June/July 2001

Ethical Etailing

This issue [71] Ethical Consumer (EC) magazine looks up some of the UK web sites specialising in green and/or ethical products. These sites can bring environmentally-sound ethical products to a much wider public and, for people in more remote areas, they also raise the possibility of buying together and maybe getting bulk discounts.

Ecowebsites divide into two main types: portals, which provide links to other selling sites, and online shops, which exist to sell direct (though they may have some links as well). There are also some sites which are primarily information-based, with an added shop. Though there was little to choose between the sites on ethical/environmental criteria, for portals, our pick was Green Choices (www.greenchoices.org) for the range of practical information on sites and Ethical Junction (www.ethical-junction.org) for the sizeable directory. Of the shops, Natural Collection (www.naturalcollection.com) has a well thought out and environmental and ethical approach and a desirable if sometimes expensive range of goods. Traidcraft (www.traidcraft.co.uk) has impeccable ethical credentials and also an intelligent environmental approach, though a smaller range of products.

Ethical Consumer...

• is the UK's leading alternative consumer organization

• maintains the most comprehensive database of corporate ethics in the world - tracking over 30,000 companies, compiled over 20 years, updated daily by dedicated researchers

• employs a unique ethical scoring system - ethiscore - constantly informed by the leading edge of campaign groups

• is a not-for-profit worker's co-operative completely independent of corporate interests

Ethical Consumer's unique ethiscore system rates companies on their social, ethical and environmental performance. Companies are rated in over twenty categories across four main headings - Environment, Human rights, Animal rights, Politics. Products are then rated for their positive ethical and sustainability features. 

For more information on the ethiscore rating system click here.