One of the most ethical supermarket chains (4/5 Green Stars) Most of my Drogheda shopping breaks down as follows: * Fruit and veg in various places (wherever I can find organic and packaging-free food) * Bits and pieces from the health food shop on Stockwell Lane * Goodies and a few staples from Marks & Spencer OK - it's mostly goodies. I do also like some of the prepared food from M&S, but I generally prefer to cook. Which goodies? Well, beyond the mince pies, crackers and chocolate biscuits, I like the potato farls from M&S and think they serve as a good example of why I choose food from there. Tesco, Lidl, etc., all sell potato farls, but they generally contain palm oil of dubious origin. Similarly, there are lots of tempting-looking cookies and cakes at Aldi and Lidl, etc., but I always hesitate to buy them because of ethical concerns over ingredients like palm oil, cacao, eggs, etc. But that brings up another point: the cakes etc., from Aldi and Lidl may be "tempting-looking" but often they disappoint. Bakewell slices from "Holly Lane" are sickly sweet and barely worth eating. Sure, the prices at Aldi and Lidl are low, but M&S sells close-to-expiration items that are around 50% off - shopping here is pretty affordable when you're flexible about what you buy! And it really is a necessary solution to food waste - most of the other stores just trash food at the expiration date. But even at regular prices, I'd much rather buy from M&S - most of the items are more ethical and just taste way better than equivalent items from Lidldi. Several of the items from M&S look boring but actually really good - the almond cookies are a good example. I would never have tried them until a friend recommended them, and now I several items taste much better than the packaging would suggest - they even made tasty rice cakes! But a major reason to support M&S is because the company tries (a lot harder than Aldidl) to do the right thing. Here's more about that..... I'm giving Marks and Spencer 4/5 Green Stars for social and environmental impact for the following reasons: * M&S pledged to double sales of vegetarian and vegan products by 2024. This is really key for dealing with climate change. * A carbon neutral business (in M&S's own operations) since 2012 * 13 M&S stores have a packaging-free refillable grocery concept, Fill Your Own. * M&S aims to have 100% of food packaging being recyclable by next year. * M&S received a good score from the Business Benchmark on Farm Animal Welfare. * Ethical Consumer gives M&S its best rating for supply chain management. * Sourcing of cacoa, coffee, and palm oil (when used) is better than most supermarket chains. There is still room for improvement, though... * All workers in the M&S supply chain have the right to join a union and engage in collective bargaining. * Supplier factories are audited at least annually by third party, independent auditors * Back in 2015, M&S was the only major retailer to have committed to implement a process to ensure that clothing suppliers are able to pay workers a fair living wage (e.g., in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka). * As of 2019, M&S sources 100% of its cotton from more sustainable sources (Better Cotton initiative). * M&S sells a lot of food items at around 50% discount when close to expiration, helping to deal with food waste. read more

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