 5 Sustainability Apps
Sometimes the state of the planet can be overwhelming. Using eco-friendly apps helps me feel more in control of my actions and helps me make small changes to help the environment. It makes reducing waste, saving money, renting products and shopping eco-friendly a walk in the park.
Check out my top five sustainable life apps that help me save my part of the planet each day.
SaveMoneyCutCarbon Home App
Maybe a little bit of a shameless plug, but did you know that we’ve recently launched our own sustainable app? Sustainability starts at home and we wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to start your journey. SaveMoneyCutCarbon home is all about learning, shopping and saving, and what I love most about this app is that it’s completely personalised to me.
You can take a journey through the ‘Swap Shop’ following a really easy process, finding eco-friendly alternatives to all your traditional products at home. This even includes products you might not have realised there are eco versions of such as lighting and showers.
With just one click, you can instantly add these alternatives to your ‘My Swaps’ which is essentially a sustainable shopping wish list. When you want to buy the product, it takes you straight to the checkout. For every product you buy you’ll get rewarded with Planet Points to spend online, and your personalised Impact Statement works just like a carbon footprint tracker, tracking how much money, energy, water, and carbon you’ve saved.
You also have access to our entire library of bitesize Learn and Save articles covering all things sustainable and money-saving. There are lots of apps available that tell you what you should be doing, but our app actually helps you put it into action: it has everything you need to be more sustainable by reducing energy, water, plastic & carbon all while saving.
Too Good To Go
This green app helps you tackle food waste. It allows you to rescue magic bags of surplus, unsold food from your favourite shops and restaurants that would otherwise be wasted.
More than one-third of food is wasted by cafes, restaurants, hotels, shops and manufacturers purely because it hasn’t been sold in time. This app lets you buy and collect a magic bag of food for a fraction of the price. It’s a fun surprise because you never know what you’re going to get in your bag! Plus, each bag saves 2.5kg of CO2e.
You simply search the map to find stores near you and then choose to collect it at a pre-set time. It includes big names like Costa Coffee, Greggs and Morrisons as well as local independent shops that want to make a positive difference. There are more than 90,000 stores signed up all over the world so far.
I love this app because it’s a chance to try things that you wouldn’t normally and you can save money and waste without even trying! You may not find something every day but it’s worth having a browse just in case as it only takes a few seconds.
One thing to note is that it’s most sustainable for people that live in towns or cities. I live in a small village in the countryside so unless I’m already heading into town, I won’t buy a magic bag as I’ll simply be adding to my carbon footprint with the travel.
Check out our top tips to reduce food waste and your shopping bill.
Good On You
I’m a big fashion lover and I’ve been known to be impulsive when it comes to shopping. This sustainable fashion app keeps me in line and helps me shop responsibly.
It can be time-consuming while you’re shopping to research how sustainable a brand is. With the Good On You app, you can browse for a brand within minutes and find out how sustainable it is. It sources information from public documents such as the company website, credible third-party reports and certification schemes such as Fair Trade and the Global Organic Textile Standard. overall, it evaluates 500 data points across over 100 key issues to arrive at the final score.
The app will give you an easy glance rating out of five, from (1) ’We Avoid’ to (5) ‘great’. For a deeper understanding, it will give you individual scores for its impact on people, the planet and animals. It also takes into account the pandemic – rewarding brands that protect their workers from its effects and penalising those who don’t.
You can browse over 30,000 brands and if the one you’re looking for isn’t listed yet, simply hit a button and the app will rate it. If you find that the brand you’re searching for doesn’t meet your sustainable expectations, the app will suggest similar alternatives.
More than that, it has lots of resources such as sustainable tips, guides, style edits and the latest news on eco-conscious fashion. There are often great discounts available from high-rated brands too!
For more sustainable fashion tips, check out our thrifting advice.
Fat Llama
This is the best way to rent items! You can browse for anything from camper vans to DJ equipment to professional cameras, in your local area. Simply filter by location, find the product you want and send a request to the lender with the dates you’d like the items. Once the owner accepts your request, your booking is confirmed.
To arrange convenient pickup times, book extra days or answer any questions you may have, you can talk to lenders through the chat service.
Renting products from Fat Llama means more money for you and less waste for the planet. By buying less and renting more, you’re contributing to a circular economy – making better use of resources and reducing landfill.
After all, the average person only uses a drill for 12 minutes in their lifetime. What is the point of buying one when you can simply rent one from your neighbour for a fraction of the price? It also allows you to try more hobbies without investing in equipment. For example, rent a camera to try your hand at photography or rent a sewing machine to learn how to make your own clothes.
My partner and I are moving into our first home soon and we’ll be able to rent all of the DIY equipment we need without having to spend lots of money on shiny new items that we won’t use very often.
Scrapp
Recycling is an easy enough concept but in reality, it’s not always straightforward. I often expect some items to be recyclable but it turns out they aren’t, or it’s not clear what is recyclable, or perhaps there’s a recycling symbol I don’t recognise.
Scrapp is a new eco app and it’s the #1 Recycling App. It makes recycling super easy, letting you know how to recycle items properly. All you have to do is scan the barcode and your local recycling guidelines will come up, letting you know which bin the item, or parts of the item, go in.
What’s even better is that you earn points as you scan. For every five items you scan, Scrapp purchases ‘plastic credits’ from rePurpose to offset the equivalent of one plastic bag. If you add accurate, new packaging information to the library, Scrapp will remove an additional carbon dioxide.
It also tracks your progress, telling you how many items you’ve correctly disposed of. This is a great pick-me-up! So far, Scrapp has saved 234kg of carbon dioxide, given 97 million people access to local recycling guidance and helped recycle 11k products.
I’m so glad I found this environmental app because recycling can be frustrating, especially when you’re busy. It’s super quick and easy, helping save the planet one scan at a time.
Check out our handy guide about recycling at home.
Saving the planet doesn’t stop with your phone
Go one step further and join our Home Club , where you’ll get access to unbeatable pricing, free standard delivery, double Planet Points, and much, much more. All for just £4.99 a month!
