FSN Packages Feed: London's First Zero-Waste Store Opens

After finding herself having to travel across London to various shops in order to find the different ingredients she wanted sold without the packaging, she decided to set up her own store, where all of these items would be in one place and package-free

INGRID CALDRIONI, FOUNDER OF BULK MARKET

"I wanted to make this very easy, I think the problem I found with supermarkets is that they don't make it easy for you and accommodate your needs if you want to be sustainable, if you want to change something, if it is not the norm, the norm is getting things packaged."

At the Bulk Market you won't find any plastic packaging and customers are encouraged to bring their own containers to take away their goods.

As well as reducing packaging waste, everything here is locally sourced and customers can buy as much or as little as they like - helping to limit food waste.

And Ingrid Says she's tried to think of everything a customer would need.

"Its a small shop but I try to cater for every single thing you can find in a supermarket, dairy, drinks, dog food, even hygiene products, I have my own ingredients so you can amen your own beauty products"

The Zero Waste Shop is part of a growing consciousness in Britain to live more sustainably and reduce waste.

And when it comes to plastic waste - the issue is getting widespread attention

The campaign group surfers against sewage and other activists after petitioning the UK government to introduce a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles.

Meaning every customer would pay a deposit for a plastic bottle, which they'd get back when the bottle is returned.

Hugo Tagholm the CEO of Sufers against Sewage says the UK's plastic problem is something he sees regularly.

"I personally walk over tidelines that are strewn with plastics and trash and all sorts of remanence of our plastic society and our addiction to plastic and today we're rising up against the unacceptable levels of plastic entering our oceans"

To raise awareness, these campaigners have constructed a boat culture made from 50 thousand plastic bottles collected from UK beaches.

They hope a plastic bottle despot scheme would have the same impact seen after a charge for plastic bags was brought in in 2015

As Steve Double the Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay Explains

"About 70% of the British public now support a deposit scheme being introduced, we've seen with the 5p charge on plastic bags, that has raised awareness, 8 billion less plastic bags were used in the UK so I think by making these small changes we raise awareness with the public, they become much more responsible and we protect our environment."

Almost 40 million plastic bottles are bought each day in the UK and It's estimated that only half of these get recycled.

Campaigners say that if significant measures aren't taken soon, by 2050 there'll be more plastic in the ocean than fish - which could have a serious impact on the food chain.

SOC

Friday, September 22, 2017

London's First Zero-Waste Store Opens