I really really appreciate these “ranking sustainability” videos. Not only because it shows me things about brands that I possibly am still supporting and shows me brands that are better worth my investment, but it’s teaching me how to effectively do my own research into brands that I buy from. Which I definitely struggle with.
When my Starbucks refused to take my reusable cup even though nationals said they were allowing it again I went and contacted customer service by email and chat online for my specific location and later on they started accepting the cups.
I’m the uk you have to present it sans lid and you put it into a sit in ceramic mug and they pass it back through in their mug to reduce contact/transfer from your travel cup to them
I work at Target and I agree with your assessment. I do love that they carry a lot of sustainable brands in store. I also work in the tech department so I'm very aware of the environmental footprint there. When talking to guests I always try to emphasize quality over price, and products that will last the longest. While I hate the amount of thin plastic used for packaging (that come from distribution centers and brands), I do appreciate that we are instructed to recycle as much as possible. There's a whole area in the stock room for thin plastic recycling and cardboard. Then with products that can't be sold for whatever reason, they have to be labeled and sorted for either e-waste, donation, salvage, etc.
I used to work at HomeGoods & the amount of product they throw in the trash compactor bc they didn't sell it for the season is sickening. Like even higher quality things like German imports for xmas stuff (like quality handmade nutcrackers) but people didn't buy for some reason. It gets crushed in the trash.
In the UK Srarbucks did temporarily stop taking reusable cups, but during the summer last year they started accepting them again. They just ask you to place your reusable cup in one of their large ceramic sit-in mugs. This let's the batista make coffee in your cup without touching it. Once the drinks been made they just carry it over to the take away area using the mugs handle, and then you just lift your takeaway cup out and go. 🙂 its such a good system I don't know why their stores everywhere aren't doing it during COVID times.
The funny thing is it's very unlikely you'll catch Covid from a surface. Transmission is almost entirely airborne. The panic over reusables during the pandemic was unjustified and could just have easily been mitigated with hand sanitiser.
One thing I always hear about Apple is their ridiculously inflated "repair" prices which are usually as high, if not higher, than just buying a different product new. I have a 3rd gen ipod (so old it doesn't even have a camera) and my brother has a 4th gen - his is so slow because he updated to one of the new softwate updates, which Apple does on purpose to make people think their tech is "old and slow" so they will, once again, buy a new one. I use mine for music almost every day, I recently just dropped it in snow for a full 24 hours and it was still powered on and working. They truly do not make like that anymore. They have sold SO many products by their practices of "$1200 repairs" and slowing old devices.
Yes! I got an iPad in 2013 and it’s still fine except for they’re upgrading the iOS and stopping apps from working on it.. making it essentially redundant.
Pretty sure they were caught a while back for messing up their batteries on purpose. Also heard they had to sell new batteries at cost for it. It's ridiculous and gross.
When big companies like this talk about their “goals” i completely disregard them. Goals don’t mean shit. They make big claims and then do NOTHING. Actions speak louder than empty-ass promises.
As far as big box stores I think target is the best by far. The environment in store is more friendly (I get anxiety going into walmart), there are more sustainable options, and their app is super user friendly.
I don’t know why people go to Starbucks in towns that have coffee shops owned by locals. I love our local coffee shops in my town. I know the owners and they contribute a lot to my town.
It's absolutely overrated too. When an outlet finally opened in my country reaction was "... this is it?". It looks like any other coffee shop, but famous and unnecessarily expensive. There's a local coffee shop in my town who have a 'pass-it-forward' system. The owner is a special needs young man who wants to make people happy and they're way better. The service, the appearance, the customer care, the prices, and more are very welcoming. It's a bit popular in my country but it's not a franchise by any means. They just got popular by simply being great
Just in my experience, one reason is open hours. I only go to Starbucks once a week on Saturday nights. I meet up with a friend for coffee. None of the local coffee places are open on Saturday nights. I've definitely checked because it would be nice to support a local shop.
Because brands are very good at giving you a familiar feeling. From a psychological standpoint you always know what to expect from Starbucks, you don't from local coffee shops. You can get the exact same tasting bavarage at every Starbucks. You don't know how the coffee at the coffee shop tastes. Human brains love the familiar...
Agree with both Sandra and ExpressYoSelf. When I worked at Starbucks we were open from 5:30 AM until 11 PM everyday except Sundays, and the drinks were all so carefully calibrated that they tasted the same everywhere, unlike local shops, which can be more hit or miss. (Also, if you're concerned about workers, I've always found that bigger brands take better care of their workers? Starbucks had 401(k) matching at 6%, plus we could buy discounted stock, plus we got stock grants every year, which is pretty good when you're 22 and working a retail job. Meanwhile a local coffee shop I used to like to go to had all of its employees call out sick one day because they hadn't gotten paid in like a month.)
Knowing that Amazon paid $300 million dollars for the privilege of naming an arena "Climate Pledge Arena" in Seattle and having to walk past it everyday sucks. Just a means to get their Amazon Go stores to a captive audience
Target's my go-to if I'm physically going somewhere, but I go to Walmart for Bubble skincare. Bubble has a Terracycle program for packaging, listens to its customers, and is science-backed. One of my favorite skincare brands available in "normal" stores.
Right like???? Does that mean purchasing new clothing from Target is semi sustainable? I understand buying new is not ever the best option, but? If it would help stop me from purchasing new from some other brands in a moment of weakness, this would be good to know.
I wrote this on another video so sorry to spam, but I would love a video about brands that have used gear tabs on their websites. How sustainable is buying used items directly from a bigger brand (REI, Patagonia, Arc'teryx). It seems like a cool option, but I wonder if there is a catch I am missing. I enjoy your videos, I feel like I learn so much.
I'm not sure if there is a catch. The brands that I've seen with these kind of programs are extremely high quality in the first place, so they last much longer. I know that Patagonia has a repair service for their products, so I think they just do repairs on damaged/returned products and then sell them secondhand. Levi's has a secondhand store online as well!
@@toribabe4321 Levi's paid me $35 for three pairs of my old Levi's jeans, which is enough money that I have to assume their secondhand store is actually making them money and not just for show. I've noticed Coach has been selling restored secondhand bags as well, possibly because the vintage ones are pretty popular)
One of my favourite things about you is the consistent acknowledgment of privilege! 🤍 Saying that you can boycott a store because you have the privilege to do so is so refreshing to hear, every single time you say it 🤍
T1J has a great video called "The Plastic Paradox" about the increasingly classist overtones of (performative) environmentalism, and how greenwashing often turns into just one more excuse to hate on the poor
Love your vids!! You inspired a semesters worth of research into corporate accountability, a 40 page research paper, and an hour long video from me. Your holistic approach really is an inspiration :)
I like your disclaimer on how they are all not hitting the social or environmental parts of the triple bottom line. It’s nice to know the “better” big brands when I’m taking baby steps towards being sustainable
I just bought two pairs of fair trade jeans from target and they are LITERALLY the PERFECT pair of jeans for someone with curves!!! Wild fable!! Y’all they’re my holy grail pair
In London, they let us use our reusable cup in starbucks, you put it inside one of their mugs and pick it out when it's ready so they don't have to touch it which is what they should do where you are! Also, Shelbie, would you be able to put timestamps on these videos, it would be very helpful?
