Material creation, processing, and impact of production have a significant effect on our planet. Did you know you can make more environmentally friendly choices when it comes to the brands you support?

Greenwashing is rife these days, with big brands like H&M claiming to have environmentally-friendly ranges. The truth is, these brands are still churning out more pieces and creating more waste than ever before. 

Enter sustainable brands. There’s a vast global movement for more fair fashion and ethical consumption. Want to know which brands you can support without having to compromise your morals?

Check out our guide of brands who do good with your dollars. 

What Is Ethical Consumption? 

Consuming ethically means you only support brands that are transparent and produce their products ethically. 

When you purchase ethically made products, you vote with your dollar. You show brands that if they produce their products sustainably, you’ll buy them. You challenge the status quo and the traditional mass-produced way of consumption. 

If you boycott unethical brands, you show them you reject their principles and lack of values.

What Does Unethical Production Mean?

Products that are produced unethically put profits before people and the planet. 

Unethical brands will often use child labour or not pay living wages to the people producing their goods. 

If something is not made ethically, it often destroys the environment where it is sourced. Companies that make unethical products often cause high levels of pollution. 

For example, cotton is often produced in an unethical way. The amount of pesticides needed for cotton crops is very high. It also requires a lot of water to grow. 

Cotton is grown in regions of the world that suffer from drought, such as India. Using water to produce crops instead of providing drinking water to local communities is unethical. 

How Can I Consume More Sustainably?

There are plenty of ways you can consume more consciously.

1. Think Twice Before You Buy

Think about whether or not you need it. Are you buying something new because you NEED it or because you want it? Or could you use what you already have? 

2. Borrow and Swap 

Borrow items from friends and family. They may own what you’re looking for. Swapping things is another excellent way to get the feeling of owning something new without the environmental impact.

3. Try Upcycling

Upcycled items are trending these days; put some love into something you already have. Do some work on regenerating it; you’ll be surprised what you can create with some inspiration from Pinterest. 

4. Thrift

You can find thrift and buy from charity shops. It’s much better to purchase things that already exist than create demand for the production of new things.

Did you know a truckload of clothes is burned or sent to landfills every minute? 

5. Get Making

Try making things yourself too. It’s a great way to get creative as well as reduce your carbon footprint! You’ll impress your friends with clothes and gifts you’ve made yourself.

6. Educate

Teach your kids how to be more ethical consumers. It’s more wallet-friendly too. Win-win!

If you find you really need to buy something new, you can buy from a brand that responsibly creates its products. Here’s some inspiration. 

Best Sustainable Brand for Women’s Fashion

Tentree

Tentree is a shining beacon for ethical practices, making it the perfect place to start.

The Canadian brand plants ten trees for every item purchased. They use recycled, circular and organic fabrics and are conscious of reducing fabric and water waste in production. 

Thinking Mu

Thinking Mu is a Spanish brand that puts sustainability at the forefront of everything it does. 

Gone are the days of sustainable fashion looking a bit odd or being made of awkward materials. This brand is stylish AND sustainable. 

The clothes are made from materials like linen, organic hemp and organic cotton. All clothes are coloured with eco-friendly dyes, and the company limits the wastage of water in production. 

Best Sustainable Brands for Men’s Fashion 

Kotn

An excellent option for sustainable menswear is the Canadian brand Kotn. They are a certified B Corp, which means the impact of their products is kept to a minimum.

Kotn also works with the communities that farm their cotton in the Nile Delta to provide them with education and community-building resources. How great is that!

Harvest & Mill

Harvest & Mill is a US brand that wants to change the fashion status quo. Produced in the USA, their labour policies are ethical, and they advocate worker’s rights. 

The products are made from organic and sustainable cotton, minimize fabric waste and use low-impact dyes. 

If you are looking for basics that have a low carbon footprint, check out this brand. 

Best Sustainable Sportswear for Women 

Girlfriend Collective

Imagine wearing plastic bottles; how chic would that be? Ok, we aren’t suggesting sticking a bunch of plastic bottles all over your body and going out for a run! 

We’re suggesting you try the soft, stretchy fabric Girlfriend Collective uses to make their sportswear. 

This brand has a super high sustainability rating. They reduce waste, make fabrics from ethical materials and pay their people a fair wage. Oh, and did we mention, their stuff looks great, AND is size-inclusive. 

Best Sustainable Sportswear for Men

Patagonia

If you want sportswear that will last a lifetime, Patagonia is a go-to brand.

They’re the pioneers of ethical outdoor gear, and their stuff is exceptionally high quality. In addition, many of their products are made from recycled materials. 

All the design aspects have been thoroughly thought through; you never knew you needed so many pockets! When you buy from Patagonia, you have a lifetime guarantee, they will replace or repair items that break. 

Overall this is a highly ethical company, their trademark is their sustainable principles. They also donate a percentage of their profits to combat climate change. 

