Browsing: Company News

EthicalSuperstore is appearing all week in the You Ask, They Answer feature in the Environment Section of the Guardian website.

Read the rest of You Ask, We Answer »

Happy New Year!

Note: MAD Points are now known as Reward Points

We work hard to provide the best possible online shopping service in the ethical products world.  In response to popular demand, we’re happy to introduce 2 great new money-saving services for 2010 developed with our frequent shoppers in mind.

Read the rest of Our Customer Service Resolutions for 2010 »

These are exciting times. We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve joined forces with Natural Collection, our companies are merging to create a single combined business to offer ethical consumers the very best in eco-friendly, organic and fair trade products. The combined business will continue trading under both names using both online and mail order catalogue to reach our customers.

Natural Collection, founded in 1999 by Julian and Joanne Spector, is a pioneering mail order retailer who offers consumers natural and organic products through the pages of its catalogue and online shop. A three-time winner of The Observer’s Ethical Awards and positive voice for change in the sector, www.naturalcollection.com has blazed a trail on ethical retail even before it became fashionable.

Here at Ethicalsuperstore.com, we’re the younger of the two companies, founded in 2004 by Vic Morgan and Andy Redfern, as the one-stop shop for fair trade, organic and eco-friendly products.  With a range of over 5000 products, our aim is to empower producers both locally and globally.

“Joining forces will enable both companies to build for an exciting future and to steer a good path through the challenging retail environment.” commented Andy Redfern, the CEO of the merged business. Joanne Spector, co-founder of Natural Collection added “Our new partnership creates great energy as we join together in our drive to promote fair trade and ecological products, which is especially important during a time when producers need the most support”.

With a shared mission to put the ethical consumer first, the combined organisation will continue to empower consumers to play an even greater role in defining the future of shopping. Pioneering a new era of information-intensive shopping we will enable shoppers to make more sustainable decisions.  “‘Hippy’ has evolved into ‘hip’ as ethical products now range from eco-gadgets to fair trade gourmet coffees.” added Vic Morgan, co-founder of the EthicalSuperstore.com “Despite adverse economic climate this team has no intention of being held back.  Together we are stronger”

Julian Spector said “We see tremendous growth opportunities in the UK market. Both companies are perfectly aligned with a common vision; by working together we can offer a blend of expertise which means we can be relied on as a one-stop-shop for all your ethical needs.”

Back in January our Managing Director Andy wrote a blog “Our 2009 pledge to you” and asked for your feedback and comments. We were really pleased by the number of you who took the time to write in and leave some great feedback and ideas. Thanks!

From your responses it became clear that packaging was an issue close to many of your hearts. Unfortunately a great deal of packaging often just goes straight to landfill, so in the belief that through small changes each of us can make a big difference, I decided to review our current packaging and find greener, more eco-friendly alternatives.

One of the main bones of contention mentioned by many of you was our use of bubble wrap. As an ethical company, bubble wrap is a great source of conflict as it unfortunately isn’t green (eco-friendly I mean!). It is annoyingly necessary to protect glass and fragile items with bubble wrap but the plastic nature of the product means it creates waste that fills up landfills and takes many years to biodegrade.  This was the first item that I wanted to change and I was so pleased to find a wonderful new green alternative to this conundrum – biodegradle bubble wrap.  GeoBubble has the same benefits as traditional bubble wrap – protecting orders from damage while in transit but, what is so fantastic is it will safely dissolve naturally into the environment. And it is a lovely green colour too!

Another element we wanted to change was the way that we pack our bottles. Fragile products need extra protection, but frankly our old cardboard bottle holders required a degree in advanced origami to assemble! Our new wine bottle holders are now made from reconstituted paper and are pretty robust as this video demonstrates. They’re made from 100% recycled materials and are 100% recyclable too, helping to minimise the amount of rubbish that gets sent to landfill. It makes a great excuse to buy one of our fab ethical wines!

All of the paper that we use to pack our boxes and protect your orders during transit is recycled, and with no waxy lining you can recycle this paper all over again, not to mention the fact that it’s compostable too. Another eco-friendly packaging favourite is Eco-Flo packing, which looks and functions like polyestyrene, but biodegrades exceptionally quickly (check out our video clip in The Great Packaging Debate blog post).

As often as we can we reuse old boxes which means your package sometimes doesn’t look as pretty as it could, but the ecological benefits defiantly outweigh the negatives. If we can’t find a box to reuse, we use new boxes which are specially manufactured without wax, so can therefore either be recycled or you can use them to build a fort/time machine in your living room!

We hope you’ll agree that we’re heading in the right direction with our packaging and practices, but we are always on the lookout for new inspiration so if you have any ideas we would love to hear from you.

This morning’s news has been buzzing with talk of recycling, and questions of which of the leading supermarkets are engaging most effectively in the war against waste.

I for one am pleased to see such questions leading the national headlines, and it certainly made me sit up and take notice as I gulped down my morning toast and tea. It’s good to hear the BBC cross examining Heads of Food Packaging Departments, and I’m satisfied to know that British consumers are becoming discerning and environmentally aware enough to care about which shops are reducing needless packaging and which are gearing up towards the recycling effort. The premise behind the Local Government Association’s Survey of holding supermarkets accountable is a great one, and I’m encouraged to hear that since their 2007 report amounts of food packaging have decreased.

Despite improvement in some areas, the findings of the survey have also resulted in widespread criticisms of the various chains, which have in turn provoked a variety of responses both attacking and defending the key movers and shakers in the supermarket industry.  You might not have anticipated this one, but the British Retail Consortium’s Head of Environment Bob Gordon spoke out in favour of some packaging, highlighting that the survey failed to recognise the crucial role packaging plays in preserving food: “It’s a nonsense to suggest that retailers swathe their goods in masses of unnecessary packaging. This would simply be a pointless cost. Packaging reduces waste by protecting and preserving products.”

Read the rest of The Great Packaging Debate »