Sustained Choice, an app that provides environmental information about grocery products to shoppers, officially launched last month. It currently has over 194,000 products in its database.
Consumers can scan the barcodes of their groceries to find out important details across seven environmental indicators, such as greenhouse gas emissions, ocean pollution, and water and land usage. The app works with a seven-tiered rating system from A to G, from most to least sustainable.
Co-founder Carl Olivier spoke about his vision for greater transparency in the food industry:
“Sustainability is at its most valuable when it is visible, and our app puts that visibility directly into the hands of the consumer. Our mission is to make the full story of food more accessible, and it’s incredibly encouraging to see that chime with so many people.”
He added that the transparency of Sustained Choice can simultaneously encourage businesses and food producers “to be open and transparent about the sustainable changes they are making”, while also allowing customers “to make better choices when it comes to the food they buy”.
The transparency offered by Sustained Choice is a welcome counter against the effects of greenwashing, which thrives when consumers are unable to find reliable information about their shopping choices.
Sustained Choice joins the ranks of other apps such as Yuka, Giki and Setai which also aim to add transparency and traceability to grocery shopping. However, Mr Olivier is confident that Sustained Choice is unique in its size and reach:
“Most of the other eco-labelling initiatives that are on trial at the moment are all of a smaller scale and focused on displaying the label on the packaging. Where we think we’re going to differentiate is that we can also take the distribution side to consumers and make that at a much broader scale. We are able to match the scientific rigour of other eco-labelling initiatives, and we are able to do it at scale both on the assessment side and on how consumers can interact and use this in their day-to-day shopping.”
Sustained Choice is looking to further build its database and work with brands to obtain direct and accurate information.