I was wondering how you feel about the target only brand “hey humans”? From what I understand it’s a cheaper alternative to other brands, so I was wondering what’s your stand on it!
Can you do Costco? Thanks for this video. To tell you the truth I’m torn. We are a single income family with kids. Since watching your channel (about a year and a half now) I’ve made changes I can afford. Like swapping paper towels and napkins for reusable towels. Even if it means more laundry, I don’t mind. Among some homemade cleaners, using thred up, reusable sandwich bags, composting, and recycling glass even though it’s not picked up in my city. I found a place to take my glass to. I even got a bidet lol. BUT, I still feel like I’m not doing enough. I shop at Walmart and Costco. I used to shop at sprouts when I was single, but I simply can’t afford that right now. I try to get brands that claim sustainability within these places, but they lie to us. What is your advice for people in my situation? It can get overwhelming. I appreciate you and your work. Thanks for doing what you do and spreading awareness. I’m also teaching my kids what I’ve learned from you as I go.
It sounds like you are doing a great job. Not sure this is the type of idea you are looking for but how about picking up trash with your kids at a park or beach. Teaching them about how trash affects our water, animal life etc. I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing trash clean ups. You get instant gratification from seeing a difference right away.
You’re doing so much just by teaching your kids how to live a more sustainable life! One thing on my to do list is grow a vegetable garden, which would be a fun project with kids. When I lived at home, I’d help my grandma every Saturday morning to pick fruit, water, etc.
I don’t have a family but have a set income I have to stay within too. A place that you can save money and has a lot or organic/unpackaged produce is Aldi. That may be a good place for you to shop that wouldn’t cost you a lot of money. Honestly, do what you can and talk to your kids about what you’re doing and it’s importance. You’re doing well already! Just caring enough to think about your purchases is more than a lot of people do
Hey, I just wanna say that if you are limited by money and accessibility, that's totally valid. Please don't feel bad. Perhaps instead of feeling bad for not having sustainable options readily available, you could contact your senators and other higher-ups about the cause. But not everyone has the time or ability to do that either, which is okay.
Thank you so much for remembering that you are privileged to be able to choose where you shop. I don't have a target within half an hour of me and it's not logical to go there when i have a Walmart down the street. A lot of influencers seem to forget that they have luxuries a lot of us can't afford whether that's bc of money or time
We have a mini target as I like to call it, so I always have to go to both Walmart and target to do a shop. Target doesn’t have any fruit/veg. It has the basics of everything and I feel like products are often sold out on Saturdays when I can shop because half the town be trying to cram in there. But I prefer the items. I went to target yesterday.
For Apple they also announced that they will be soon having resources available for user to be able to replace broken parts of their phones, themselves. This is super exciting bc most people don’t repair phones bc it’s expensive. Hopefully with it being something more of us can do ourselves, it might become cheaper instead of buying a new phone
I hope they will give users ability to calibrate the replaced parts too because atm even if the parts are genuine apple parts, some functions will not work (faceID, true color, battery care etc)
I hope that that bring back your cup thing works out. In Germany they (as in small businesses) have this system called recup, and you pay an extra euro for the cup and bring it back to any store that also does recup. It is pretty cool, but I feel like since they are already used to bringing back bottles and such it would have been easier to pilot.
As a former Walmart employee, I will never shop there again. I made $10/hr as a pharmacy tech while in college (3 years ago) and the customers were ruthless.
I absolutely love this series. Could you do tech brands trying to fight planned obselescense? Ex. Fairphone, Teracube, Shiftphone, etc? I know you normally buy your tech secondhand, but I would love to compare these brands since theoretically, you wouldn't be generating the same amount of tech waste as other brands since they'll be supported 5+ years.
Hey shelbie! I’d be super interested to hear what you invest in the stock market and what brands are available that are more ethical 😁 great vid, as usual
I worked at Starbucks for months and one thing they really like to push is that they donate all the food we can't sell anymore. However, most if not all of my shift supervisors would just tell me to throw out the food instead of putting it into the donation bag. I always tried to take home as much food as possible and would have myself or my family eat it and also give it to friends, but it's so wrong that it wouldn't be donated like it is meant to. We also during training were told that Starbucks works with local farmers to get their coffee beans and tries to help their local communities, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't talk about that more in the sustainability report. I worry it may not be true if they don't advertise it since I never saw any hard numbers. Not to mention we had a special trashcan for composting with compostable trash bags but my co-workers didn't care about it so they would just throw regular trash in the compost trash.... we even have a local composting company that would come weekly to pick up any compost we had.... but we never did because of my co-workers. Also can confirm that we never were allowed to take anything from customers so reusable cups were something we never took. Also where I live my town is plastic free so we had special compostable plastic cups. They had to be specially ordered for our store, but they are only compostable in an industrial facility which we don't have anywhere near us, so it basically did nothing. We also had paper straws that all the customers hate and would always ask for 2 straws for when the first one stopped working. We also didn't have stoppers at our location which made people really angry. I saw all this go on but I am young and a relatively new staff member, so I had no clue what to do, but it bothered me so much. If yall have more questions about Starbucks id love to answer!
So odd, I had a completely different experience working for them for 6 years at different stores. We always took reusable cups and gave them a 10C discount, we did the composting and people would often take them for their grade (I often would for mine) and we did the donations (we would also take some home though that was a huge no no for some reason 😬😕) I think it depends how the stores are run but definitely during COVID was there only time where cups weren’t taken form customer- that changed recently tho
@@cinthiaham1517 yea im sure it was a different experience! i wish it was that way, but when I worked there it was not. Covid has really messed some things up.
My Shift Supervisors explained that the reason we have to throw out the food instead of donating it is because the donation system that starbucks uses are not required to pick anything up. So we put food in the donation bags, but no one comes to pick it up so it just rots in our fridge.
living in a small southern town sucks when it comes to sustainability. there is only one grocery store (walmart) in the area and they do offer sustainable options (toothpaste, wool balls, etc.) but that’s not much. i try my best and try not to buy much from them, but when i do… i check if what i’m buying is sustainable, i bring my own bags, basically all the things someone like me can do
THIS WAS SO GREAT, THANK YOU SHELBY! I know this takes so much time, preparation, and research but it is so so helpful for those of us who don't know how to find/understand this information from brands. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Could you do a video on how you find this information? These videos are AWESOME, but I'm struggling to figure out how to navigate companies' websites to find this kind of info.
