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Sustainability
In This Article
Trusted Reviews maintains that Global Warming is not a myth as a core company value and endeavors to factor the impact we as a business and the products we review have on the planet into everything we do.
As a part of this we send every company making products we review a questionnaire designed to gauge its sustainability. The answers we receive will be displayed on the review, making it clear to readers what measures have been taken to reduce the product’s impact on the environment. In the event we do not have the answers a placeholder text will be used saying we are waiting to hear back from the firm.
No product is ever going to be perfect and the work will be ongoing but it’s our hope that this will help improve the transparency around the impact consumer tech has on the environment. As an added benefit, we also hope it will at the very least get the companies involved asking the questions, even if they don’t have the answers straight away.
The questionnaire is based on research done on key topics including theright to repair,European Energy gradingand sustainable design guidance as well as interviews with experts from the industry leading sources, including Business Green.
They focus on five key areas: the materials used, the supply chain making it, its repairability and recyclability. Those that meet set standards will be offered accredited badges from Trusted Reviews which can be used for marketing purposes.
At launch these will include badges for 3 key categories:
Products that secure all three of these will be awarded an overarching “Sustainability” badge. You can see what the badges will look like in the image below. You can see what the badges look like in the image below.
These questions are a work in progress that we will continually update based on the latest research, science and guidance around sustainable product development and environmental best practice. If you have any suggestions or questions please contact Trusted Reviews Editor-in-Chief,Alastair Stevenson(alastair.stevenson@trustedreviews.com). In all instances we ask the companies to provide evidence supporting the answers provided.
You can see a full breakdown of the questions we currently ask below.
Company questions
These questions apply to the companies’ overarching sustainability practices and over a holistic view of what measures are being taken.
Materials used
The purpose of this section is specific to the product being reviewed. The goal is to ascertain what measures have been taken to use sustainably sourced, recycled materials in the product.
Repairability
Trusted Reviews believes tech shouldn’t be thrown away the moment something goes wrong. Products should be easily repairable and receive company support for as long as possible. This section of the questions focuses on what guarantees are being made to ensure this on the specific product being reviewed.
Recyclability
The purpose of this section is to establish what efforts have been made to ensure the product can be safely and sustainably disposed of.
Supply chain
Though we don’t offer a badge for the supply chain questions, we believe they are a key factor that readers should be aware of which is why we still ask what measures have been taken to ensure it is as sustainably run as possible.
FAQs
Consumer tech is far from green at the moment, despite great work from some parts of the industry. We want to help increase transparency on what work has been done and get every company we review products from thinking about how to diminish the industry’s impact on the planet.
No, our badges use criteria that rewards companies making steps in the right direction. There are currently very few, next to zero, companies in consumer tech with a completely neutral, 100% sustainable footprint.
We’re in the midst of looking at our own business practices in a bid to practice what we preach. We’ll update this page when we have more concrete details to share.
The badges are given if the company meets our sustainability criteria regardless of if they’ve paid for them. We do charge businesses to use them for marketing purposes however. Any business looking to do this after receiving an award should contact chris.walsh@trusetdreviews.com.
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Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy. The articles below are written by the TrustedReviews team, which includes many of …
Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Why trust our journalism?
Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
