At EcoWatch, our goal is to help readers find eco-friendly brands, products, and services that can create a more sustainable future. We review products that we believe can make a difference, and evaluate them on how well they live up to any claims about their environmental impact. We thoroughly research, compare, and test different products to find ones that we would use ourselves before we recommend them to you.

Our Review Standards

From reusable bags and recycled plastic shoes to solar panels and natural supplements, we approach every review with the same core set of standards in mind:

1. Accuracy - Is the information true?
2. Impact - Does the product make a difference?
3. Transparency - Do we explain our review clearly?
4. Accessibility - Can everyone understand our review?
5. Positivity - Does our review help provide solutions?

Our Top Considerations

In addition to these overarching standards, here are the specific factors that we look for when evaluating eco-friendly products and brands.

• Materials/ingredients - We look for products that use all-natural ingredients and sustainably sourced materials. We prioritize brands that use organic, recycled, or biodegradable materials whenever possible.
• Green Certifications - We use recognized industry standards and certifications, like B-Corp, USDA Organic, Leaping Bunny, and Rainforest Alliance seals, to help distinguish the most eco-friendly brands and products from the rest.
• Quality - The products we review need to both help the environment and actually work. Whether it's an alternative to paper towels or an all-natural sleep aid, we want to make certain that it is actually worth your consideration.
• Packaging - The amount of packaging waste a product creates matters, and we highlight brands that minimize packaging and use recyclable, biodegradable, or compostable materials instead of plastics.
• Price - In the eco-space, cheaper is not always better. Still, we try to compare all of your options to ensure that anything we recommend is fairly priced and worth the cost. Whenever possible, we highlight deals and less-expensive options.
• Causes - We love brands that donate a portion of their profits to great causes. We try to recommend options that allow you to support organizations that make a difference with your purchase.

If a certain category of products has additional or unique standards to consider, we explain those clearly so you can fully understand everything that went into our reviews.

Our Process

Each of our reviews includes several different steps to make sure that we provide accurate, honest, and useful recommendations.

Industry Research

Our first step involves researching the industry or product category broadly. This allows us to learn more about industry standards, governmental regulations, how products work, how performance and quality are measured, and the leading brands to compare. During this step, we work to become experts on the details.

Brand Evaluations

Next, we look more closely at the top brands or products that we discover in our initial research. This involves thoroughly vetting the brand's site to see what makes them stand out and what types of products they offer. We look for information on the brand's sustainability efforts, philosophy, and environmental impact.

Product Reviews

In this step, we dig into the details of the individual products or services. Where possible, we try to get our hands on the product itself to test and evaluate. We then scrutinize the claims made by the brand in any product descriptions and specifications to see if they hold up, and how they compare to industry standards and competitors.

Recommendations

Finally, we write up our review and include a ranked list of the best options. We do our best to provide plenty of context in our reviews so that you know how we chose the products on our list, and why. In addition to our recommendations, we give you the links to all of our sources of information.

Reviewing Eco-Friendly Products

An important thing to note about eco-friendly products is that some industries or categories have more options than others. We always try to prioritize brands with the smallest environmental footprint and products that can make the biggest impact.

In certain cases, however, there may not be a brand or product that truly meets our standards of sustainability, or that offer imperfect solutions (like a good product that includes too much plastic packaging). In those cases, we will always note the areas where brands or products fall short environmentally and explain why we still recommend them anyway. If a company pledges to do better through changes to process, we will follow up to see if they live up to those pledges.

By doing our best to highlight goods and services that prioritize environmental stewardship, we hope to promote better practices throughout entire industries.

If you have any questions about our review methodology or any of the products we recommend, please email us at [email protected]

EcoWatch is a long-time leader in environmental news. Founded in 2005 as an Ohio-based environmental newspaper, today we are a digital platform still dedicated to publishing quality, science-based content on environmental issues, causes, and solutions. While we've grown from a grassroots newspaper of 80,000 print copies to a site with a digital audience of more than two million monthly readers, we are still committed to our founding principle: creating a sustainable future.

Our Mission

Our goal is to empower readers to make informed, environmentally-conscious decisions that support a sustainable future for everyone. Through trustworthy environmental news, solution-based guides, and responsible product reviews, we want to help both the newly-concerned citizen and the veteran environmental activist be part of the solution every single day. Our hope is that we can help everyone become engaged, adopt sustainable practices, and support environmental policies.