From what I recall, Starbucks was sued or threatened with a suit by someone per ADA to keep straws. In our area, they only give a straw if you ask. (Bay Area, CA)
Organic valley, King Author flour ,Cascadian Farms, Natures path, Carrington Farm and Horizon dairy are all some food brand I’ve been trying to look into but haven’t found too much and I’m not sure if I’m educated enough yet to determine whether I’m ready something that is marketing ploy or notn
Shelby, I would love a video on sustainable/circular options that don't include shipping. So if my only option is brick and mortar shopping, how do I do that in the best way possible from my food to my laundry detergent to my toothpaste?
Thank you for doing the research on these brands, despite their non-sustainability! I've seen your other videos on ranking sustainable brands, but I try to limit shopping online because it's hard to keep track if I invest my money on a wide scope of brands, and the ones you mention are most of the time unrecognizable for me in SoCal. But, I love referring to your videos to decide which brands I should invest in, especially if they're conveniently close to me (ex. Walmart, Target...), so I'm happy I can use your information to make conscious consumer decisions, and perhaps I'll recommend family members to do the same. 😊
I’ve worked at target, I’ve worked at old navy, my mother has worked at Starbucks and my partner currently works at Sam’s club (Walmart). These companies are exploitive, unsustainable, wasteful, and convenient. We as consumers need to take responsibility and hold these businesses accountable. These companies have the power to change the world if we as a consumer hold them accountable. Thank you so much for sharing this and basically saying non of them are a sustainable choice at all. When I left target I decided I wouldn’t support major corporations like that, then when I worked at old navy if found exploitation of labor, and learned allot about the fast fashion industry. I have everything I need, now I have too much and I want to sell everything I have now and keep very little of it.
My sister who works at Starbucks says the reusable cups are BS. They use the single-use cups when making the drink anyway to make sure the proportions are measured correctly, then pour it into the reusable cup you brought and throw out the plastic one they measured with. It’s just a stunt. Just don’t buy coffee there lol. Buy local always.
I would love to hear your series on possibly a series on ranking sustainability on cities in the country (for example how sustainable is Miami, LA, etc.) I live in Miami and there’s massive room for improvement as sustainability goes but developers are more worried about basically gentrification
can you do a video like this but on luxury brands like burberry, gucci, chanel...? i know of a sustainable company from scotland that makes the scarves for burberry and stuff for hermes so would be really interesting to find out more about the other brands!
In my city in Germany, there are several cafes that actually have reusable takeaway cups. You pay a deposit on them and get the money back when you return them!
I know this is a bit random but you’re one of my fav sustainable youtubers, so I figured it might be worth asking: Is there any chance you could do a video on NFTs? I’ve seen influencers promote them and I feel there’s not nearly enough people talking about the environmental impact that which is happening alongside art theft with these things.
I would love to see a video evaluating large scale companies and brands that really implement being sustainable into their branding such as REI, Patagonia, trader joes, etc.!
3M (the tape brand) is a mega-corp I'd say who in my research/studies (in environmental science) are quite sustainable. Since 1975 when the Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program was implemented, they've cut back on their solid waste by around 70%, GHG emissions by 72% and decreased energy usage at plants by 82%. Its also estimated they've saved $1.5 Billion by making these changes. On top of all of this, they have a yearly (i think) sustainability and diversity report on the company that is easily accessible on their website. I think a lot of businesses are in the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' mindset where stuff like consumer boycotts do not affect their GDP so they do not see a need to spend millions in upgrading their facilities, not caring (or not realizing but they can't all be that ignorant) that in the future this will save the company it's initial investment very quickly and improve their appearance to the consumer further. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
This video is awesome. Much much needed info. I look at sustainability reports from corporations myself sometimes but I love to hear you break them down and sum them up in a very easy-to-comprehend manner. I appreciate you so much. Question for the future: do you know anyone with a Fairphone so that you could review it? I was wondering if that's a workable solution for sustainable electronics and was considering buying one because I really really need to change my phone at this point. Slightly used vs. a Fairphone?
I used to work at Starbucks. Our store didn’t have recycling, all our cardboard and plastic and everything went into the dumpster and it was a LOT. The food waste is horrible, everything is frozen and most food has to be bought within like 24 hours of defrosting or it goes in the trash. And there was always a large garbage bag everyday full of food waste. We could donate some things but hardly anything. I know some locations have a recycling area but it was just crazy to me how much waste was made. Our dumpster was emptied every night because it would be overflowing.
The only reason I find myself going to Walmart biweekly is to refill my water gallons for 29 cents at the primo water refill station. Where I live the cost of purified water went from 25 cents to over 35 cents at our Watermills. Plus, I think they clean the water filters a lot more frequently at Walmart. I also got a pack of 3 mesh produce bags that are Lotus brand and they’re a company that supports 1% for the planet. Other than that, I don’t buy groceries at Walmart, I go to Joe V’s for that.
I shop at Walmart alot but only things like flour and milk, because we found a farmers market that sells fruits and vegetables, and even meat for a similar price but it is from local farmers. I will do more research on the farmers but we shop there way more then Walmart now.
Most Starbucks that I go to don't give straws out anymore! Although the one inside of my campus does, like it has the one kind of cup that needs a straw. Which that sucks because when I'm on campus 8 hours, I can't really bring my own reusable straw, I mean I can it's just trickier.
I think these are some of my favorite videos. Swaps are fun, but I feel like I can “spot” those on my own now, thanks to you! I appreciate the education here. Thank you 💚
i would love to see you talk about the disney company's sustainability!!! i love disney but i do like to stay critical. i're read through their ~30 page white paper on their 2030 goals and their 2020 social responsibility report and it seems like they have a good amount of impressive goals that they have met and are on track to meet. obviously they are still a huge corporation and can never really be considered sustainable, but i would love to hear you speak about it because you know so much more than me!!
I'm not sure if this is a thing in the US but in the UK the majority of Amazon parcels are delivered by gig economy drivers (3rd party). Given that they've placed such a huge emphasis on reducing the carbon footprint of their distribution, I'd love to know if they're factoring in 3rd party bodies into their footprint calculations.
