At Assurant, we often stress the important role mobile device trade-in has in helping to protect the environment. Just as important is having the right tools, like mobile apps, to help you continue to improve your sustainability efforts and decisions. There are many sustainability apps available that can help you be more environmentally conscious and enjoy a more sustainable life.
1. JouleBug
This app allows users to leverage social interaction to make sustainable living a part of daily life. You are rewarded points and badges for taking part in everyday sustainable activities, such as conserving energy, riding a bicycle to work or limiting water consumption. Social media platforms like Twitter can be used to stage green living contests with family and friends. In addition to adding an element of fun to your sustainable decision-making, you can link the app to your checking account to determine how much money your choices are saving you. 2. Think Dirty Do you like knowing exactly what ingredients are used to make your beauty, personal care and household purchases? How about knowing if these ingredients are good for you and the environment? The Think Dirty app can provide that information as well as recommend ethical and cleaner alternatives to traditional brands.
3. BlaBlaCar
Drivers who have to get on the road and people who are headed in the same direction can use this app to connect. This ridesharing app allows parties to share the cost of the journey while reducing the number vehicles on the road releasing harmful CO2 emissions.
4. Good On You
Your fashion choices can also have an impact on sustainability. With the Good On You app, you can access the sustainability ratings for over 3,000 different fashion brands to ensure that the clothes you wear were sourced, designed and produced with the environment in mind. The app also allows users to add new brands to the directory, message brands and receive suggestions for sustainable clothing alternatives.
5. Olio
The Olio app addresses the very real issue of food wastage by providing a way for individuals or businesses to get food to neighbors who need it most. How does it work? Take a picture of the food goods you want to share and other people or businesses that use the app will be notified. This app can be helpful in putting a dent in the approximately 133 billion lbs of food that go to waste every year in the United States.
6. Paper Karma
Junk mail can almost seem like an inevitable fact of life. However, by stopping their junk mail, one person can conserve 7,000 gallons of water and 20 trees within their lifetime. With the largest directory in the United States for opting out of junk mail, the app can put a halt to everything from unsolicited catalogs and direct marketers to national mailers and credit card offers.
7. My Little Plastic Footprint
The United States creates more plastic trash than any other country in the world. You can begin to do your part to reduce plastic waste by using this app to calculate your plastic footprint and how much you contribute to plastic pollution. The app also helps you go on a plastic diet by suggesting sustainable alternatives for the plastic items that are a part of your everyday life.
8. Clim8
You can achieve financial and environmental goals by investing in companies that are on the right side of climate change using the Clim8 app. Stock selection is based on specially selected metrics used to assess businesses, and your portfolio development is aligned with the climate goals established by the UN Paris Climate Agreement. You can cater your investments to support certain aspects of climate change, including clean energy, smart mobility, clean technology, clean water, sustainable food and a circular economy.
9. HowGood
With over 250,000 food products listed, this app boasts the largest product sustainability database in the world. Brands can use the app to determine the environmental and social impact of the ingredients they use in their products. Retailers can ensure that their product offerings are aligned with their customers’ sustainability concerns. Investors can use the app as a guide for developing a portfolio that centers sustainability.
10. Too Good To Go
This app helps to combat food waste by connecting consumers to supermarkets, restaurants and other businesses that have unsold or surplus food that can be purchased at a significant discount. There is an element of surprise in the transaction, as consumers will not know exactly what they have bought until they pick it up. Businesses that partner with the app are able to recuperate some costs and reduce their carbon footprint.
Every contribution made to sustainability, no matter how seemingly insignificant, can help. There are sustainability apps that can suit every way of life or business type. Consider using these apps to help you make choices that can benefit yourself, your business and the planet.