We believe that our choices are a powerful force, and that together we can make better choices to create a better future for the planet, for wildlife, and for humanity.

Our Standards

The entire team at EcoWatch is committed to trustworthiness, integrity, and quality in every aspect of our work. Whether it is news and editorial content or product reviews and guides, everything we publish is thoroughly vetted and fact-checked by our staff of editors. Below you can find more specific information on our approach to adhering to high standards both news and reviews publication.

You can also read our Ethics Statement and Affiliate Disclosure for more information.

Editorial Standards

Trustworthiness, accuracy, and reliability come first at EcoWatch. The editorial team stays committed to strict journalistic standards in all stages of news production. We commit to publishing news that is unbiased, objective, accurate, diverse, and fair.

The reporters and editors at EcoWatch adhere to all applicable laws and journalistic standards, including, the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Code, FTC Guidelines on Disclosure, U.S. Copyright Law, and the Fair Use doctrine.

Additionally, our reporters and editors adhere to strict standards when sourcing facts, data, and claims. The editorial team sources information from reputable and official sources, such as government organizations, official records, scholarly reports, and expert interviews. All sources are hyperlinked within news articles.

Our editorial team is committed to issuing corrections for factual errors on EcoWatch's news stories. We stay transparent about factual errors in our publication. Errors on EcoWatch are addressed swiftly. Once the error has been corrected, a note is issued at the bottom of the news story.

If you spot an error and want to let us know, send us an email at [email protected] We appreciate all feedback.

Review Standards

To help readers make smarter decisions about the products and services in their daily lives, we review eco-friendly brands we know care about the environment and products that we think can make a difference. Every review on our site is created with the following standards in mind:

Accurate - We dig deep into every category and every brand so we can tell fact from fiction. All of the claims in our reviews are backed by credible sources and fact checked by editors. We work to see through greenwashing by brands who just offer talking points.

Impactful - We believe in the products we recommend and aim to review a wide variety of categories and brands. To earn our recommendation, an item or brand must provide a genuine benefit to the planet and your health. We scrutinize everything from the sourcing of materials and the footprint of the manufacturing process to the amount of packaging waste produced. We look for products that meet the highest standards of industry watchdogs and eco-certifications.

Transparent - We seek to explain how we review each category and why we recommend a particular product or service. The goal is for you to leave our site with more than just a list of products to try. We want you to leave our site with the knowledge to identify additional solutions and opportunities to make an impact on your own. All sponsored content is clearly labeled so you know and trust what you're reading.

Accessible - No matter who you are or where you are on your journey towards a more environmentally-conscious life, you are welcome here. Our reviews are written so that anyone can understand what environmental issue is at stake, why addressing it is important, and how the service or product we recommend can help.

Positive - There are habits and choices we can all adopt to be better stewards of our planet and each other. We understand that beyond individual actions, systemic changes may be needed. Accordingly, we aim to provide the information and insights necessary for all of us to find solutions and make a difference, together.

You can learn more about our process by visiting our Reviews Methodology page.

How We Make Money

Each product featured in our reviews has been independently selected by the writer based on our standards and any industry-specific criteria. We do have financial relationships with certain affiliates, advertisers, sponsors and other third parties that we review. If you make a purchase using a link to one of these affiliates, we may earn a commission on that sale. An affiliate disclosure is always included on the page of any content that contains an affiliate link.

Also, you may see third party ads posted on the site. Each time you click on such an ad, we will receive compensation from the third party advertiser, even if you do not purchase something from the third party.
While there is a paid connection between some of the products or services mentioned, reviewed, or recommended on our site, we still seek to provide our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, and experiences as they relate to the products and services that we review.

All sponsored content is clearly labeled as such, and our affiliate relationships do not influence the accuracy or quality of our reviews content.

For information about our commitment to privacy and our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Meet Our Team

Irma Omerhodzic

Chris McDermott

Meredith Rosenberg

Olivia Rosane

Tiffany Duong

Randy Showstack

Melissa Smith

Alan Carter, PharmD

Marc Lewis

Devon Gailey

Jim Geikie

John Replogle

EcoWatch.com is owned by Remedy Review LLC. The website is built by RebelMouse. RebelMouse builds technology that enables companies to succeed in the world of distributed publishing. RebelMouse technology makes it easy to find and grow relationships with social influencers and connect content with its maximum audience.

At EcoWatch, we provide readers with honest and unbiased news. To do this we hire the best writers and editors we can to cover an intensifying climate crisis. But good journalism costs money. We believe a writer should be compensated fairly for her work. That's why we have chosen to generate revenue through advertisements and affiliate content.