I just left working at Starbucks and the whole straw things is frustrating because yes we have the strawless lids however I'd say about 80% of people still ask for a straw, especially with frappucions because they don't have a strawless lid. Also, I know some locations hand out paper straws or bamboo straws and the amount of customer complaints for those are abundant. I hope regardless of the customer basis though, they figure out more ways to be more sustainable. They still won't let you use a reusable cup as far as I know (granted that was a few months ago so it might have changed by now). Some locations have employees that will do it regardless though or if you enter the cafe, you're more likely to be able to use it than the drive thru (especially since they have to make your beverage before you get there so the paper/plastic cup just gets thrown out if you bring your own cup).
as a sb barista, the stores themselves aren't great. we have 6 trash cans for customers (3 behind bar) but not a single recycling can. Some are outside the store bc it's at an uni. we do accept cups but it depends on if the cup we use to make drinks for personal cup customers is in use (aka not sitting in our sinks in the back). even in Cali, we're trained to give out straws for frappes no matter what & have to throw out the ones people don't take bc we can't take them back. our supervisor doesn't allow us to not give them & wait for the customer to ask for a straw
This is so helpful, thank you for this video!! I'm fresh out of college & just starting my career, so I don't have many options for where I can shop. Target has been my go-to, I'm so excited that I can have sustainable AND affordable goods ❤
Thank you Shelbi for doing all the research and hard work to inform us on these brands so we can also make more sustainable choices and teach our own family and friends. It is much appreciated!
Agreed, I always share what I learn with other people when I can and all these videos remind me every time I need to buy something to consider the options I have and to try to find the best option that's both within my budget but also as sustainable as possible.
I love this video! Thank you for explaining how to research and read corporate information. I get caught up in the "Marketing" of sustainability and forget to look at the big picture.
First off I love this video! I appreciate you dumbing everything down into digestible information. Second, target would be 10x better if they allowed bagless pickup options. They could just transfer the items from the baskets they already use to someones car....why are they adding a bagging step????
This would be somewhat of a random brand (as most brands you cover are usually either clothing or home goods), but I'm curious how you'd rank Mattel. I've been looking around their site's sustainability pages and while they look pretty good for a large brand to me, I don't know how to analyze them as well as you might. These videos do help to understand what to look for, though.
Could you pretty please rank Sienna Bryron Bay nail polish. They have a B corp certification but claim that their polish is the first to be free of micro plastics which I find really hard to believe.
Hi Shelbi! I actually have been going through sustainability reports at work (for communications reasons, I have no background in anything related to reporting/sustainability/etc.) I’d love to know more about what you think makes a great report or if you have any resources where I can learn more about reporting.
Can you please cover retailers like TJ Maxx, liquidators and outlets who claim to buy the extra stock from other companies or refurbished products. I live in Canada where we have loads of stores like these. There are also retailers who make clothing [for example] specifically for their outlets, which is cheaper quality than their usual.
I don't know if this would be possible to do but if you could do a video ranking restaurants in their sustainability, that would be super awesome! It's so frustrating working in the restaurant industry and seeing everything go to waste.
Thanks so much for the breakdown! With the exception of Walmart, I've boycott all these brands or have never bought from them in the first place. The only reason we even do Walmart at this point is because of cost effectiveness but I'd like to reach a point where it's not needed for our family anymore.
I live near Target HQ and it has a really good reputation as an employer around here. It's pretty difficult to get hired there because they like to promote from within. It's interesting to hear that for their store employees they have a $15 minimum wage though. I think that's the legal minimum in Minneapolis, so I guess they just looked at what would happen if they did it at all their locations and decided it was a good business decision?
As someone who works in Supply Chain I see first hand the impact supply chain has on the environment. I’m really hoping to get a sustainability related supply chain job in my company next so I can have an impact on reducing emissions and being more sustainable.
Hi, what do you think would be a good range of sizes for a potential sustainable clothing brand? Personally, I think immobility levels of large would be the cut off point. Just for making this dream a really more reasonably.
I would like sustainability head to heads!! Like apple vs Samsung, target vs Walmart. Things in the same category so the comparison is more direct and wee can go into further details!
Oh Shelby you should do a collab with Luxe Refill, a refill and eco shop in Austin. They’re doing classes and last night I went to one where we made body butter bars. The owner Cristina Guerra mentioned wanting to be in a space with Trashless in a few years. And of course woman of color owned, she has products in her shop from other women of color, and even the whole little center where she’s at now she said has a lot of women owned businesses.
Hey I loved your video i just found your channel 🤗 I’d love to hear your opinion about the brand named Hoaka by Elizabeth Rioux that is claiming they are planting 10 trees from every order and I tried to find information about that and i couldn’t and it seems impossible as they are a huge company and they never mentioned who and where are they planting anything…
I want to buy my tech use but with all this can be difficult and it seems like tech companies are trying to make sure you're unable to buy used products and it end up not working with their services
I actually find it quite interesting when it's brands that are not profiled as sustainable. I think, a critic view of them gives a comoletely new learning that you don't get when you only look at brands that are supposed to be "good". I would like to see more of global companies and scrutinise their promises.
is there a better alternative to going to target if there are goods you need - like toothpaste and shampoo, that you can't find in bulk in your area? i'm guessing it's gotta be better than ordering these things online... but maybe not, if you're ordering straight from the company and maybe ordering a large quantity so you don't have to make another order for a long time?
I would love to see this done with grocery stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Safeway, Sprouts, etc! Great video, super informative 💕
Me too!
agreed!!
Yes!!!
Yess same!!
Agreed!!!
I really really appreciate these “ranking sustainability” videos. Not only because it shows me things about brands that I possibly am still supporting and shows me brands that are better worth my investment, but it’s teaching me how to effectively do my own research into brands that I buy from. Which I definitely struggle with.
that's my goal!
When my Starbucks refused to take my reusable cup even though nationals said they were allowing it again I went and contacted customer service by email and chat online for my specific location and later on they started accepting the cups.
Amazing!! Well done
Good to know I can do that! Thanks!
awww thats amazing!!!
I’m the uk you have to present it sans lid and you put it into a sit in ceramic mug and they pass it back through in their mug to reduce contact/transfer from your travel cup to them
@@Autumn1988 I wonder if that helps at all, health-wise
I work at Target and I agree with your assessment. I do love that they carry a lot of sustainable brands in store. I also work in the tech department so I'm very aware of the environmental footprint there. When talking to guests I always try to emphasize quality over price, and products that will last the longest.
While I hate the amount of thin plastic used for packaging (that come from distribution centers and brands), I do appreciate that we are instructed to recycle as much as possible. There's a whole area in the stock room for thin plastic recycling and cardboard. Then with products that can't be sold for whatever reason, they have to be labeled and sorted for either e-waste, donation, salvage, etc.
I’d love to hear your views on stores like Marshall’s, Ross, TJ Max and homegoods
Yas! Never really understood how these stores actually work
They are horrible!
Look at re/makes reports!
Yes! This would be a great video!
I used to work at HomeGoods & the amount of product they throw in the trash compactor bc they didn't sell it for the season is sickening. Like even higher quality things like German imports for xmas stuff (like quality handmade nutcrackers) but people didn't buy for some reason. It gets crushed in the trash.
