This text is taken from Courrier de l’économie. Click here to subscribe.
Web and mobile tools have been multiplying for several years to help consumers make more ecological and ethical choices. Montrealers are working to add new ones to make their lives easier. Here are some current projects.
Second-hand purchases are increasingly seen as a way to save money while limiting overconsumption. But even well-meaning people don’t always think about visiting platforms like Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji when shopping online, says Aida Bumbu, co-founder of Nearbuy.
Together with her colleague Corentin Thomasset, she imagined a solution that won third place in IBM’s international Call for Code competition in 2022.
“When someone goes to buy a new product in an online store, our application will extract keywords, such as name and brand, and will search second-hand sites,” explains Ms.me Bubu. The results will be returned to the new product page, and a bubble will appear to say that similar second-hand products are available. If customers are interested, they can click to see the offers. »
For now, the tool, which is an extension for the Chrome web browser, is available in beta on the GitHub platform. It can only be used in Montreal with three e-commerce sites, including Amazon and IKEA, and two resale platforms. The two creators are still working on refining their tool and integrating more websites. Since the computer code of their tool is freely accessible, they invite all those who wish to collaborate in the project. The duo intends to make it available to as many people as possible in the next six months, through the Chrome Web Store.
Identify sustainable businesses
Yannick D’Mello, a PhD graduate from McGill University, has received a grant from Mitacs to further develop his Stocate platform, launched in 2020, over the next two years. Contraction of English words store (store) and locate (locate), its mobile application aims to recommend to Montreal users businesses and products — especially food — that correspond to their values.
In its current version available, it is possible to search by keywords according to your needs. A list of suggestions will appear, with some indications, in particular on the type of packaging – reusable, recyclable, compostable – and the size of the company.
When someone goes to buy a new product from an online store, our application will extract keywords, such as name and brand, and search second-hand sites. The results will be returned to the new product page, and a bubble will appear to say that similar second-hand products are available.
Mr. D’Mello’s mission is to improve his application with a fair and simple evaluation system, based on environmental, local, fair and price criteria. The number of businesses it includes must also be increased, with the help of the user community.
A real need
In Montreal, many restaurants, cafes, bakeries, grocery stores and boutiques have made efforts in recent years to reduce their packaging and food waste. The Concertation Montréal Mon Commerce Zero Déchet community has just launched a best practices guide, which highlights actions such as the establishment of a deposit system for take-out meals.
Janie-Claude Viens, development agent at Concertation Montréal, believes that these model merchants would benefit from having more visibility. So it could be useful for them to be showcased in showcases like Stocate. The Green Pages directory is another, listing approximately 2,400 companies deemed eco-responsible across Quebec. Its founder also wants to take the project further, by now offering a service to support companies in the adventure towards eco-responsibility.
Citizens are really aware of responsible consumption, but they do not always know how to navigate the complex and evolving mass of information on this subject, notes Amélie Guèvremont, associate researcher at the Responsible Consumption Observatory of the ‘UQAM.
“For a company, seizing this challenge and transforming it into added value for the consumer, this can be an interesting opportunity,” she believes.
As new teams will certainly give it a try, we will have to monitor the new tools that will continue to appear.