Announcing your winners!

We reveal the results of the Your Healthy Living Environmental Champions 2023

Last year we invited you, our readers, to vote for your favourite natural brand based on their eco-friendly credentials. We're pleased to say that the votes are now in and we can reveal our Environmental Champion: Ecozone! Our three Environmental Heroes are Unbeelievable Health, Organico and If You Care. Read on to find out more about these winning brands.

Environmental Champion 2023: Ecozone

British brand Ecozone has been creating affordable and effective eco-conscious products for over 20 years. Its vast range spans over 80 products in everyday cleaning and dishwashing essentials, laundry detergents, home and lifestyle items and household maintenance solutions. Each product has been created to cover every cleaning need as Ecozone believes that no one should think too hard about how they clean their home and what they do it with, nor how to do it safely and sustainably.

What sets Ecozone apart is that it specialises in manufacturing products that are as efficient at solving everyday household problems, just as well as conventional, harsh non-eco cleaning agents. However, not only is each Ecozone product highly effective and powerful in its own way, but they are also designed with formulas that consider the environment, always providing a clean home and a cleaner conscience.

Ecozone has also worked hard to ensure all formulas are Cruelty-Free and Vegan Society certified, while most recently being endorsed by PETA and The Naturewatch Foundation. There are also several products designed specifically for those with sensitivities and which have therefore attained Allergy UK approval.

As Ecozone’s mission is to deliver products that really work, each ingredient has been selected for a purpose, ensuring that you can achieve a brilliant clean without compromise all around the home. The brand has also designed a range of product alternatives that are for long-term use, allowing users to cut down on single-use products. These include the laundry Ecoballs, which are a refillable laundry detergent and provide up to 1,000 washes. There’s also the Dryer Cubes, which are an effective solution to help you cut down on drying time and save energy, replacing single-use dryer sheets. You can also opt for natural alternatives such as the Laundry Soap Nuts, a plant-based laundry detergent and cleansing agent, or swap for products created with special additives that help with the degradation of materials when sent to landfill like Oxo-Biodegradable Bin Liners.

Discover more at ecozone.com

Environmental Hero 2023: Organico

Organico Realfoods is the home of pioneering organic and sustainable food brands Organico and Fish4Ever.The company is committed to sourcing foods that are planet-positive, that help support and enhance biodiversity and eco-systems and protect soils and the water supply. It strives to source foods which are resilient, not wasteful, not polluting or damaging and where the resources used are endlessly renewable. The aim is to source products from makers, growers and fishers who are themselves dedicated to a higher standard of socially responsible and sustainable practices. For wild fish, specifically, the company will only buy sustainably-fished fish that is caught by local boats using low impact methods with strictly limited by-catch and no damage to the sea floor or wider eco-system.

A brand spokesperson said: “As a company with strong food values we know and understand that we depend entirely on the support of good people. We are always happy to meet our consumer customers at shows or when we do in store tastings. We will always respond to enquiries about the business, specific products or any complaints and we are more than happy to receive comments or advice on what we could do better.

Along with our partners the Food Ethics Council, Impact Hub and Sustain, we put on quarterly food talks covering major issues in food ethics. As of 2020 our brands are net zero and carbon neutral – all a part of our Better Than Net Zero policy. We support a number of fantastic charities and NGOs including Eden Reforestation Projects, Ecosystem Restoration Camps, The Environmental Justice Foundation, and the International Pole and Line Foundation.”

Visit www.organicorealfoods.com

Environmental Hero 2023: Unbeelievable Health

Unbeelievable Health was launched over 10 years ago when founder Sarah Orecchia discovered there was a gap in the market for plant based, convenient, all-in-one supplements. Sarah’s team of nutritionists created a range of targeted supplements which combine highest quality, sustainably sourced propolis, bee pollen and royal jelly along with plants and herbs pollinated by bees. All of these have studies behind their use for specific health concerns such as immunity, energy, anxiety, hay fever, sleep and more. The supplements are now stocked in over 800 stores in the UK, Ireland and more.

Unbeelievable Health raises awareness about the importance of bees and donates a portion of sales to bee causes and charities. These include Bees for Development, who lift people in some of the most deprived areas of the world out of poverty by teaching them to become beekeepers. The company ensures its ingredients are of the highest quality – traceable and responsibly sourced from the UK and EU when possible. The formulas are concentrated and free from additives, fillers, chemicals, synthetics and inexpensive substitutes.

The founder of Unbeelievable Health, Sarah Orecchia, said: “Customers can feel good about buying bee products as demand encourages more people to become beekeepers. These people are essential to help honeybee colonies grow, expand and thrive. Honeybees are endlessly fascinating; they pollinate a third of all we eat, as well as countless plants and herbs used as natural remedies and in medicine such as propolis and bee pollen. We’ve worked hard over the years to produce high quality, ethically produced, effective supplements, with no outside investment or deep pockets for splashy marketing. The reviews and feedback we receive and awards such as this make it all worth it!”

Visit www.unbeelievablehealth.co.uk

Environmental Hero 2023: If You Care

If You Care has been doing the little things better for a healthy home, healthy planet, healthy you for over 40 years. Initially launching in the USA with the first and only unbleached coffee filters at that time, the company has continued to grow its product range to offer everything you need for eco-friendly cooking, baking and cleaning at home. The range includes unbleached baking paper and sandwich bags, vegan-friendly wax paper using wax from the carnauba palm tree, sponge cloths made from cotton and cellulose and household gloves made from 100 per cent latex, plus much more.

If You Care creates products that consider the environment all the way through the life cycle, from the materials used to how they’re made and how they are disposed of when their work is done. The company’s core principles mean that it only ever uses planet- friendly materials – no phosphates, no chlorine, no petroleum products and always from renewable sources. Importantly, all If You Care products are produced with a view to reducing the amount of waste in our waste streams, with the aim that nothing should remain after the product has been used and properly disposed of, while all the packaging is made from unbleached recycled cardboard which can be further recycled.

If You Care works with certification bodies in many fields. The brand only ever uses unbleached, totally chlorine free (TCF) paper, to eliminate the risk of chlorine residues entering the water cycle where it can have harmful long-term effects on the ecosystem and Forest Stewardship Certified (FSC) certified paper that promotes the most rigorous environmental and social standards of forestry management.

For more info, visit www.ifyoucare.co.uk