MEET THE HEROES BEHIND THE UK'S LARGEST ZERO WASTE SUPERMARKET

The zero-waste supermarket saving the planet one container at a time.

In 2018, Amazon reportedly delivered 5 Billion parcels globally. In this ever-developing world where we can purchase just about anything on the internet and have it delivered to our doorstep the next day, there is no doubt that we are now more reliant on transported goods than ever before.

2019 brought us some of the weirdest amazon purchases to date, from a MacBook inspired candle (yes, you too can have your home smelling like Apple products), to finger covers to save your tips from the smell of cheesy crisps, because God forbid, we smell the food we eat.

"every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into our oceans"

But whilst having these necessities just one click away is useful, the obscene amounts of plastic and air pollution used in packaging and transporting is not.

Plastic pollution is an increasingly worrying problem, every day approximately 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into our oceans, killing 100,000 marine mammals and sea turtles every year. One plastic bottle can take up to 450 years to decompose, slowly deteriorating into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic, until it is microscopic, but it never completely degrades. Meaning that every man-made plastic that we have ever created is still with us.

One couple trying to tackle this problem head on are Tom Pell and Jeanette Wong. Two years ago, they opened the UK's Largest Zero Waste Supermarket, ‘the clean kilo’ in Digbeth, Birmingham and now they have opened another store in the small village of Bournville.

"We tried to cut down on our plastic use and realised that aside from loose fruit and veg at stores nothing else is really plastic free."

“We knew we wanted to come south Birmingham.” Tom says, “We moved to Bournville as we thought it would be the perfect area for the new store, and it’s proven correct.”

The idea behind the shop is simple, consumers bring in their own containers to take home their goods in, buying no products that contain or come in any sort of plastic, creating zero waste. A premise the local residents seem to be backing.

“Over 100 people came to volunteer to help set up the shop. Helping out with things like varnishing and painting. We’ve received a massive amount of help as people really wanted to be involved.”

The idea came to the couple back in early 2017, Tom explains: “It started when we were watching a documentary on Netflix called 'A plastic ocean', I started to look at the human impact, so we tried to cut down on our plastic use and realised that aside from loose fruit and veg at stores, nothing else is really plastic free."

"Then Jeanette asked why aren’t there any shops that have no packaging and people bring their own containers? So, we started researching and we realised that we needed to open a shop like this.”

The tiny shop is bursting with locals, both young and old, filling up and weighing their containers, making their own freshly squeezed orange juice and selecting their own free-range local eggs. Rows upon rows of herbs, spices, pastas, grains and cereals fill the back walls. The shop may be narrow in space but it’s definitely wide with opportunities.

The middle section of the shop consists of environmentally friendly toiletries, from shampoo bars to citric acids, coconut oil and of course, metal straws. Head towards the back of the shop down a slender walk way and you’ll find a station dedicated to home-made cleaning products, bathroom cleaner, kitchen cleaner and hand soaps to name a few, all preserved in wooden boxes with taps allowing you to fill up containers of any size. Tucked away in the back corner of the shop is a station dedicated to creating your own freshly squeezed orange juice, 100ml for just 55p.

Tom explains how expanding his product range is currently their biggest issue: “We really want to start doing more things like sauces, we had diner last night, we made a nice fresh meal but we didn’t have any sauces that were zero waste.”

"I think it’s important that the big cooperate companies start to challenge this and realise that it needs to stop!"

Another issue the couple are trying to bring to light is the relevance of food waste, “As well as there being people going without food there is also the food we don’t eat that had to be produced and transported. Energy was used making it and it's a complete waste of energy. If we didn’t waste that then we’d actually really decrease the carbon emissions based around food.”

Amanda Leddington, 43, a Bournville resident says, “Everything we buy comes in some sort of plastic or has some sort of plastic that comes with it and I think it’s important that the big cooperate companies start to challenge this and realise that it needs to stop! Once the people higher up start to force change then we all can adapt and save the planet.”

Since ‘Blue Planet II’ hit the nation almost two years ago, we have seen a worldwide revolt against the material, Sir David Attenborough has recently explained how he thinks the world is now ‘changing its habits’ to combat the problem.

With more and more shops like ‘the clean kilo’ opening, let’s hope we are breaking the bad habits and moving towards a cleaner, brighter future for the planet.

Visit the clean kilos website for more information.

5 small habits we can change to reduce plastic waste:

1. Support a bag tax or ban 2. Use a natural deodorant 3. Invest in stainless steel razor 4. Clean the green way - white wine vinegar and salt does just the trick. Squeeze in a bit of lemon juice and you’ll produce a great scent. 5. Use natural exfoliates – sugar, sea salt, almonds!