Your Sustainability Guide – Leeuwarden Edition Out Now!

 

The day has come – something we have been excited to share with you for quite some time now is here! That’s right, Your Sustainability Guide magazine is finally out and ready to help you, dear reader, to find out how you can live more environmentally friendly in your city!

 

This first edition is dedicated to our home city, place where YSG started – Leeuwarden.

 

What is it?

 

A little background: this… some call it a company, some call it a movement.. we call it a passion, started more than a year ago as means to bring closer companies, the local community, and the municipality to each other, to shine light upon what is actually going on in the city regarding sustainability. To our pleasant surprise, it opened a Pandora’s box – so many companies and initiatives that not only we were excited to find out about and dig deeper into, but we are sure many of you will love to hear more too!

 

So, with that in mind we have prepared this guide that touches on the surface of sustainability – how it looks in different areas in our lives, what practical things can you implement almost immediately to leave a positive impact as well as stores and companies in Leeuwarden that are ahead of making the world greener and healthier for everyone.

 

Without further ado –  Your Sustainability Guide Leeuwarden Edition 2022 !

 

How were companies selected?

 

We chose companies based on various criteria. Now, sustainability is a WIDE topic and there are numerous angles how to determine whether a company qualifies as sustainable. While we are preparing to release our detailed criteria and metrics in the coming time, we can briefly share our basic steps:

 

1) The core product

 

First of all, we looked at what their core product and function is.

Does it directly contribute to the preservation of natural environment? Does it support the local infrastructure in terms of production? Does it contribute socially to the community? Do their core values stand for sustainability in the three dimensions of people, planet and profit? If the answer is “Yes” to these questions, there are in.

These are mainly stores offering and promoting organic food products, locally sourced & produced, second hand, Fairtrade, vegan, reused, recycled or upcycled, biodegradable, promoting renewable energy and with added social or health value (e.g. helping disadvantaged groups of people, providing direct health benefits).

 

2) Supporting activities

 

Secondly, we selected companies whose core product and values are not directly promoting sustainability, but a number of their actions and operations are. On top of that, the companies are publicly transparent about their activities (either on their website or from personal interviews).

There can be many different things that could qualify, but to give an idea, here are a few: companies using in production locally sourced or organic and biodegradable materials, handmade products, promoting social equality, minimizing the use of plastics, engaging in appropriate waste disposal, using energy from renewable resources, using ecologically neutral cleaning materials and other.

 

3) Companies that we did not include

 

There are also quite a few companies that we consciously excluded from the guide. Such are companies that did not have any noticeable contribution to the preservation of the environment.

Some examples are snack bars and fast-food places, popular (fast) fashion stores, deco and home appliance and furniture stores. Also, initiatives that are purely social (e.g. charities) were excluded.

We also decided to leave out most online platforms as we are mainly focusing on products available in brick & mortar stores.

Our main focus was on what is available in the city or at least the region, allowing a few more familiar brands on the list, as long as they are direct contributors of environmental sustainability.

 

 

With that being said, unfortunately, not all sustainable stores may have been mentioned. This could be due to limitation of our research or not enough information available about company/initiative’s activity. However, it does not mean we do not want to know more about them or share them with you! We want to continuously improve the guide and the information we share, therefore, we may need your help. 

 

If you are an entrepreneur (or a dedicated customer) who truly believes in their sustainable product and company – please reach out! This guide is not the end to our mission in promoting sustainability in the region. We have much more exciting things coming your way and you may want to be a part of it! To find out how send us an email: info@yoursustainabilityguide.com

 

 

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