NatWest Bring it 2020 has provided £2,520 of match funding
Get Scrapless up and running
Burgess Hill, England, United Kingdom
Aim
We want to provide you with a convenient and accessible zero waste lifestyle through refilling in foodstuffs and living essentials
Heyy there!
My name is Meg and I am bringing zero waste shopping out of Brighton and into Burgess Hill and surrounding areas through Scrapless.
So what is Zero Waste?
Living a zero waste lifestyle simply means you create no, or minimal, waste in every aspect of life. No that does not mean having your year's worth of waste fitting into a jar. Every journey is different and you can do as much as your circumstance allows for... as long as you try.
But in this particular instance, zero waste or refill shopping means bringing in your own reusable containers to fill with as much or as little of each food, and paying for your food by the weight. Reducing packaging (single use materials) and food waste both have a positive impact on the environment as it is estimated that 8 million metric tons of plastic ends up in our oceans every year(1).
Why do we need your help?
Scrapless is a business behind making the world we live in a better place; for the planet but also for ourselves. In order to offer the amazing opportunities we wish to bring to Burgess Hill, we need money in order to do so. We have a loan in place for the boring bits but ideally we do not want to be using our income to be repaying these dreaded bank loans but instead, put it back into the community and make the store more beneficial for everyone. Our CIC (2) (community interest company) status does mean the majority of our profits will be spent this way, but the more we have available, the more products, workshops and local makers we can stock and support would be amazing.
How can you help?
Like I said, we have a loan in place to tie us over with the rent and hated stock costs so leave all the boring stuff to us! But we need your help to buy the zero waste equipment that will help make a great experience when shopping at Scrapless.
We hope to buy the specialist first in first out gravity dispensers and produce stands (£6000) which are vital for us to offer this store to you. Of course, when prices are determined on weight, you need scales. We need trade rated scales which to be honest, are not the cheapest (£2,000+) things to purchase. Both of these are vital to improve the speed and ease with which you can use the shop! The rest will be used to fit out the store. The plan is to use as much up cycled materials in fitting the store as possible so that it is going waste free right to the core. It will make a fun game, seeing what new wacky piece you can find each time you come in.
How will we help you?
Shopping at Scrapless will help you to reduce your environmental footprint whilst supporting local producers and makers. We also want to give back to the community by supporting local environmental causes and charities, that help make our area better, on an ongoing basis. We will have an option at the till to 'Plant a tree' through tree nation (3) which costs £1. For every 100 that is planted through the community, we will plant 50. Planting a tree will help compensate for the co2 that is emitted into the atmosphere through day to day activities.
Shopping at Scrapless will help cut down your waste consumption and stop sending so much to landfill. The average person generates a total of 400kg of waste each year in the UK, which is ALOT! I have been in contact with zero waste stores up and down the country and many have said they have already saved over 200,000 pieces of plastic and waste from entering the waste cycle just through people shopping at their stores instead of buying the equivalent in the supermarkets. Another has saved 17,000 pieces going to landfill in just 6 months and that is just from dried food alone!
A refill shop is a great asset to any community that wants to take action on plastics so if you want to join the revolution then please help support us, support you. We welcome any discussion, question or query you have and want to help you on this journey as much as possible.
What will we sell?
We will stock a wide selection of products, predominantly focusing on things that cannot be purchased plastic or waste free in other local shops. This includes store cupboard foods (cereals, grains, pulses), herbs and spices, nuts and dried fruits, baking necessities, oils and vinegars, condiments, confectionery, tea and coffee, self care and cleaning refills as well as zero waste home and lifestyle products. Our plan is to extend our product range by introducing frozen produce, an 'on the go' lunch service and alcohol (beer, gin and wine) refills to make zero waste accessible in a major way.
Here at Scrapless, we believe in shopping from local producers and makers and that is what we want to deliver to you. We are working alongside local businesses to ensure our environmental impact (and therefore yours) stays as low as possible whilst simultaneously supporting other small businesses. But where working with locals is not possible, we will work hard to ensure our products are sustainable in their production, transport and packaging and that they come from ethical and cruelty free producers. We will always strive for the most ethical, lowest waste products as possible and make them as affordable as possible to our community. We will have the origins of each of our products available to view and on everything we sell.
In addition, we will be running workshops in a variety of areas to cover all aspects of a zero waste lifestyle. We have nutrition/cooking, crafts/up cycling, education and more, already lined up to get you guys up and running with your new lifestyle ASAP.
From our questionnaire we ran late last year, we took your thoughts and suggestions into account and are on the right track to open with what you want as a community. We were overwhelmed with the responses and support from so many of you who want to be able to shop an accessible zero waste lifestyle in Burgess Hill.
Membership
Anyone and everyone (including dogs) will be welcome to shop with us but our members will receive a discounted price on dry goods and events/workshops as a thank you for being a regular. As we are a CIC we are always keen to hear from you so our members will help us decide how the shop will grow and make it into a place for everyone. You can become a member for a discounted price (10% off) by joining us now and supporting our Crowdfunder.
Meg's journey so far
I spend a lot of my time out and about with the dog, often filling my coat pockets or bags with litter, and have become fairly environmentally conscious the last 5 years. But, two years ago I discovered the concept of zero waste. I no longer buy fast fashion, I no longer buy pre-packaged fruit and veg, I no longer see things as disposable. I had an aim of breaking away from the standard, linear economy (buy, used, thrown away) and adopt a circular economy where what you buy is made to last, reused and re purposed. It definitely is a more fulfilling lifestyle and you see everything as a necessary investment rather than trash.
I have been doing my food shopping in Brighton for over a year now and it started to get a bit tedious having to get the train just to get some plastic free pasta. I have long wished a similar store would pop up outside of the city and just be more accessible and convenient like it is to go to Tesco. Alas, one hasn't so I thought... why not me? I got in touch with the lady who opened 'Unpackaged' in 2007 (the first store in the UK) and it turns out she runs workshops for people wanting to open their own store, so OF COURSE, I went. I got directed to a growing and very supportive community of people opening zero waste shops up and down the UK who have been invaluable in the formation of Scrapless. Which leads us to this campaign. Without the support of this group, friends, family and the Scrapless sponsors, none of this would have happened so I hope you too can become part of my Scrapless family and get this up and running.
***** A MASSIVE THANK YOU TO ZERO WASTE EASTBOURNE FOR LETTING ME COME IN AND TAKE SOME PHOTOS OF THEIR BEAUTIFUL STORE!!! @zerowasteeastbourne *****
(1) https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/plastic-bad-environment-why-ocean-pollution-how-much-single-use-facts-recycling-a8309311.html
(2) https://www.communitycompanies.co.uk/community-interest-companies-cic
(3) https://tree-nation.com/profile/scrapless-cic
This project successfully funded on 30th March 2020