Patagonia isn’t just for men—they have many female and unisex designs too. 

Best Sustainable Outwear Brand

Norden

If you want to keep it local (and of course, you trust Canadians to know what we need from a winter jacket!), then check out Norden.

They make stylish, sustainable outwear for men and women and guess what—it’s made from plastic bottles!

The brand has the vegan seal of approval and is a certified B Corp. That means they meet high standards for their environmental and social actions. 

Best Sustainable Brands for Underwear

There are dozens of sustainable underwear brands popping up online. Direct to consumer brands are particularly popular as we make a move to online shopping. 

Here are a few of the best:

Free Label

Want to support a local business when buying your undies and basics? Then try Free Label. They make their products in Toronto and Vancouver and are environment and human rights-focused. 

Hara the Label

A female-founded women’s underwear brand that strives to provide education about the fashion industry’s impact. Hara the Label creates super soft, comfortable, beautiful pieces using fabric made from bamboo.

They use natural dyes to create pop colours synonymous with the label. This brand puts people and the planet at the forefront of everything they do. 

Boody 

Boody is another underwear brand made from bamboo, you’ll never want to take off. The fabrics are the softest thing you’ll ever wear.

They make underwear, activewear and loungewear for men and women. Their ethical principles include reducing waste and sourcing the most sustainable suppliers for their raw materials. 

Just Wears

Just Wears is a male underwear brand that is revolutionizing the men’s underwear market, sustainability is at the forefront.

From the raw materials to their eco-friendly packaging, everything is done with the environment in mind. 

The underwear is made from the pulp of Austrian beech trees. The forests are managed in an environmentally friendly way, with regular re-forestation. 

Best Sustainable Footwear

Vivo Barefoot

Looking for an ethical footwear brand that looks good and doesn’t negatively impact the environment? Look no further than Vivo Barefoot. 

A shoe brand that’s vegan and made from recycled materials, its mission is to revolutionize the footwear industry. 

Once your shoes are worn out, you can send them back and they will turn them into a new pair! This brand uses innovative technology to bring the dream of a circular economy one step closer to fruition.

Best Sustainable Personal Hygiene Brands

If you want to make your hygiene routine more sustainable, then the first step: skip the plastic.

Bottles of shampoo and shower gel should be a thing of the past, not to mention all the nasty chemicals in regular hair and body products. 

Try solid toiletries if you want to have the most significant impact on the planet. Brands such as Ethique are built on sustainable principles. They want to save plastic, water and CO2 emissions. 

Imagine taking a shower knowing you’re positively impacting the environment! 

Sustainable Deodorant 

You may not have thought about the ethics of the stuff you put under your arms every day. But guess what? The stuff you buy in the store isn’t great for your skin or the environment. 

If you want to try an ethical, sustainable brand that works, then give Wild deodorant a go.

The deodorant has reusable packaging that you refill with compostable pods. Reduce your waste and smell amazing without any nasty chemicals clogging your pores. 

Sustainable Cosmetics

Cosmetics are a tricky one. They often contain animal derivatives, are tested on animals and have excessive plastic packaging. Not great if you are trying to consume more ethically. 

Give up your traditional face creams and lipsticks in favour of eco brands.

Beauty Products

Saint Cosmetics is an eco-friendly, clean beauty brand. It says it in the name, doesn’t it!

This Canadian brand uses plant-based rather than chemical-based ingredients to create long-lasting, exciting lipstick and blush colours. 

Skincare

In Canada, you need nourishing moisturizer in winter. But unfortunately, many of the creams you traditionally use have detrimental effects on the environment. 

Pivot is a Canadian-owned, plant-based skincare brand that creates nourishing face and body oils.

Support local brands who know what we need when it comes to winter skincare! 

Best Ethical Cleaning Products 

Have you thought about your household cleaning products? They can get an eco overhaul too.  

From dish soap to laundry detergent, many conventional products are full of environmental and skin-damaging chemicals. 

Try an eco-friendly brand like Ecover if you want to replace the nasty detergents in your home. You can find products from this brand at Well.ca.

Reusable Everyday Items

To protect our oceans, we need to quit our single-use plastic habit. One of the best ways to do this is having reusable alternatives on hand. 

From water bottles to coffee cups to reusable tote bags and face masks, being more environmentally conscious starts with a few simple changes. 

Check out Made For The People for some great alternatives to single-use items such as straws and plastic bags. 

Coffee Cups

Thousands of coffee cups are tossed into landfills every day. Want to do your bit when buying your morning coffee? Then take your own cup! 

There are dozens of brands that sell reusable cups. Take a look at Keep Cup or R Cup. 

Bonus: Many coffee shops actually offer a small discount if you bring your own reusable cup!