Below is an outline of our business and how we support the editorial independence of our coverage:

• EcoWatch is wholly owned by Remedy Review LLC, a privately held company
• We make money from on-site advertising; sponsored content; and affiliate revenue
• We never adjust our content or the subjects we cover due to pressure from advertisers or affiliates
• We never avoid covering a subject that is damaging or offensive to a current or potential advertiser
• We maintain a separation between all news writers, product reviewers, and advertiser performance

On-Site Advertising Guidelines

On-site ads are managed by third-party services. We make space available on our site and a third-party places relevant content in those places. We have no connection to these advertisers and they do not influence our work. We hope to grow other streams of revenue so we can scale back the number of display ads on our site. The experience of our readers is important to us.

E-Commerce and Review Guidelines

Mass consumption is harmful to our planet. In a perfect world everyone would own less and drastically reduce their waste. We understand this. We also know people are going to buy food items, supplements, home services, and basic goods every day. We think if we help optimize even some of these purchases toward more sustainable options we can make a difference.

That's why we write about the best options we find. It's why, at times, we'll write about the lesser of evils. We want our readers to be aware of the choices they make in a variety of product and service categories.

In our reviews and guides there are affiliate links. When a reader clicks an affiliate link and makes a purchase, we can earn a commission. We point readers to the best and most useful sites, brands, and shops our writers can find. We keep the writers separate from any business relationships so their recommendations remain unbiased.

Sponsor Content Guidelines

Sponsor Content is created by advertisers. We allow these advertisers to write their own articles and we publish them as the work and opinion of that advertiser. This content does not reflect the opinions of EcoWatch or our employees. Readers will see that when we publish sponsor content it is labeled "Sponsored" and housed in a directory of that title on our website.

Our policy requires all advertisers provide a logo and/or brand name to accompany their sponsor content. We believe this will make it clearer to readers who purchased the placement and wrote the article.

A Note About Our Journalism

Our journalists do not create advertising content. They are not aware of or regularly updated on the growth of a particular revenue channel. They are here to clarify the most pressing issue of our time through honest, clear, researched reporting. They will never take payments to talk about subjects that pose a conflict of interest or accept gifts or money for influence.

Media is in a new era. Content and commerce occupy the same screen. Our team will do everything we can to make this work in a way that is ethical, fair, and at the service of our readers.

Updated: November 23, 2020

This Affiliate Compensation Disclosure is provided by EcoWatch, together with its affiliates, including, without limitation, both mobile and online versions of our websites (collectively, referred to herein as the "Site"), and is provided for the purpose of disclosing the Site's financial relationship with affiliates, advertisers, sponsors and other third parties that appear on the Site (collectively, referred to herein as "Affiliates"), pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission's Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsement and Testimonials in Advertising, 16 C.F.R. Part 255.

This Affiliate Compensation Disclosure has been posted on the Site or has otherwise been linked to in a post or article since the Site sells and thus receives monetary and other forms compensation from Affiliates for various advertising, sponsorships, insertion orders and promotional campaigns that we feature on the Site. Thus, there is a paid connection between some of the products or services mentioned, reviewed or recommended on this Site and the Affiliate (i.e., the owner of that third party product or service). If you ultimately decide to purchase such a product or service mentioned on the Site, the Site may receive additional compensation from that purchase from the Affiliate.

Further, the Site posts or otherwise promotes content, including editorial content, which may feature third party products and services (the "Affiliate Products") and which may link to third party owned and operated web sites where you can purchase Affiliate Products. If you click on a link to an Affiliate's Product on the Site and then follow the link to purchase an Affiliate Product on the Affiliate's web site, the Site may receive compensation from the Affiliate offering the Affiliate Product. Weblinks on the Site featuring Affiliate Product(s) may be added to articles that are not identified on the Site as paid or sponsored content. A disclosure statement about the Affiliate Product(s) and the possible compensation will always be included in those articles. Also, you may see third party ads posted on the Site. Each time you click on such an ad, we will receive compensation from the third party advertiser, even if you do not purchase something from the third party.

Even though we may receive compensation in connection with your purchase of Affiliate Products as outlined above, we still seek to provide our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, and experiences as they relate to the products and services that are featured on the Site.

Every effort has been made by the Site to provide true and accurate statements in regards to any and all products or services mentioned, reviewed or recommended by the Site.