9 Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Amazon In The UK To Know In 2024
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Looking for eco-friendly and sustainable alternatives to Amazon? The good news is you don’t need to look too far. I’ve got nine online sustainable marketplaces for you to try today for almost all of your needs.
There are myriad reasons to avoid shopping at Amazon if you can. For a start, just this year it was reported that Amazon’s main UK division paid no corporation tax for a second year in a row, whilst being given £7.7 million in tax credits from the UK Government. This is at the same time that we’re warned that 57% of small businesses are at risk of closure in 2023.
And it’s not just tax avoidance. Amazon has been linked to human rights abuses. Its business model is based on over-consumption. And the company’s carbon footprint has been calculated as being larger than that of Switzerland. It’s certainly never been a better time to find eco-friendly alternatives to Amazon.
The Best Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Amazon
The good news is that there are lots of great eco-friendly and sustainable alternatives to Amazon out there. These ethical and eco-friendly online shops cater to a wide variety of ethics, budgets, and product requirements. Let’s look at nine of the best out there now.
Use these quick links to jump to information about each brand, or keep scrolling for the full post:
&Keep
Dorset-based &Keep sells a wide range of carefully curated, eco-friendly, reusable, and sustainable products.
If you are looking for plastic-free products in particular, then you’ll be pleased to hear that the majority of &Keep’s products are plastic-free. Where there is plastic, &Keep ensure it’s the BPA-free kind and kept to an absolute minimum.
What’s more, all of &Keep’s products are cruelty-free and not tested on animals. And for extra eco points, all of its packaging is always completely plastic-free and uses recycled materials. &Keep also regularly donates to environmental causes and charitable organisations that work far beyond its reach.
Use the discount code andkeep5 at the checkout for 5% off your order.
Content
Content sells a thoughtfully sourced selection of natural and organic beauty brands, which avoids many controversial skincare ingredients. The ingredients Content avoids are listed here, as there are simply too many to mention in this space!
What’s more, none of the brands that Content stocks test their products on animals, nor do they instruct anyone to do so on their behalf. It’s reassuring to know that you are in safe hands when you buy from Content and that they’ve done all the hard work for you.
And it’s not just beauty products that Content sells. You’ll also find departments selling ethical clothing, vintage clothing, recycled and handcrafted jewellery, fairtrade and vegan shoes, books, and zero-waste living products. It’s a veritable one-stop shop, which makes it one of the great eco-friendly alternatives to Amazon.
Sign up for Content’s weekly newsletter and get 15% off your first order when you spend over £40.
Big Green Smile
From make-up and beauty products to natural cleaners and baby care, Big Green Smile is one of the biggest online retailers of natural, organic cruelty-free, and eco-friendly products in the UK.
I stop by Big Green Smile particularly when I’m looking to buy bulk products, such as washing up liquid or soap. I find the prices really reasonable and they often run great promotions.
Big Green Smile says it is extremely picky about the brands it stocks. It doesn’t stand for greenwashing. Its list of banned ingredients is eye-wateringly long. And animal testing is definitely out. This means you can be sure of the provenance of what you buy from Big Green Smile.
It’s incredibly easy to shop at Big Green Smile. You can shop by brand or by value – from plastic-free to vegan products – or simply browse each department to be inspired.
Bower Collective
For sustainable household and personal care items then try Bower Collective. From refillable products to stylish refill dispensers, and everything health and wellness to sustainable items for your pets, you’ll find sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives to Amazon right here.
What’s more, every Bower order arrives with a pre-paid envelope so that you can return your empty refill pouches for guaranteed recycling.
For peace of mind, Bower Collective has created the Bower Standard, which all of its products must meet. Through this standard, you can be assured that all of their sustainable products look good, feel good, reduce waste, and are sustainable and effective.
What’s more, every purchase made also helps the Marine Conservation Society protect 1m² of endangered seagrass.
Use the exclusive discount code MF20 at the checkout to take 20% off of full-price items at Bower Collective.
Bookshop.org
If it’s books that you are after then Bookshop.org is the place to go as an ethical and eco-friendly alternative to Amazon. Bookshop.org is an online bookshop that, unlike Amazon, has a mission to financially support local, independent bookshops.
You can shop your local bookshop, or shop from a specific local bookshop to support, and they’ll receive the full profit from your order.
If you don’t have a specific store in mind that you’d like to support, then your order will contribute to an earnings pool that will be evenly distributed among independent bookshops. In fact, Bookshop.org give away over 75% of its profit margin to stores, publications, and authors.
What’s more, they’re a certified B-Corp. This means that Bookshop.org meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
Ethical Superstore
Ethical Superstore, one of the original stalwarts of the ethical and eco-friendly shopping scene, sells a massive range of eco products.
From fair trade, organic, vegan, and eco-friendly products in practically every category you could ever imagine. You’ll find clothing, toys, food, cleaning products, and more. It is this sheer range of ethical products that makes Ethical Superstore a really strong sustainable and eco-friendly Amazon alternative.
What’s reassuring is that each item sold at Ethical Superstore adheres to at least one of Ethical Superstore’s seven key ethics. These are:
- fair trade
- organic
- eco-friendly
- supports education, health & wellness
- is locally produced
- or supports charitable causes.
It would be easy to be overwhelmed by choice. Thankfully Ethical Superstore allows you to shop by product ethics. Here you can filter products by a huge number of ethics to find the products that suit you.
I often use Ethical Superstore for buying household staples and am always impressed by the use of recycled and repurposed packaging.
Oxfam Online
The most eco-friendly option is always to shop second-hand. Thankfully Oxfam Online makes shopping second-hand easy. Here you can pick up a multitude of items – from ladies, gents, and kid’s clothing and accessories – to books, music, collectables, and more.
Oxfam Online makes a great sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to Amazon. This is because as well as the massive secondhand inventory, you can also shop its Sourced by Oxfam range online.
This is an amazing collection of new eco-friendly cleaning products, fairtrade food items, sustainable homewares, ethical gifts and more, that help you live more sustainably. All profits also support Oxfam’s work helping to end poverty.
Veo
Finally, Veo is home to the largest online collection of the most unique independent and sustainable brands out there.
Bringing together 350 independent brands, it offers a massive range of eco-friendly products spanning Fashion, Beauty, Food & Drink, Wellness, and Home categories.
Like Amazon, it’s a veritable one-stop shop for almost everything you could need – just a whole lot more sustainable and ethical.
Subscribe to the Veo newsletter for 10% off your first order.
Came across any other great sustainable alternatives to Amazon that you would recommend? Do let me know!
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Brilliant!! Thank you for the information.