Water Bottles

If you want to cut down on your plastic wherever you are in the world, buy a reusable water bottle. Preferably one with a filter so you can safely drink the water. 

Check out Lifestraw for bottles you can fill up anywhere and drink from straight away. 

Start Living More Sustainably 

We can all make small changes that add up to make a big difference. If you want to live more sustainably, live by the mantra reduce, reuse, and recycle. 

When you buy new things, buy ethically from sustainable brands. These brands are making a conscious effort to make the world a better place. From the materials they use to their policies about labour, when you support sustainable brands you can be sure your dollar is being put to good use. 

When you want to recycle your empty beverage containers, don’t forget to give East Hills Bottle Depot a visit. We’ll welcome you with open arms and a warm coffee—brownie points if you bring in your reusable coffee cup of course ;). 

The post The Buyer’s Guide to the Best Sustainable Brands appeared first on East Hills Bottle Depot.

With sustainability issues now taught in many school curriculums, your child might even be able to teach you a thing or two about reducing, reusing, and recycling! 

Many parents are now looking for ways to teach their kids the importance of sustainability. Luckily, there are plenty of methods to help your kids understand what sustainability is, and one of the best ways to teach them is with easy, fun DIY projects about sustainability that you can do at home. 

In this blog post, we’ll share 8 cost-effective DIY projects to teach your kids about sustainability – and have fun doing it too!

1. Bee Gardens

Building a bee garden with your kids is a great way to get them to learn how to protect bees and why bees are so important.

Bees are often seen as scary, stinging flying insects, but bees have a vital job when it comes to our planet and the environment. Bees pollinate about 80% of the world’s plants including 90 different food crops and 1 out of every 3 or 4 bites of the food you eat is all thanks to the bees.

You should definitely teach your kids the importance of bees. It’s true that if they sting you, it’ll hurt, but this doesn’t mean they’re terrible! Start this DIY project by showing your kids some videos on how bees work and how they make honey. You could even buy some different types of honey and do some fun taste testing to see how different kinds of honey taste different. 

As soon as your kid understands why bees are so important, you can start building a bee garden with them!

A bee garden is a great way to help bees, and it’s easy to do.

• You dig an area in your garden 
• Research what kind of flowers bees love (let your kids pick their favourites!)
• Purchase the seeds 
• Let your kids plant them, make sure they’re evenly spread out
• Get some bowls of rocks and water them to provide the bees with something to drink while they’re busy at work. The rocks give bees a safe place to drink from so they don’t fall into the water

As the plants begin to flower, you’ll get lots of bees drawn to your garden. 

Did you know that bees love flowering thyme, oregano flowers, lavender, and common sage? 

These can then be used in your kitchen too, which will make this DIY project even more sustainable and eco-friendly.

2. Egg Container Seedlings

One of the best DIY projects to teach your children about sustainability is egg container seedlings. This project will help teach them how things produced by living things can become living things again!

Before getting rid of your paper egg containers or cardboard egg cartons, put them aside for this easy and fun, sustainable children’s project. 

Start this project by soaking your egg containers in water before placing them on a large baking sheet. Then, get your kids to fill up each cup with potting soil. Let them choose which seeds they’d like to grow and plant them in each cup. 

After ensuring your kids have covered each seed with a small amount of soil, get them to water everything. 

Now the fun part for your kids!

They can monitor the egg containers and be on the lookout for any sprouts. 

While the sprouts are growing, you can help each other:

• Make sure the soil is moist but not too wet
• Put the sprouts outside on sunny days as they get larger

When the sprouts get big, you can cut out the cups and plant each of them individually in your garden. The cardboard is compostable, so it’ll break down into the garden, where it’ll be absorbed back into the soil. 

3. Worm Farms

A worm farm is one of the best ways to teach children how composting works plus, who doesn’t love to watch loads of worms digest some food waste?

Did you know that about 50% of municipal garbage sent out for regular curbside pickup is compostable? This is why composting is so important to creating a greener future for our planet. 

Adding worms to your composting process will make composting a lot more fun for your kids, and it might get them more interested in sustainable living practices like composting. 

Worm farming is an incredibly effective way to compost food scraps. It converts your food waste into nutrient-rich worm poop (manure), which can be used as fertilizer in your garden (or bee garden). 

How do you make a worm farm?

A worm farm doesn’t have to be anything fancy, it’s a DIY project for your kids after all. So here are a few easy steps for you to follow when making your worm farm. 

• Get an old cooler and drill a hole in the side and at the very bottom 
• Place a layer of crushed stone on the bottom (enough so it’s higher than where you drilled the hole) 
• Cover the stones with some pet-proof screening (or regular screening)
• Place some manure on top of the screening – you can let your kids do this part
• Add some soaked shredded up paper, wood chips, or a mixture of both
• More manure!
• Then, it’s time to add the worms – you can collect worms yourself or purchase some from a farm 
• As soon as the worms have settled, you can add some coffee grounds or vegetable waste for the worms to chow down on

The more the worms eat the food scraps, the more nutrient-filled manure will be produced. As they eat away, you can keep adding more food scraps to the worm farm. 

