Our mission- to make a difference more convenient. Together by adjusting our shopping habits we can make a huge positive impact!
by Lucy MacCallum in Urmston, England, United Kingdom
If we are able to raise additional funds this will allow us to buy additional gravity dispensers, expanding your selection; purchase another set of touchscreen scales to avoid congestion and further improve your shopping experience; it will allow us to purchase additional stock and it will also help towards purchasing a self serve fresh orange juice machine! All of which will have signs dedicated to our amazing supporters!
After listening to local people, we know that Urmston would love a zero waste shop- can you help us make this the best it can be for our high street?
Hi, my name is Lucy! I'm hoping that this exciting new concept will make it easier for us to avoid excess packaging, helping us to tackle the plastic crisis and reduce our impact.
I've become increasingly aware of the problems around plastic, climate change and threats to our incredible natural world and last year after watching David Attenborough's "Our Planet" and also "War on Plastics", I became even more conscious of my impact. I started ordering plastic free alternatives online and started to think, if we all know something needs to be done, why isn't it easier to do that?
We're all busy and often don't have time to go out of our way to make an effort to find other options or spend extra on postage.. these things should be readily available for people. After some research I came across a whole zero waste community and started thinking that a zero waste shop would be something our area could benefit from!
With the recent covid epidemic and the ways in which we have had to adapt we have an opportunity to reset and make changes to benefit both us and our planet.
What is zero waste shopping?
You may have heard of a couple of supermarkets trialing refill stations where you take your own reusable containers to fill with what food you'd like and pay for the weight. Some people may have known of these as the old "weigh and pay" shops. This kind of "zero waste" shopping drastically reduces single-use plastic packaging and by buying the amount you want, reduces likelihood of food waste thereby reducing our impact on the environment.
We have all become accustomed to a convenience lifestyle and unfortunately with this often comes a lot of waste and single use plastic. It has now been recognised that we need to make significant adjustments to the way we live to reduce our impact on the planet. Although many of us are conscientious, the need for convenience often makes it very difficult for us to change our habits. Imagine having a beautiful plastic free cupboard like this!
(Picture by "thriving on plants")
In addition to a large variety of foods, at Goodness Zero Waste we will have an extensive product range where you will find refill stations for products such as shampoo, washing up liquid, handwash and household cleaner; plastic free household supplies such as sponges and beeswax wraps; beauty products/toiletries including make up, deodorant, toothbrushes and reusable nappies, an ethical gift section and also a terracycle point, a small coffee bar selling ethical coffee from Manchester based coffee roasters, "Heart and Graft"; a craft area for zero waste workshops, a clothes swap rail and plans to offer plastic free recipe boxes!
We'd also love to offer peanut butter refills, wine refills, possibly beer refills, an orange juicer, plant milk maker and also a coffee grinder! All of these things will help to bring a true sense of involvement for everyone as that's what it's all about!
(Picture: SWNS)
Goodness zero waste will offer customers in Urmston, Trafford and the wider community, plastic free alternatives to shopping at the supermarket, enabling people to avoid unnecessary packaging and ultimately reduce waste. Products will be sourced from the UK wherever possible to reduce carbon footprint and support the local economy. All items will be natural and cruelty free and organic options will also be available.
Our aim is to help making a difference more convenient. Based around that for us to make a change, things must be easily accessible, affordable and also attractive and exciting. We'll be setting up regular charitable donations with a responsible environmental cause, donating any surplus fresh produce to food distribution schemes, and hope to make a real difference to our local area and the wider world.
How you can help
Because our business has a social purpose which benefits the environment and our community, we were eligible to apply for funding however unfortunately due to covid all applications closed down.
There are significant costs involved for this set up to make it work for the whole community, all of which have been carefully calculated, however the site we have acquired needs substantial building work including a disability toilet being put in, new electrics, heating and plumbing, and substantial work to the walls and floor, and together this has meant considerable additional costs.
We are prepared for this however we do not want it to affect the quality of our offering to you so we're asking for your help.
Your pledges will help us to make this a true community hub where we can all make a difference!
With the option to donate or choose from our great rewards, there will also be a prize draw for £10-20 vouchers from local businesses- The Cheese Court, What's The Catch, The Italian Job and free delivery from Shocal.
Costs for the "boring bits" are covered but we'd love if you could help make sure we can provide the "exciting bits" too!
By donating to our crowdfunder or purchasing one of our great rewards you will be helping to make this happen! This campaign is all or nothing so every bit really does count no matter the amount.
If you aren't able to donate there are lots of other ways you can support us too... by following, liking and sharing our posts on facebook and instagram to help spread the word; getting in touch if you have any suggestions or questions; trying to change some of your habits, avoiding plastic where possible, and shopping locally.
We're also already trading on Shocal where you can order your groceries and other plastic free products- where a percentage of profits are donated to Fare Share!
The vision
From a survey at the end of last year it was clear that all of us are conscious of the environmental problems we face and that people would like to reduce their impact. The simple mission for this shop is to make a difference more convenient. I'd love to try and help people access more sustainable shopping and enable all of us to make better choices for our environment.
