Consuming products sustainably is hard, but with our find of the week, EcoCart, it just got a whole heap easier
If you’ve lived in Singapore for a while, you’re probably all too familiar with the dreaded haze that comes by every year or so, causing school to be cancelled and everyone to whip out their blue face masks. Sadly, this haze is caused by unsustainable forest clearing practices for palm oil plantations: ‘slash and burn’ tactics if you will (where forests are literally set on fire!). In an attempt to identify and support sustainably sourced palm oil, and hopefully reduce unsustainable forest clearing practices, PMHaze and Havas have launched EcoCart to help consumers shop sustainably online. This is one Find of the Week we can’t love enough.
The demand for palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil used in approximately 50% of everyday products, from scented shampoos to our favourite chocolates and sugary sweets! And since everyone uses these products and we can’t convince the mass populace to give it up anytime soon (because who could give up chocolate?), the global demand for palm oil is only increasing, along with the need for more palm oil plantations.
Staying sustainable made easy!
Shopping sustainably can be hard, especially when time is precious and when we’re shopping online and can’t see the product labels first-hand. But there’s a brand new Google Chrome plugin on the market, people, and it’s about to help you kiss your shopping guilt goodbye for good! EcoCart, launched by People’s Movement to Stop Haze (PMHaze) and Havas Group is a free-to-download plugin that alerts you with a discreet pop-up when you’re viewing a product made by a company who uses unsustainable palm oil practices. It also suggests more sustainable alternatives made with ‘haze-free’ palm oil. Isn’t technology great? So next time you want to buy that tub of vanilla ice cream made using unsustainable palm oil…think again. Or don’t, because EcoCart will do it for you!
Currently, EcoCart works only on major eCommcerce sites such as Lazada, Redmart and Cold Storage, but that’s more than enough to make sure our weekly shop as green as possible.
This easy and free plugin is available to download from the Google Chrome Webstore and will help make your shopping that much more environmentally conscious, so why not give it a try? Read more about the cause at www.ecocart.com.sg!
Like this story? Here’s more we think you’ll enjoy:
Best eco-friendly nappies on the market
Everything you need to know about going organic
Where to recycle your e-waste in Singapore
How to save water and the environment while you’re at it
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