In the UK Srarbucks did temporarily stop taking reusable cups, but during the summer last year they started accepting them again. They just ask you to place your reusable cup in one of their large ceramic sit-in mugs. This let's the batista make coffee in your cup without touching it. Once the drinks been made they just carry it over to the take away area using the mugs handle, and then you just lift your takeaway cup out and go. 🙂 its such a good system I don't know why their stores everywhere aren't doing it during COVID times.
bwahaha ive never been to a starbucks (i'm in the us) with a sit-in mug! didn't know that was a thing!
I live in the US and they do this here too
same in Canada
The funny thing is it's very unlikely you'll catch Covid from a surface. Transmission is almost entirely airborne. The panic over reusables during the pandemic was unjustified and could just have easily been mitigated with hand sanitiser.
One thing I always hear about Apple is their ridiculously inflated "repair" prices which are usually as high, if not higher, than just buying a different product new. I have a 3rd gen ipod (so old it doesn't even have a camera) and my brother has a 4th gen - his is so slow because he updated to one of the new softwate updates, which Apple does on purpose to make people think their tech is "old and slow" so they will, once again, buy a new one. I use mine for music almost every day, I recently just dropped it in snow for a full 24 hours and it was still powered on and working. They truly do not make like that anymore. They have sold SO many products by their practices of "$1200 repairs" and slowing old devices.
Yes! I got an iPad in 2013 and it’s still fine except for they’re upgrading the iOS and stopping apps from working on it.. making it essentially redundant.
Pretty sure they were caught a while back for messing up their batteries on purpose. Also heard they had to sell new batteries at cost for it. It's ridiculous and gross.
They also limit updates even though old laptops totally have the hardware to run it!
When big companies like this talk about their “goals” i completely disregard them. Goals don’t mean shit. They make big claims and then do NOTHING. Actions speak louder than empty-ass promises.
As far as big box stores I think target is the best by far. The environment in store is more friendly (I get anxiety going into walmart), there are more sustainable options, and their app is super user friendly.
I don’t know why people go to Starbucks in towns that have coffee shops owned by locals. I love our local coffee shops in my town. I know the owners and they contribute a lot to my town.
It's absolutely overrated too. When an outlet finally opened in my country reaction was "... this is it?". It looks like any other coffee shop, but famous and unnecessarily expensive. There's a local coffee shop in my town who have a 'pass-it-forward' system. The owner is a special needs young man who wants to make people happy and they're way better. The service, the appearance, the customer care, the prices, and more are very welcoming. It's a bit popular in my country but it's not a franchise by any means. They just got popular by simply being great
Just in my experience, one reason is open hours. I only go to Starbucks once a week on Saturday nights. I meet up with a friend for coffee. None of the local coffee places are open on Saturday nights. I've definitely checked because it would be nice to support a local shop.
This 100%. Also specialty coffee shops typically have relations with farms and roasters and usually use local roasters.
Because brands are very good at giving you a familiar feeling. From a psychological standpoint you always know what to expect from Starbucks, you don't from local coffee shops. You can get the exact same tasting bavarage at every Starbucks. You don't know how the coffee at the coffee shop tastes. Human brains love the familiar...
Agree with both Sandra and ExpressYoSelf. When I worked at Starbucks we were open from 5:30 AM until 11 PM everyday except Sundays, and the drinks were all so carefully calibrated that they tasted the same everywhere, unlike local shops, which can be more hit or miss. (Also, if you're concerned about workers, I've always found that bigger brands take better care of their workers? Starbucks had 401(k) matching at 6%, plus we could buy discounted stock, plus we got stock grants every year, which is pretty good when you're 22 and working a retail job. Meanwhile a local coffee shop I used to like to go to had all of its employees call out sick one day because they hadn't gotten paid in like a month.)
I would love to see a video ranking only tech brands: Apple, Samsung, Google, LG, HP, Sony, etc
I can only imagine all of them are very bad.
Knowing that Amazon paid $300 million dollars for the privilege of naming an arena "Climate Pledge Arena" in Seattle and having to walk past it everyday sucks. Just a means to get their Amazon Go stores to a captive audience
Target's my go-to if I'm physically going somewhere, but I go to Walmart for Bubble skincare. Bubble has a Terracycle program for packaging, listens to its customers, and is science-backed. One of my favorite skincare brands available in "normal" stores.
Would love to hear about your thoughts about ALDI’s sustainability goals/steps
Hold up. Target has fair trade certified clothing????!!!!! 🥺💖
Some of their denim is
Yup! Their cotton...
Universal Threads
Right like???? Does that mean purchasing new clothing from Target is semi sustainable? I understand buying new is not ever the best option, but? If it would help stop me from purchasing new from some other brands in a moment of weakness, this would be good to know.
@@kasenalane1723 yeah I’ve pretty much purchased any of my new clothes at target for a long time. A super amazing backup to second hand.
I wrote this on another video so sorry to spam, but I would love a video about brands that have used gear tabs on their websites. How sustainable is buying used items directly from a bigger brand (REI, Patagonia, Arc'teryx). It seems like a cool option, but I wonder if there is a catch I am missing. I enjoy your videos, I feel like I learn so much.
I'm not sure if there is a catch. The brands that I've seen with these kind of programs are extremely high quality in the first place, so they last much longer. I know that Patagonia has a repair service for their products, so I think they just do repairs on damaged/returned products and then sell them secondhand. Levi's has a secondhand store online as well!
@@toribabe4321 Levi's paid me $35 for three pairs of my old Levi's jeans, which is enough money that I have to assume their secondhand store is actually making them money and not just for show. I've noticed Coach has been selling restored secondhand bags as well, possibly because the vintage ones are pretty popular)
One of my favourite things about you is the consistent acknowledgment of privilege! 🤍 Saying that you can boycott a store because you have the privilege to do so is so refreshing to hear, every single time you say it 🤍
T1J has a great video called "The Plastic Paradox" about the increasingly classist overtones of (performative) environmentalism, and how greenwashing often turns into just one more excuse to hate on the poor
Love your vids!! You inspired a semesters worth of research into corporate accountability, a 40 page research paper, and an hour long video from me. Your holistic approach really is an inspiration :)
Would love to see you do one for skincare brands! (REN skincare, Farmacy, the ordinary, la Roche posay, glow recipe, etc
I like your disclaimer on how they are all not hitting the social or environmental parts of the triple bottom line. It’s nice to know the “better” big brands when I’m taking baby steps towards being sustainable
I just bought two pairs of fair trade jeans from target and they are LITERALLY the PERFECT pair of jeans for someone with curves!!! Wild fable!! Y’all they’re my holy grail pair
In London, they let us use our reusable cup in starbucks, you put it inside one of their mugs and pick it out when it's ready so they don't have to touch it which is what they should do where you are! Also, Shelbie, would you be able to put timestamps on these videos, it would be very helpful?
I was wondering how you feel about the target only brand “hey humans”? From what I understand it’s a cheaper alternative to other brands, so I was wondering what’s your stand on it!