You might see a liquid draining from the hole; this is called ‘worm tea,’ and it contains liquid from the worm manure. 

Try to keep the worm farm at room temperature and moist. You can get your kids to take the temperature every morning with a thermometer as a fun activity. If the worms get too hot, they’ll overheat or dry out. 

Worm farms don’t tend to smell when they’re producing either, so you can keep them inside your garage, basement, or shed. 

4. Nature Diary

A nature diary is a fun activity you can show your child how to do. Not only will it help them learn more about nature and the environment, but it’ll also help with their writing!

You don’t have to buy anything fancy to start a nature diary; all you need is a basic notebook (and maybe some fun stickers)!

You can get your child to make some little notes about all the different animals, plants, insects and birds they see in the garden, on walks and even in the schoolyard. 

They could even draw a little picture of the new plant or animal they encounter, and you can look up some facts about each one so they can write about it in their diary.

5. Compost Bottle

Compost bottles are a great activity you can do with your kids to demonstrate how food waste is broken down to create compost. You’ll definitely need some patience, though, as compost can take over a month to form!

Make things more exciting by getting your child to write or draw the changes in the compost bottle every week. This way, they only have to wait a week until they can do something fun with your project. 

Compost bottles are also easy to make. All you need is:

• An empty, 2-litre clear plastic bottle
• Some soil
• Shredded newspaper
• Some food waste like vegetable peels, bread, or tea bags

How do you make a compost bottle?

1. Remove the lid and put it to the side 
2. Add a layer of soil into the bottle and push it down to the very bottom
3. Add a layer of food waste as well as some shredded newspaper 
4. Pour in a little bit of waste
5. Repeat these four steps until the bottle is three-quarters full
6. Fill the remaining space with soil
7. Replace the lid 

Every day you should: 

• Shake the bottle 
• Remove the lid (this allows any gases to escape)

About a month later, all the waste you put into the bottle should have decomposed. Now you can use the compost in your garden, or you can plant some seeds directly in the bottle!

6. Rain Barrels

There is a drop in water resources in some areas of the world, even here in Canada. In some places, there are even bans on watering lawns and washing cars. It’s important when teaching your kids about sustainability that you’re also teaching them the value of water waste and how reusing water can help the planet. 

You can make your own rain barrel with your kids by purchasing a spigot kit and large plastic trash can at your local hardware store or online. 

• Drill a hole in the trashcan and insert the spigot
• Place your newly created rain barrel under the downspouts of one of your gutters
• As it rains, the water will go from the downspout straight into your DIY rain barrel

If you attach a hose to the spigot, you’ll be able to show your children how you can use rainwater to water the garden. This will teach them how easy reusing water can be!

7. Birdhouse

Birdhouses don’t have to be perfect, and with an old coffee can, some scrap wood and a bit of artistic magic from your children, you can build an excellent and inexpensive birdhouse. 

Use materials you have on hand to craft a birdhouse that you can hang outside. Then add some bird feed to the house and watch as your local birds swarm it to get fed. Your kids can even make a note of what kind of birds are coming in their nature diaries!

If you have a pet dog or cat that needs brushing constantly, don’t throw that hair away! Birds love to use dog hair to fill their nests, so collect some pet hair and leave it tucked away in your birdhouse; you’ll be surprised how many birds want it for their own homes.

8. Upcycling 

Nothing says sustainable, like upcycling some old belongings to create something new. 

If you’ve got the urge to shop and buy new clothes, don’t! Think about upcycling them instead.

If you’ve got some young kids, then think about:

• Creating a plant pot out of an old pair of rain boots
• Turning a pair of old jeans into shorts
• Tie-dying a shirt to add some new colour
• Giving an old piece of furniture a fresh coat of paint

You can change and update loads of things to give your room or your style a fresh new look without the need to buy more things. 

Sustainability is so vital to our future and our children’s future. By teaching them how to be sustainable and why it’s so important, we can make sure that they help our planet stay green and clean. 

We encourage you to try out some of our fun, cost-effective DIY projects with your children. We know they’ll love them and who doesn’t want to be involved in an educational and exciting sustainability project?

Whether you’ve decided to build a rain barrel or have already started plotting out your bee garden, we’d love to know how you got on, so feel free to tag us in some photos on Instagram of your kids enjoying their sustainability projects. 

If you’ve chosen to teach your child all about recycling and the importance of recycling correctly but have some questions, then feel free to get in contact with our recycling experts and don’t forget to bring all your recyclable beverage containers to East Hills Bottle Depot, where they can be appropriately recycled.

We hope you enjoyed our blog post! Stay sustainable!

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