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Our top 10 articles of 2018

From plastic-free shopping to ditching Ecover and Method, we look back at our most read stories of the year
Our top 10 articles of 2018

1. TAKE YOUR TUPPERWARE TO MORRISONS

The stand-out story of the year was about Morrisons’ decision to allow customers to use their own containers for meat and fish from the Morrisons’ Market Street Butcher and Fishmonger counters.

The announcement, made in May, was part of a number of measures the supermarket is taking to reduce plastic pollution, including a commitment to make all its own-brand plastic packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by no later than 2025. David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said, ‘‘Reducing the damage caused by plastic is one of the most challenging issues society can address.’

The story has had 248,424 views since publication on 02 May, with 60,229 views on 11 May alone.

Read the full story here.

2. DITCHING AND ECOVER AND METHOD

When Naturewatch Foundation asked ethical supermarkets and online shops to remove Ecover and Method from their stocks, readers got behind the animal welfare charity to spread the word.ar

The reason for the advised boycott was the acquisition of People Against Dirty – the collective name for Ecover and Method – by SC Johnson earlier this year. SC Johnson openly admits to testing on animals during the development of its household products. Sales of Ecover and Method products will now boost the profits of their new parent company and help fund animal tests.

The story has had 104,994 views since publication on 12 June, with 17,681 views on 18 June alone.

Read the full story here.

3. NATURALLY CLEAN

This article first appeared in our spring ’18 issue of MyGreenPod Magazine, The Conscious Revolution, distributed with the Guardian on 04 May 2018. It looked at whether non-toxic, plant-based, natural and biodegradable cleaning products – the obvious solution to waste plastics and harmful chemicals in our homes and environment – really work.

We interviewed Sussex-based Joni King to get her advice on how (and why) to avoid the most harmful cleaning products, plus tips on how to make natural cleaning easier – and even good for your wellbeing.

Read the full story here.

4. LAUNDRY AND MICROPLASTICS

This year has seen a huge growth of awareness around the risks microplastics pose to marine life. Many of us have switched beauty and personal care products as a result and the government has banned the sale of rinse-off products containing microbeads. But do you know about the impact of your washing?

Research from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers showed 35% of the microplastics released into the world’s oceans are from synthetic textiles, with a typical 5kg wash load of polyester fabrics flushing six million microfibres into our water systems.

Read the full story here.

5. BEAUTIFUL BUSINESS

This article first appeared in our spring ’18 issue of MyGreenPod Magazine, The Conscious Revolution, distributed with the Guardian on 04 May. It covered the Body Shop’s pledge to return to its activist roots following a decade under L’Oréal.

The article looked back at some of the Body Shop’s major successes when Anita Roddick was at its helm, including the Stop Sex Trafficking campaign and the ‘Ruby’ doll that carried the slogan: ‘There are 3 billion women who don’t look like supermodels and only 8 who do’.

Read the full story here.

6. CASH FOR TRASH

Throughout September, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) organised a series of nationwide litter picks to clean up the countryside ahead of the introduction of a deposit return scheme.

This article encouraged readers to take part in the litter-picking events, and take drinks containers of all materials and sizes to CPRE’s on-site reverse vending machine, where they’d be rewarded with 10p for every container collected. The idea was to get people accustomed to the way a deposit system works ahead of the introduction of a deposit return scheme in England.

Read the full story here.

7. NOW YOU SEE IT

A video embedded in this article, published on 24 August, showed drone footage of a leading waste management firm was able to transform the face of a storage site at Warrington docks.

In one of the largest clean-ups of abandoned waste ever seen in the UK, the firm removed more than 66,000 tonnes of waste that had been illegally dumped, and was able to recover and recycle more than 94% of the waste.

Read the full story here.

8. WHY TO BUY ORGANIC

There are currently more than 500 supermarket-own brand or independent brands to choose from, and a third of these are completely organic. But are they really any better than their mainstream alternatives?

Yes, according to Giki. The social enterprise assessed 117,500 supermarket products across six different criteria on health, sustainability and ethics. The research revealed that across the board, organic products are more likely to be free from additives, have better animal welfare standards (a requirement for organic food), be a healthier option and have recyclable packaging.

Read the full story here.

9. THE HIDDEN COST OF MICROWAVES

This article, published on 19 Jan, covered research from the University of Manchester that revealed EU microwaves emit as much carbon dioxide as nearly seven million cars.

In the first ever comprehensive study of the environmental impacts of microwaves, considering their whole lifecycle from ‘cradle to grave’, the researchers found that microwaves emit 7.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year in the EU alone.

Read the full story here.

10. ETHICAL CHRISTMAS SHOPPING

It may only have been published on 03 December, but this article got more views than others published almost a whole year earlier. It covered Ethical Consumer’s picks of the 10 most ethical online stores and five most ethical high street shops for Christmas shopping.

Interest in the piece points to a growing wave of ethical shoppers who are increasingly concerned about where they spend their money and what impact it has. These are exciting times – we think the mass shift is well underway and can’t wait to see the trend continue into 2019!

Read the full story here.

Click here to view the full range of MyGreenPod Heroes – ethical products and services in sectors ranging from fashion to finance

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