In a previous video she mentioned loving their fluoride toothpaste!
Their packaging is good
I love their toothpaste, mouthwash, and I'm actually a bigger fan of their deoderant than Natives now!
Can you do Costco?
Thanks for this video. To tell you the truth I’m torn. We are a single income family with kids. Since watching your channel (about a year and a half now) I’ve made changes I can afford. Like swapping paper towels and napkins for reusable towels. Even if it means more laundry, I don’t mind. Among some homemade cleaners, using thred up, reusable sandwich bags, composting, and recycling glass even though it’s not picked up in my city. I found a place to take my glass to. I even got a bidet lol.
BUT, I still feel like I’m not doing enough. I shop at Walmart and Costco. I used to shop at sprouts when I was single, but I simply can’t afford that right now. I try to get brands that claim sustainability within these places, but they lie to us. What is your advice for people in my situation? It can get overwhelming. I appreciate you and your work. Thanks for doing what you do and spreading awareness. I’m also teaching my kids what I’ve learned from you as I go.
It sounds like you are doing a great job. Not sure this is the type of idea you are looking for but how about picking up trash with your kids at a park or beach. Teaching them about how trash affects our water, animal life etc. I get a lot of satisfaction out of doing trash clean ups. You get instant gratification from seeing a difference right away.
You’re doing so much just by teaching your kids how to live a more sustainable life! One thing on my to do list is grow a vegetable garden, which would be a fun project with kids. When I lived at home, I’d help my grandma every Saturday morning to pick fruit, water, etc.
I don’t have a family but have a set income I have to stay within too. A place that you can save money and has a lot or organic/unpackaged produce is Aldi. That may be a good place for you to shop that wouldn’t cost you a lot of money.
Honestly, do what you can and talk to your kids about what you’re doing and it’s importance. You’re doing well already! Just caring enough to think about your purchases is more than a lot of people do
Hey, I just wanna say that if you are limited by money and accessibility, that's totally valid. Please don't feel bad. Perhaps instead of feeling bad for not having sustainable options readily available, you could contact your senators and other higher-ups about the cause. But not everyone has the time or ability to do that either, which is okay.
Thank you so much for remembering that you are privileged to be able to choose where you shop. I don't have a target within half an hour of me and it's not logical to go there when i have a Walmart down the street. A lot of influencers seem to forget that they have luxuries a lot of us can't afford whether that's bc of money or time
We have a mini target as I like to call it, so I always have to go to both Walmart and target to do a shop. Target doesn’t have any fruit/veg. It has the basics of everything and I feel like products are often sold out on Saturdays when I can shop because half the town be trying to cram in there. But I prefer the items. I went to target yesterday.
For Apple they also announced that they will be soon having resources available for user to be able to replace broken parts of their phones, themselves. This is super exciting bc most people don’t repair phones bc it’s expensive. Hopefully with it being something more of us can do ourselves, it might become cheaper instead of buying a new phone
I think they were forced into this because of new European regulations. It's good but Apple is not the good guy here hahah
@@WinterWind definitely not the good guy at all. But it doesn’t matter if their intentions are pure or not, as long as the outcome is good
I hope they will give users ability to calibrate the replaced parts too because atm even if the parts are genuine apple parts, some functions will not work (faceID, true color, battery care etc)
I hope that that bring back your cup thing works out. In Germany they (as in small businesses) have this system called recup, and you pay an extra euro for the cup and bring it back to any store that also does recup. It is pretty cool, but I feel like since they are already used to bringing back bottles and such it would have been easier to pilot.
As a former Walmart employee, I will never shop there again. I made $10/hr as a pharmacy tech while in college (3 years ago) and the customers were ruthless.
I absolutely love this series. Could you do tech brands trying to fight planned obselescense? Ex. Fairphone, Teracube, Shiftphone, etc? I know you normally buy your tech secondhand, but I would love to compare these brands since theoretically, you wouldn't be generating the same amount of tech waste as other brands since they'll be supported 5+ years.
Hey shelbie! I’d be super interested to hear what you invest in the stock market and what brands are available that are more ethical 😁 great vid, as usual
I worked at Starbucks for months and one thing they really like to push is that they donate all the food we can't sell anymore. However, most if not all of my shift supervisors would just tell me to throw out the food instead of putting it into the donation bag. I always tried to take home as much food as possible and would have myself or my family eat it and also give it to friends, but it's so wrong that it wouldn't be donated like it is meant to. We also during training were told that Starbucks works with local farmers to get their coffee beans and tries to help their local communities, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't talk about that more in the sustainability report. I worry it may not be true if they don't advertise it since I never saw any hard numbers. Not to mention we had a special trashcan for composting with compostable trash bags but my co-workers didn't care about it so they would just throw regular trash in the compost trash.... we even have a local composting company that would come weekly to pick up any compost we had.... but we never did because of my co-workers. Also can confirm that we never were allowed to take anything from customers so reusable cups were something we never took. Also where I live my town is plastic free so we had special compostable plastic cups. They had to be specially ordered for our store, but they are only compostable in an industrial facility which we don't have anywhere near us, so it basically did nothing. We also had paper straws that all the customers hate and would always ask for 2 straws for when the first one stopped working. We also didn't have stoppers at our location which made people really angry. I saw all this go on but I am young and a relatively new staff member, so I had no clue what to do, but it bothered me so much. If yall have more questions about Starbucks id love to answer!
Wow thank you for all this information!!
So odd, I had a completely different experience working for them for 6 years at different stores. We always took reusable cups and gave them a 10C discount, we did the composting and people would often take them for their grade (I often would for mine) and we did the donations (we would also take some home though that was a huge no no for some reason 😬😕)
I think it depends how the stores are run but definitely during COVID was there only time where cups weren’t taken form customer- that changed recently tho
@@cinthiaham1517 yea im sure it was a different experience! i wish it was that way, but when I worked there it was not. Covid has really messed some things up.
My Shift Supervisors explained that the reason we have to throw out the food instead of donating it is because the donation system that starbucks uses are not required to pick anything up. So we put food in the donation bags, but no one comes to pick it up so it just rots in our fridge.
@@megancrowe2678 that makes sence, but still sad to see, I wish there was some incentive to have someone pick it up or to have a worker drop it off?
living in a small southern town sucks when it comes to sustainability. there is only one grocery store (walmart) in the area and they do offer sustainable options (toothpaste, wool balls, etc.) but that’s not much. i try my best and try not to buy much from them, but when i do… i check if what i’m buying is sustainable, i bring my own bags, basically all the things someone like me can do
I'm kinda obsessed with Target and their products tbh. I feel like they've been doing really well for their category, like you said.
THIS WAS SO GREAT, THANK YOU SHELBY! I know this takes so much time, preparation, and research but it is so so helpful for those of us who don't know how to find/understand this information from brands. Thank you thank you thank you!!!
