Industry Alert

Questionable Industry This symbol signifies that the industry as a whole has questionable practices, OR the product has substantial health concerns, enough to warrant avoiding the product completely.

Examples of such practices are factory farming for eggs, chickens and pigs; child labour and exploitative work conditions for coffee, chocolate, clothing and footwear; tobacco, directly linked to lung cancer; and batteries, leaving toxic chemicals in landfill.

We’ve provided information of the issues relating to the Industry Alert in the blurbs under the product type headings. Where the Industry Alert symbol appears next to the product type heading we recommend seeking products with an outstanding product feature star that addresses the particular concerns.

Note: we are aware that components of many products do come from industries that in the big picture are also unsustainable or unethical, such as the mining, petroleum or plastics industries, or lead to health concerns, such as high meat intake.

Company Ratings

We have used a slightly different methodology for calculating ratings for different product types.

1.

The common methodology used in the rating of companies is based on a 'best of sector' approach. – meaning that we’re presenting a ‘better’ buy in each area. For the product types listed we do not present the industry alert as a criticism. By adding criticisms for all companies involved in these activities, almost every company would get a cross, making it difficult to distinguish between companies on other issues. This would make the guide almost useless and a meaningful resource to help in guiding better choices.

The following product types have an indusrty alert and use this methodology:

Bottle water (for plastic waste)
Soft drinks (for health concerns)
Tea, Chocolate (for pesticides)
Coffee, Chocolate (for worker exploitation)
Cooking oil (for genetic engineering)
Ice cream, Chips/crisps, Biscuits/crackers, Margarine, Chocolate (for palm oil)
Frozen fish, Canned fish (for overfishing)
Sunscreen, cosmetics (for nanotechnology)
Tissues, Toilet paper, Paper towels, Copy paper, Paper/pads/envelopes, Notebooks (for forest logging)
Nappies (for waste to landfill)
Prewash/soaker/bleach, Toilet cleaners, Disinfectant, cleaners, Specialty cleaners (for toxic chemicals)
Batteries (for toxic waste)
Sweeteners (for health concerns)
Rice (for water usage)
Roll your own (for dangerous health)

2.

For particular product types we have used a methodology for calculating ratings where we do present the industry alert as a criticism. This has come about as we have seen significant change in certain industries and a change in what people deem as acceptable.

The following product types have an industry alert and use this methodology:

Eggs, Poultry, Smallgoods (for factory farming)
Cosmetics (for animal testing)

Note: using our methodology we seek external sources for any assessment criticisms used in generating ratings for companies. See specifics assessment records from the company pages for details of criticisms.