Buying With A Conscience

In the past nine months, I've gone through quite a transformation. I won't get into it all now, but I do want to take a post to speak of my buying habits. For the first time in my life, I have enough disposable income to not just buy the cheapest thing out there. Granted, I've never been one to just buy bargain basement crap. I get nice things when nice things are needed, like electronics and food - the extra few dollars really make a difference there. But on things like detergent, soaps and other things, I usually bought whatever was the cheapest thing I could find.

But now, I make a little bit of cheddar, not enough for me to absolve myself of all the debt I've accrued over the years, but enough to start making a dent in that debt and not just pay the minimum.

I've stopped buying Nike which was a big step for me. I love their designs and their fit. I haven't thrown all of my gear out though, that would be just as big a waste. I ripped off the swoosh off of some of the stuff. I haven't worn it for the most part though.

And just this weekend, I bought some Method laundry detergent. It was across the aisle from Purex, a subsidary of The Dial Corporation. The Purex detergent did 42 loads compared to the Method's 36. The Purex was on sale: two for $7. The Method was one for $7. Method just seemed like the environmentally friendly and consciencious company. Purex seemed like a cutthroat company after the bottom line and didn't give a shit about the environment as long as they made their quarterly goals. I bought the Method. Lady bought a bottle for herself as well.

I was just on both websites and what did I find? First off, that Method was co-founded by a chemical engineer from Stanford University who wanted to create naturally-derived, biodegradable formulas for everyday use.

environmental responsibility

BIODEGRADABLE
At method, we want to rid the world of dirty. And by "dirty," we don't mean just the brown stuff. We mean poisonous chemicals that pollute our water and air. So our formulas contain only biodegradable ingredients, derived from natural materials like soy, coconut, and palm oils. Mmm, coconut.

RECYCLABLE PACKAGING
When we develop a product, we think a lot about how to package it. We're for the environment. We actually kind of love it. So we have long, passionate conversations about the relative merits of, say, plastic option #1 and plastic option #2. The result: All of method's packaging is made from the most readily recyclable materials.

NO ANIMAL TESTING
You know what else we're for? Animals. Especially bunnies. Bunnies are the cutest. Okay, and dolphins. And kittens. Well, you know: We love all of them. So we never test our products on animals, and neither do the suppliers of our raw materials. That would be dirty, and we're against that.

I found no such environmental information on Purex's nor Dial's corporate sites.

My gut feeling about what Method was about was correct. You can just sense these things sometimes. Trust your gut, it's usually right.

Comments

[Mark]

I'm all for being environmental and anti-big business (I wear Saucony running shoes for two reasons - they're not Nike and the feel great), but all of the cleaning/personal hygiene items I have bought at Trader Joes haven't worked as well as the major brand stuff. The cleaning stuff doesn't clean as well and the soaps smell too strong. I have to fight for the environment and the little guy in other aisles.

[dragonballyee]

Oh Trader Joes, where I can shop and not worry about buying the "right" thing because it's all "right" in there. I haven't purchased any of the personal hygiene / cleaning stuff from there just yet and I've, for the most part, stuck to the brand stuff, but I'm taking baby steps. I can vouch for Method though. I've used their handsoap and multi-purpouse cleaner and they both work great. In the next week or two, I'll start using the detergent once I run out of my current one and I'll report back on that.