Could you do a video on how you find this information? These videos are AWESOME, but I'm struggling to figure out how to navigate companies' websites to find this kind of info.
From what I recall, Starbucks was sued or threatened with a suit by someone per ADA to keep straws. In our area, they only give a straw if you ask. (Bay Area, CA)
Organic valley, King Author flour ,Cascadian Farms, Natures path, Carrington Farm and Horizon dairy are all some food brand I’ve been trying to look into but haven’t found too much and I’m not sure if I’m educated enough yet to determine whether I’m ready something that is marketing ploy or notn
Would love a video on this
I really appreciate the amount of work and research you put into this video! Thank you!
Shelby, I would love a video on sustainable/circular options that don't include shipping. So if my only option is brick and mortar shopping, how do I do that in the best way possible from my food to my laundry detergent to my toothpaste?
Thank you for doing the research on these brands, despite their non-sustainability! I've seen your other videos on ranking sustainable brands, but I try to limit shopping online because it's hard to keep track if I invest my money on a wide scope of brands, and the ones you mention are most of the time unrecognizable for me in SoCal. But, I love referring to your videos to decide which brands I should invest in, especially if they're conveniently close to me (ex. Walmart, Target...), so I'm happy I can use your information to make conscious consumer decisions, and perhaps I'll recommend family members to do the same. 😊
I’ve worked at target, I’ve worked at old navy, my mother has worked at Starbucks and my partner currently works at Sam’s club (Walmart). These companies are exploitive, unsustainable, wasteful, and convenient.
We as consumers need to take responsibility and hold these businesses accountable. These companies have the power to change the world if we as a consumer hold them accountable.
Thank you so much for sharing this and basically saying non of them are a sustainable choice at all. When I left target I decided I wouldn’t support major corporations like that, then when I worked at old navy if found exploitation of labor, and learned allot about the fast fashion industry. I have everything I need, now I have too much and I want to sell everything I have now and keep very little of it.
My sister who works at Starbucks says the reusable cups are BS. They use the single-use cups when making the drink anyway to make sure the proportions are measured correctly, then pour it into the reusable cup you brought and throw out the plastic one they measured with. It’s just a stunt. Just don’t buy coffee there lol. Buy local always.
You're doing such good and important work! Quality. I love this.
I would love to hear your series on possibly a series on ranking sustainability on cities in the country (for example how sustainable is Miami, LA, etc.)
I live in Miami and there’s massive room for improvement as sustainability goes but developers are more worried about basically gentrification
my issue with amazon’s purchase of electric vehicles is how do they plan on maintaining and recycling the batteries as they get used?
can you do a video like this but on luxury brands like burberry, gucci, chanel...? i know of a sustainable company from scotland that makes the scarves for burberry and stuff for hermes so would be really interesting to find out more about the other brands!
If possible, I'd love a ranking of popular thrift stores! Goodwill, Savers (Value Village), Salvation Army, etc
In my city in Germany, there are several cafes that actually have reusable takeaway cups. You pay a deposit on them and get the money back when you return them!
In Atlanta you can bring your own cup to Starbucks. They started back allowing them within the last few months.
also saw someone ask you to speak about marshalls, tj maxx, and similar!! that would be reaelly interesting to hear you talk about
I know this is a bit random but you’re one of my fav sustainable youtubers, so I figured it might be worth asking: Is there any chance you could do a video on NFTs? I’ve seen influencers promote them and I feel there’s not nearly enough people talking about the environmental impact that which is happening alongside art theft with these things.
and also cryptocurrency! the amount of energy used for these is WILD and not sustainable
Can you do HP ?
I would love to see a video evaluating large scale companies and brands that really implement being sustainable into their branding such as REI, Patagonia, trader joes, etc.!
In Belgium Starbucks have stopped all washable glass cups even if your in their store sitting. Here they are literally going backwards
3M (the tape brand) is a mega-corp I'd say who in my research/studies (in environmental science) are quite sustainable. Since 1975 when the Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program was implemented, they've cut back on their solid waste by around 70%, GHG emissions by 72% and decreased energy usage at plants by 82%. Its also estimated they've saved $1.5 Billion by making these changes. On top of all of this, they have a yearly (i think) sustainability and diversity report on the company that is easily accessible on their website. I think a lot of businesses are in the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' mindset where stuff like consumer boycotts do not affect their GDP so they do not see a need to spend millions in upgrading their facilities, not caring (or not realizing but they can't all be that ignorant) that in the future this will save the company it's initial investment very quickly and improve their appearance to the consumer further.
Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
This video is awesome. Much much needed info. I look at sustainability reports from corporations myself sometimes but I love to hear you break them down and sum them up in a very easy-to-comprehend manner. I appreciate you so much. Question for the future: do you know anyone with a Fairphone so that you could review it? I was wondering if that's a workable solution for sustainable electronics and was considering buying one because I really really need to change my phone at this point. Slightly used vs. a Fairphone?
I used to work at Starbucks. Our store didn’t have recycling, all our cardboard and plastic and everything went into the dumpster and it was a LOT. The food waste is horrible, everything is frozen and most food has to be bought within like 24 hours of defrosting or it goes in the trash. And there was always a large garbage bag everyday full of food waste. We could donate some things but hardly anything. I know some locations have a recycling area but it was just crazy to me how much waste was made. Our dumpster was emptied every night because it would be overflowing.
Really eye opening.
Thank you for the info!
Shelby are you going to be doing a video about the lomi kitchen composter? Hope to see it🙌🏻
I'm curious if you've ever talking about the brand cocokind? Maybe one of these focusing on beauty brands would be fun
The only reason I find myself going to Walmart biweekly is to refill my water gallons for 29 cents at the primo water refill station. Where I live the cost of purified water went from 25 cents to over 35 cents at our Watermills. Plus, I think they clean the water filters a lot more frequently at Walmart. I also got a pack of 3 mesh produce bags that are Lotus brand and they’re a company that supports 1% for the planet. Other than that, I don’t buy groceries at Walmart, I go to Joe V’s for that.
I shop at Walmart alot but only things like flour and milk, because we found a farmers market that sells fruits and vegetables, and even meat for a similar price but it is from local farmers. I will do more research on the farmers but we shop there way more then Walmart now.
Most Starbucks that I go to don't give straws out anymore! Although the one inside of my campus does, like it has the one kind of cup that needs a straw. Which that sucks because when I'm on campus 8 hours, I can't really bring my own reusable straw, I mean I can it's just trickier.
This is amazing. Thank you!
