Sustainable shopping at the plastic-free produce store
Image credit: Mirrorpix
A new zero-waste store has joined Hackney's high street as part of a collaborative effort to make the London borough a more sustainable community.
The shop, called Re:Store, opened in February this year and was created by founder Megan Adams, who is urging Londoners to reduce plastic use.
“I started the business after a New Year’s resolution to reduce my plastic usage became a bit of an obsession,” says Adams. “I realised that there is a need for more business that offers customers a way to shop without unnecessary packaging.”
Much like London’s first plastic-free shop – Bulk Market, also in Hackney – the store encourages shoppers to bring their own containers to refill with store cupboard and household essentials, ranging from wholefoods to household cleaning products.
The store, which is located at Amhurst Terrace, also sells everything from grains, spices, boiled sweets and olive oil to bamboo toothbrushes and reusable sanitary products.
“I try to source products locally where at all possible and British grown – where that is an option – such as British-grown quinoa,” Adams told E&T. “However, some products, such as rice, are inevitably flown into this country, but it’s important to stock these products – people will buy them from supermarkets in plastic packaging if they can’t find them in packaging-free stores.”
As part of Hackney Downs Studio and the Sustainable Hackney community, Re:Store also collaborates with local producers to create an innovative range of sustainable lifestyle products for shoppers wanting to go plastic free.
For example, there are stainless steel food containers produced by an independent company called Elephant Box.
Looking forward, to a more ‘Sustainable Hackney’, a challenge created by the citizens and council of Hackney to encourage more people to live a zero-waste life and to make Hackney a more environmentally friendly town, Adams concludes: “I’d love to have a positive impact on the community and the planet, increasing the number of people who shop consciously and packaging free.”
Image credit: Mirrorpix
Founder Megan Adams says that using fewer plastics is about “taking baby steps” and that “97 per cent of the plastics people use aren’t actually recycled”.
Image credit: Mirrorpix
Re:Store’s zero-waste fare includes cooking ingredients and reusable water bottles, displayed on reclaimed pallet wood units.
Image credit: Mirrorpix
Adams hopes that with more stores like her own, more people will shop packaging free.
Sign up to the E&T News e-mail to get great stories like this delivered to your inbox every day.
