Socially and environmentally concerned consumers are often puzzled about how to make responsible shopping choices. Information about how companies treat their workers, contribute to their local communities and manage their environmental and social impact are rarely available on product packaging or in stores, making it extremely difficult to make well-informed shopping choices on the fly.

As someone who wants to use my purchasing power to support companies I admire, I was thrilled to discover a new web site – and accompanying iPhone application – called GoodGuide. GoodGuide rates thousands of products with comprehensive and easy-to-understand data points. Each product is rated according to things like the health or nutrition of the product and the environmental and social performance of the company that makes it. The site also provides lists of similar products and their ratings for comparison.

GoodGuide has put together more than 80 million data points from different databases that evaluate products and companies. The company considers transparency to be of the utmost importance, and it is committed to providing users with details about their rating methodologies and database sources. It is all in the site.

GoodGuide is currently in “beta” mode, and lists products in four categories: food, personal care, household cleaners, and toys, but the site will soon be expanding to cover additional areas. I find the site incredibly helpful, especially when I’m standing in the supermarket trying to make a decision. Check it out!

Tags: eco friendly

This entry was posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 by Zairo and is filed under Sustainability. Both comments and pings are currently closed.