The UK Plastic Pact hopes to bring big changes to the packaging sector by 2025 but we could be doing a lot more in the meantime.
The vision for Goodness Zero Waste is to build a one stop sustainable shop which will become a hub for our community where people can enjoy an immersive shopping experience.
The shop will be a warm and friendly, community hub for people of all ages. We hope to offer exciting features such as a peanut butter machine, pick and mix, touch screen scales, wine and possibly beer refills in a hope to create an innovative movement, to inspire the public and show that change doesn’t have to be a chore, making people aware of how they can easily and actively reduce our impact on the environment by working towards more sustainable lifestyle.
(Picture from workshop at The Clean Kilo in March 2020)
Why it's important
In November 2018 Trafford Council was the first in Greater Manchester to declare climate emergency, acknowledging the need to quickly work towards Manchester’s recently set zero carbon target. Unfortunately, so far the UK has missed a lot of it’s 2020 targets.
Scientists say that we have 12 years to stop climate breakdown so we really need to act now.
There are so many shocking facts which for the sake of our future, we really can't ignore. It's suggested that 68% of all extreme weather events were made more likely or more sever by human caused damage, it's heart breaking to hear that by 2050 there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish and worrying that if we loose just 5% more of the Amazon, the damage could be irreversible, worsening climate change and leaving us on the brink of disaster.
Tonnes of plastics and waste are being exported to developing countries where disposal methods are very dangerous and polluting and recycling alone isn't the answer as it's been shown to be ineffective, with little actually being recycled.
We all have the power to make change and together we truly can make a huge difference.
By shopping at Goodness Zero Waste you will be able to reuse containers and cut down of masses of packaging helping you to reduce your waste and directly reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
Goodness Zero Waste
This local business will continue the momentum of exciting independent businesses coming to Urmston, helping our high street to flourish and making this kind of shopping not only the norm but also attractive and fun.
Where we're up to...
We have a premises which is on the main high street in Urmston, on Crofts Bank Road. It's hoped that this will be a great spot, easily accessible on walking routes and not far from various parking and we're also hoping for a few bike racks!
There is a lot of building work needed which we are responsible for but once done it will give us a blank canvas from which we can build on together!
This is a venture with a social mission which hopes to have a positive impact both on our environment and for our community and for that reason we'd love to hear your input as to how you think we can grow and improve.
What will it look like?
Goodness Zero Waste will be a one stop sustainable shop based on the main high street in Urmston. It will provide an immersive shopping experience where you’ll be able source plastic free food, household supplies, and natural, ethical beauty products, plus lots more! All our products will be fair trade, and we’ll work with other small businesses, ensuring that things are locally sourced wherever possible supporting independent makers, growers and producers as well as reducing carbon footprint.
There will be a small coffer bar where you can relax and also a craft area where we'll host workshops such as making your own candles and beeswax wraps. We're also looking at having a high street clothes swap rail and hope to start looking at offering recipe boxes too!
Here is the current floorplan for Goodness Zero Waste!
One of the reasons supermarkets are so popular is because of the range of products they can offer and it is crucial that we can offer that variety too. This kind of shopping does need to become the norm so we're aiming for this shop to be a little more mainstream so as to attract a wider clientele and together, increase our impact.
One of the common themes to come from the survey was that shopping at Goodness needs to be easy. To ensure that this in the case we will be investing in specialist equipment such as gravity dispensers and touch screen scales (as seen below).
How it will work and what we will stock..
You will be able to bring/buy your own containers to fill with food, shampoo or cleaning products, only buying what you need and actively reducing your packaging, then weigh and pay!
(Thank you for the image Heather from Jar Plymouth!)
There will be a wide selection of pasta, pulses, grains, herbs and spices and other cupboard foods; a beauty section where you can fill your bottles with shampoos, body wash, and moisturiser and also cleaning products including washing up liquid and laundry liquid. We will also stock local seasonal fruit and veg, a wide range of household and personal care products including plastic free sponges, beeswax wraps, deodorants and dental care and other zero waste accessories and gifts such as natural soy candles and bamboo sunglasses!
As part of this venture we are also hoping to adopt a circular economy wherever possible, where by businesses will take away empty containers, and refill them rather than being recycled or sent to landfill.
We can't wait to bring this exciting opportunity to our high street and would love if you could help us in any way!
Thank you's!
There are so many people I would like to thank so far, my amazing, patient (!) husband, parents and friends; my old school friend, Liam for creating my crowdfunder video; all of you for your support; Emma from Emma Boyle Brand Photography; Sue from Cheeky Cherubs, Sarah from Smart Bear; Emma from Small Business Gurus; all the other zero waste shop owners who have been a wonderful help, including The Clean Kilo, The Good Life, The Dispensary, Awesome Wales, Jar Plymouth and many more; The Italian Job, What's The Catch, The Cheese Court and Shocal and so many others who have offered advice, guidance and support, thank you!!
Thank you very much everyone and I'll hopefully see you soon!!
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