I think these are some of my favorite videos. Swaps are fun, but I feel like I can “spot” those on my own now, thanks to you! I appreciate the education here. Thank you 💚
i would love to see you talk about the disney company's sustainability!!! i love disney but i do like to stay critical. i're read through their ~30 page white paper on their 2030 goals and their 2020 social responsibility report and it seems like they have a good amount of impressive goals that they have met and are on track to meet. obviously they are still a huge corporation and can never really be considered sustainable, but i would love to hear you speak about it because you know so much more than me!!
I'm not sure if this is a thing in the US but in the UK the majority of Amazon parcels are delivered by gig economy drivers (3rd party). Given that they've placed such a huge emphasis on reducing the carbon footprint of their distribution, I'd love to know if they're factoring in 3rd party bodies into their footprint calculations.
I just left working at Starbucks and the whole straw things is frustrating because yes we have the strawless lids however I'd say about 80% of people still ask for a straw, especially with frappucions because they don't have a strawless lid. Also, I know some locations hand out paper straws or bamboo straws and the amount of customer complaints for those are abundant. I hope regardless of the customer basis though, they figure out more ways to be more sustainable. They still won't let you use a reusable cup as far as I know (granted that was a few months ago so it might have changed by now). Some locations have employees that will do it regardless though or if you enter the cafe, you're more likely to be able to use it than the drive thru (especially since they have to make your beverage before you get there so the paper/plastic cup just gets thrown out if you bring your own cup).
as a sb barista, the stores themselves aren't great. we have 6 trash cans for customers (3 behind bar) but not a single recycling can. Some are outside the store bc it's at an uni. we do accept cups but it depends on if the cup we use to make drinks for personal cup customers is in use (aka not sitting in our sinks in the back). even in Cali, we're trained to give out straws for frappes no matter what & have to throw out the ones people don't take bc we can't take them back. our supervisor doesn't allow us to not give them & wait for the customer to ask for a straw
I’d love to hear your thoughts on Frank & Oak!
I always appreciate how thorough you are!
This is so helpful, thank you for this video!! I'm fresh out of college & just starting my career, so I don't have many options for where I can shop. Target has been my go-to, I'm so excited that I can have sustainable AND affordable goods ❤
Thank you Shelbi for doing all the research and hard work to inform us on these brands so we can also make more sustainable choices and teach our own family and friends. It is much appreciated!
Agreed, I always share what I learn with other people when I can and all these videos remind me every time I need to buy something to consider the options I have and to try to find the best option that's both within my budget but also as sustainable as possible.
Thank you, thank you for all the immense research! It is so hard!! ❤️
I was surprised to see oeko-tex certified textiles in Walmart recently! (their house brand)
I love this video! Thank you for explaining how to research and read corporate information. I get caught up in the "Marketing" of sustainability and forget to look at the big picture.
I deleted my Amazon account due to human rights issues and decided to just shop Target. So awesome to see you confirm this was a good decision.
First off I love this video! I appreciate you dumbing everything down into digestible information. Second, target would be 10x better if they allowed bagless pickup options. They could just transfer the items from the baskets they already use to someones car....why are they adding a bagging step????
This would be somewhat of a random brand (as most brands you cover are usually either clothing or home goods), but I'm curious how you'd rank Mattel. I've been looking around their site's sustainability pages and while they look pretty good for a large brand to me, I don't know how to analyze them as well as you might. These videos do help to understand what to look for, though.
I really appreciate all of the research and educated explanations you put into your videos!
Could you pretty please rank Sienna Bryron Bay nail polish. They have a B corp certification but claim that their polish is the first to be free of micro plastics which I find really hard to believe.
Hi Shelbi! I actually have been going through sustainability reports at work (for communications reasons, I have no background in anything related to reporting/sustainability/etc.) I’d love to know more about what you think makes a great report or if you have any resources where I can learn more about reporting.
Can you please cover retailers like TJ Maxx, liquidators and outlets who claim to buy the extra stock from other companies or refurbished products. I live in Canada where we have loads of stores like these. There are also retailers who make clothing [for example] specifically for their outlets, which is cheaper quality than their usual.
I don't know if this would be possible to do but if you could do a video ranking restaurants in their sustainability, that would be super awesome! It's so frustrating working in the restaurant industry and seeing everything go to waste.
Thanks so much for the breakdown! With the exception of Walmart, I've boycott all these brands or have never bought from them in the first place. The only reason we even do Walmart at this point is because of cost effectiveness but I'd like to reach a point where it's not needed for our family anymore.
I live near Target HQ and it has a really good reputation as an employer around here. It's pretty difficult to get hired there because they like to promote from within. It's interesting to hear that for their store employees they have a $15 minimum wage though. I think that's the legal minimum in Minneapolis, so I guess they just looked at what would happen if they did it at all their locations and decided it was a good business decision?
As someone who works in Supply Chain I see first hand the impact supply chain has on the environment. I’m really hoping to get a sustainability related supply chain job in my company next so I can have an impact on reducing emissions and being more sustainable.
Hi, what do you think would be a good range of sizes for a potential sustainable clothing brand?
Personally, I think immobility levels of large would be the cut off point. Just for making this dream a really more reasonably.
I would like sustainability head to heads!! Like apple vs Samsung, target vs Walmart. Things in the same category so the comparison is more direct and wee can go into further details!
Thank you so much for all your research ❤️❤️❤️
Oh Shelby you should do a collab with Luxe Refill, a refill and eco shop in Austin. They’re doing classes and last night I went to one where we made body butter bars. The owner Cristina Guerra mentioned wanting to be in a space with Trashless in a few years. And of course woman of color owned, she has products in her shop from other women of color, and even the whole little center where she’s at now she said has a lot of women owned businesses.
Hey I loved your video i just found your channel 🤗 I’d love to hear your opinion about the brand named Hoaka by Elizabeth Rioux that is claiming they are planting 10 trees from every order and I tried to find information about that and i couldn’t and it seems impossible as they are a huge company and they never mentioned who and where are they planting anything…
I want to buy my tech use but with all this can be difficult and it seems like tech companies are trying to make sure you're unable to buy used products and it end up not working with their services
I actually find it quite interesting when it's brands that are not profiled as sustainable. I think, a critic view of them gives a comoletely new learning that you don't get when you only look at brands that are supposed to be "good".
I would like to see more of global companies and scrutinise their promises.
You should talk about the Ocean cleanup project they have started to get plastic out of the ocean !!
You mentioned in a video (I can't find which) that you no longer buy bras, that you use camisoles instead, what brand/cami do you use!?
YESSS I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO ILY SHELBY
Just curious if you know or have done any research on any sustainable pharmacy companies?
I'd love to see how Tom's of Maine rank as they seem to be moving in the right direction
is there a better alternative to going to target if there are goods you need - like toothpaste and shampoo, that you can't find in bulk in your area? i'm guessing it's gotta be better than ordering these things online... but maybe not, if you're ordering straight from the company and maybe ordering a large quantity so you don't have to make another order for a long time?