Responsible Shopping: How HOVE incorporates data into everyday goods

Our team of five public health students worked with Cindy Lin, CEO and co-founder of HOVE Social Good Intelligence, Inc. (HOVE). HOVE is a subscription-box service that provides products from companies that give back to the greater community. Our project aimed to help Cindy identify measurable, consumer-level impacts of three everyday household items: conventional versus compostable trash bags, Fair Trade versus direct trade coffee, and traditional versus sustainably sourced, non-synthetic chemical haircare.

First, compostable (biodegradable) and compostable hybrid alternatives have been proposed replacements to traditional trash bags, but little is known about their environmental impacts. To compare the environmental impacts between conventional and biodegradable plastic trash bags, we conducted a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) modeled after one conducted by a university in Thailand to determine different inputs and outputs of each production process. The LCA’s system boundaries are cradle-to-grave, including production, transport, use, and disposal of the products. These products are then separated and identified by different waste management techniques: landfilling, incineration, and composting.  After accounting for assumptions (i.e., volume and size of trash bags and waste management techniques), we found that environmental impacts of both bags have pros and cons, depending on the waste management scenario. Because results do not favor one product over the other, HOVE should be transparent regarding the conditions under which compostable bags are superior.

To identify social impacts between fair trade and direct trade coffee, we conducted a literature review and interviewed five local coffee shops regarding their priorities for selling fair trade versus direct trade coffee. These priorities were then used to identify impacts that HOVE should communicate to its customers. We recommend that HOVE partner solely with direct trade coffee companies and communicate the following measurable impacts to the consumer: the purchase (1) supports an X year contract with the farmers, (2) provides a stable future for X farmers & laborers, and their families, (3) helped to purchase X acres of land that will preserve old growth forests and contribute to sustainable farming, (4) supports X sustainable farming practice goal for the producer.

Finally, our lifelong exposure to hair care products illustrates the importance of choosing products that can maximize social impact and minimize negative health and environmental impact. We evaluated brands with natural-ingredient versus conventional hair care products by conducting performance analysis. We first assessed brands’ social impact by identifying the presence of social good programs and assessing their eco-labels. Results show that sustainable brands put 2.5 times more effort on social impact than their conventional counterpart. However, HOVE should further verify the company’s claimed social projects when conducting a social impact analysis on hair care products. The other strategy is to assess the company’s health-related chemical data on the products by generating health scores. Health scores show that purchasing the healthier alternative can result in at least 5 times lower the risk of exposure to harmful chemicals. Providing health scores to consumers can effectively quantify health impacts of hair care products.