It is well-known that the best way to make habits stick is to start simple, make it daily and stay consistent. So what better way than mobile apps to embed more sustainable habits into everyday life and turn notifications into positive actions?
We have dug into our app stores and rounded up the best apps to help you live more sustainably and eco up your lifestyle with minimal hassle (minus a few finger taps). From creating a digital wardrobe (yes, really!) to reducing your food waste, read on to find out which ones made the cut.
Slow Down, Fashion!
Save Your Wardrobe
Ever seen ‘Clueless’? Think of this as the modern makeover of Cher’s wardrobe tech. “The mission of Save Your Wardrobe is to guide you on how to make the most of your wardrobe” and it delivers too. This clever app digitalises your wardrobe, so leaving clothes unloved and unworn becomes a thing of the past. Save Your Wardrobe connects you with aftercare specialists (that’s us!) and reselling partners, to help you get the most out of your wardrobe. It also gives you personalised fashion advice based on your lifestyle, calendar and weather.
Good On You
A firm favourite at BLANC, Good On You is a trusted source of sustainability ratings for fashion. The Good On You app allows you to easily check the impact of your favourite fashion brands on the issues you care about. You can use this handy app to learn more about how to shop ethically and get exclusive offers from the best brands. They also have a great website, where they frequently deep dive into mainstream fashion brands, cut through the greenwashing jargon to analyse how ethical they really are, and most importantly offer great alternatives to the ones that don’t make the cut.
30 wears
Originally started by Olivia Firth of Eco-Age, the #30wearschallenge is a way for regular people to do something positive and embrace a more sustainable approach to fashion. The challenge is all about wearing every piece of clothing you buy at least 30 times. And coincidentally, asking the question “Will I wear that 30 times?”. This app helps you track and inspire you to maximise how much you wear your clothes.
Eat Well, Waste Less
Yuka
Yuka is a great app to get clear information on the health impact of the products you consume, from food to cosmetics. Simply scan the product’s barcode and the app evaluates the quality of the product in a handy, easy to read visual breakdown, while also providing better alternatives to products that rate poorly. A great tool to help you make simple swaps for a big impact.
OLIO
We have been fans of OLIO and the app’s founder Tessa Clarke for quite some time now, and for good reason: OLIO is the number 1 free sharing app. You can discover people giving away unwanted food and other household items in your local area, for free! “Fight waste. Help your neighbours. Save our planet. Feel amazing!”
Too Good To Go
Food waste is a sad fact of our current reality and each year a third of food produced in the world goes to waste. This app, similar to OLIO, seeks to tackle this problem directly. However, it comes from food stores and restaurants rather than individuals and you do pay, but at a reduced price. Just download, log on, and save perfectly good, surplus food from your local stores - it’s always a surprise, at a great price, and an instant good deed for the planet.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
Refill
The Refill app was created to help people live with less plastic. It lets you tap into a global network of places where you can eat, drink and shop with less waste, so you can reduce, reuse and refill with ease. “From a coffee on your commute to drinking water on the go, or even shopping with less plastic, Refill puts the power to go packaging free at your fingertips.” It goes with saying that all BLANC stores are listed as refill stations where you can refill your reusable bottle with tap water - every little helps when it comes to reducing plastic pollution!
Recycle Nation
The key highlight of this app is that it is the “world’s largest recycling database”. It is aimed to make recycling easier and more accessible. You simply use your current location to find recycling locations and places where you can even mail your recycling. You can also connect with friends and family to track your environmental impact and share recycling tips!
Cut The Emissions
CoGo
CoGo makes ethical living easy by connecting businesses with consumers that match their environmental and social values. By joining CoGo, you'll be supporting businesses that are doing good and making sure every pound you spend goes towards a sustainable future and fair society for us all. They have just launched a real-time Carbon Footprint tracker to measure carbon emissions that are created by your consumption and lifestyle choices, and recommend specific positive actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint, such as using renewable energy or composting your food waste.
BikeMap
Bikemap was created by passionate cyclists with the goal of sharing awesome routes with cyclists around the world. Millions of cyclists all over the world track routes every day to enable every cyclist to find the most suitable route for training, touring and commuting - anywhere and anytime. Thanks to the active community and constant product development, the quality of the Bikemap route network gets better every day. A great free app to cut your emissions while boosting your fitness and lifting your mood!
Ecosia
Ecosia is a profit for purpose company. They are a search engine that “puts the ability to do good into the hands of internet users”. When you use Ecosia to browse the web, your searches are helping to plant trees and reverse the effects of climate change. Ecosia makes money from search ads, the same way as traditional search engines, the big difference is that Ecosia uses its profits to plant trees, where nature and people need them most! Genius.
Forest
Forest is an app that helps you stay away from your device and stay focused on work by planting one real tree at a time. Whenever you need to focus, you plant a tree in the app, and in the following time, while you work, the tree grows. While the tree is growing you must stay on the app the entire time and if you decide to give up and open another app, the tree will die. These real trees are then planted through Maryland nonprofit Trees for the Future - a great motivator if you ask us!
