The Rise of Eco-Friendly Apps in the UK: How Technology is Supporting Sustainability

As the threat of global warming gets greater by the year, carbon footprints and engaging in eco-friendly activities have become more popular. People in the UK are more environmentally-conscious than ever before even if there is still a sprinkling of conspiracy theorists who claim that global warming isn’t real.

For those of us who are keen to help the environment in any way possible, there are several mobile phone apps that can assist us. The following eco-friendly apps are all available to individuals in the UK and each one will help users to improve their carbon footprint whether it be through recycling your old clothes or reducing food waste.

The rise of eco-friendly apps in the UK: The top six

Refill

One of the easiest ways to improve your carbon footprint is to reduce the number of single-use plastics you get through. Bottled drinks are one of the biggest issues here but through the Refill app, you can negate the need for them.

The app is very clear in what it aims to do – allow people to find places to refill their reusable water bottles wherever they are in the country. It is also very easy to use – simply open up the app, allow it to access your location and pinpoint the closest refill station.

Too Good to Go

Too Good to Go is a revolutionary food app that helps users find local restaurants and takeaways that are selling food on the cheap. This food is typically sold late at night when the restaurant knows that it would otherwise be going to waste.

Users can then click on the restaurant they want to pick up from and drive down to collect a goodie bag of surplus food. On one hand, it allows consumers to pick up quality food on the cheap, and on the other, it helps restaurants and takeaways to significantly cut down on food waste.

Olio

Olio is fairly similar to ‘Too Good to Go’ in that it is all about reducing food waste. However, instead of just pairing consumers up with local restaurants and takeaways, it allows them to pair up with neighbours and other households in the local area to share surplus food.

If you have a carton of milk that is about to go out of date that you won’t use, then instead of throwing it away you can advertise it on Olio and someone nearby will come and take it off your hands. You can even go beyond food with Olio, with some people using the app to find new homes for kitchen appliances and utensils.

ReGAIN

Think about all clothes in your wardrobe that are doing nothing other than collecting dust. Even worse, think about all the clothes you have binned in recent times. What if you could package all your old clothes up and take them to a recycling drop off points in exchange for discount codes and coupons? Well, that’s exactly what you can do through reGAIN.

Once the people at reGAIN have your package, they will sort through your items and then either recycle them or send them to a waste-to-energy plant to produce electricity. As a result, all of your clothes will be used to help the environment in some capacity.

Freegle

Freegle markets itself as ‘online dating for stuff’ and it’s a fairly accurate summary of what the app is all about. If there is anything, and we mean literally anything, in your house that you no longer need then Freegle will find you someone who will take it off your hands.

It also works the other way, too. If there is something you really want then you could check to see if it’s on Freegle first before splashing the cash. To ensure relevancy, you will only be able to advertise and pick up items in your local area as the app doesn’t incorporate postage and packaging.

Ethy

The final eco-friendly app to talk about is Ethy. In a world where there are still countless companies and brands that operate in unethical ways, Ethy helps you avoid them at all costs. Before giving a brand your hard-earned money you can check their rating on Ethy, who will have already audited them.

The coolest part about Ethy is that you can connect your bank account to the app. By doing this, the app can analyse where you’re spending your money and notify you if you’re shopping at places that rank poorly for sustainability, for example.