Jar Plymouth 2.0!

Hello!

We are Helen and Caroline, sisters from Plymouth working to grow zero waste and sustainable shopping in our beautiful city through our shop Jar, to help build a kinder, greener local economy. 

We are very excited to announce that we are ready to open a second Plymouth shop on Hyde Park Road! If this is something you would like to see, we are asking you to help by doing some shopping in advance. This will help us to access local funding to buy the special equipment we need to make the new shop amazing from the start. Join us in the Refill-ution by becoming a member today - check out our great rewards...

Image: Helen and Caroline outside Jar in Looe Street

We decided to open Jar, Plymouth's first Zero Waste shop, back in 2019 when we found there wasn't a food refill shop within 20 miles of the city. We were so happy to find lots of other people in Plymouth were looking for the same thing, when we successfully crowdfunded for our first shop.

Since opening the first Jar shop nearly two and a half years ago, with the support of our lovely members and customers, we have:

• Saved at least 97,000 pieces of single use packaging through the sale of  sustainable ethically sourced products, including 28 tonnes of refills of sustainable food and environmentally friendly cleaning and self care products
• Served our community through a global pandemic and all of the lockdowns, and found a long term home for our first Jar shop in Batter St on the Barbican (having opened first in the Clipper, and then at Looe St)
• Created real living wage jobs
• Contributed to a number of charities and local causes
• Supported over 40 local makers so far, stocking locally made goods and hosting pop-ups and workshops
• Worked with local farmers Good Earth Growers to set up an organic veg box scheme for Jar customers (delivered in our electric van)
• Set up a zero emissions delivery service using our 100% electric van “Jar2-D2”
• All of our liquid refills are circular supply, meaning the containers they are delivered in are sent back to be clean and refilled
• We've set up circular supply systems and bulk unwrapped purchases with suppliers who had never worked in this way before
• We have used 100% electricity to power and heat our shops from the start, in line with our aim to achieve net zero well ahead of government target dates -  and leave fossil fuels in the ground where they belong
• We are currently working with family members to help them open a Jar shop for Tavistock, it will open on the 10th of February!

Image: Inside Jar at Batter Street

Why are we opening a second shop in Plymouth?

We have been really excited to read about the “15 minute city” idea as a way to build back better from the Covid pandemic and tackle the climate emergency.  A second Plymouth Jar shop means that this sustainable way of shopping will be accessible to more people in Plymouth within walking or biking distance from their homes. We will be able to create more real living wage jobs, and do even more to support local makers and good causes.

If you have been following our story you will know we have been looking for the perfect home in the Mutley area for over a year. Finally, after quite a few setbacks along the way, we have found it! We will be opening on Hyde Park Road, we are aiming for mid-March.

Image: Mural and customer scales from our shop at Batter Street

Why are we Crowdfunding?

We want to open the new shop with all the great zero waste equipment we have at Batter Street, and we need your help as the specialist weighing and dispensing equipment is expensive. If you think you would like to shop in our new shop, we’re asking you to consider buying a membership in advance, or choose one of our other great rewards.

Supporting us to meet our Crowdfunder target would also make a huge difference by helping us to access local funding which is available for community focussed sustainable businesses in Plymouth.

Crowdfunding gives us the opportunity to access development funding from Plymouth City Council. The Development Fund has been set up to offer match funding to Crowdfunder campaigns that are supported by the local community, the idea being to use taxes from large developments to support and build community assets - that the community wants - in the city. Our business is a particularly good fit for the Development Fund as we are trying to reduce waste and help people reduce their carbon footprints in the city, inline with Plymouth’s response to the climate emergency. Sustainability and fairness are our core values.

What is Zero Waste shopping?

Shopping in a Zero Waste shop means bringing your own containers to fill with just as much as you need, and paying for your food and other household and self care products by weight. Reducing packaging and food waste both have a positive impact on the environment. By shopping with us, you are actively building a kinder, greener economy, making sustainable choices for food and household products and supporting local businesses. 

Zero Waste shopping is for everyone! Everyone is welcome to shop with us, whether you're already a Zero Waste hero or completely new and want to try and live in a way that reduces your impact on the environment.

Image: A collection of jars and tubs that have been filled up at Jar

How will the funds be used?  

FUN STUFF We need your help to buy the same zero waste equipment we have at Batter St which will make the new shop amazing and give you a great experience when shopping with us. We want to install “first in first out” gravity dispensers and self-weigh scales that will improve the speed and ease with which you can use the shop. We have also learned along the way that make-your-own peanut butter is a big hit, so we want to put in a nut butter machine in the shop from the start too!

Image: Nut butter machine making 100% organic peanut butter at Batter Street

BORING STUFF  (Just as we did with the first shop) we'll pay for this, because it's boring! This includes building and business set-up costs, loads of stock to get Jar up and running, and subsidising the first years rent to make sure we have plenty of time to grow the shop to a point at which it is sustainable.

Image: Chart showing setup costs, we will contribute 50% for all the boring stuff, 50% of funds raised will pay for scales and a till system, 20% for the specialist dispensers, 20% for a nut butter machine and 10% for other shop fittings and hardware.

Membership

Anyone is welcome to shop with us, but members pay a discounted price on any refills we sell by weight as a thanks for being a regular customer. Members will also be able to sign up for discounted events (Covid allowing), and we would love to stay in touch with you to help us decide how to grow the shops. If you plan to shop with us please show us your support by buying a membership in advance. The membership will start on the date you start shopping with us, and is valid in any of our shops for twelve months. You can even start to use it before the end of the Crowdfunder campaign at Batter Street or Tavistock (from next week).

Image: Table of membership prices. Membership gives 10% discount on weighed foods and liquids, the price is £30, Students & Over 65s pay £20, those on a low income benefit can ask for free membership at any time.   

Our founder members had a very special role in helping us build Jar, we would like to thank all members, old and new, with some cake and drinks in the new shop when we open. We also plan to commission a new artwork to recognise and remember everyone who helps us to open Jar - Hyde Park Road.

Image: Artwork recognising our founder supporters and members                                                                            

What will we sell? 

We will stock a wide selection of sustainable products, just as we do at Batter St, focusing on things that can't easily be purchased plastic or waste free in other local shops. This will include store cupboard foods, fresh foods, plant based cheeses and milks, breads and sweet bakes, and herbs and spices, self care and cleaning refills, as well as zero waste home and lifestyle products. 

Image: Fresh bread and sweet bakes in our counter at Batter Street

Image: Sustainable candles, hand made in Devon

Why shop with us?

Shopping at Jar helps you to reduce your environmental footprint while also supporting local producers and makers, as locally produced is about as sustainable as you can get in terms of food/product miles. We also want to give back to the community by supporting local environmental causes - we will continue to donate at least 10% of any profits to local environmental charities on an ongoing basis.

We believe that access to Zero Waste shopping in Plymouth directly helps reduce the amount of waste sent for disposal in our city, and reduces the amount that ends up in our streets and on our beaches.

Image: Banner of a picture of the sea that reads 'Help the environment, support local business, good for community, reduce waste in Plymouth'

We prioritise locally grown produce and locally made products where we can, to support other small businesses. We also work hard to ensure that our products are sustainable in their production, transport and packaging, and that they come from ethical and cruelty free producers. We always strive to choose the lowest waste, most ethical products, and make them as affordable as possible to our community. We can provide details of the origins of everything we sell. 

Image: Local organic veg boxes from Good Earth Growers

Image: Ethical cashew nuts price comparison, Jar organic ethical Goan cashews £1.80-£1.98/100g, Sainsbury's Fairtrade or organic (not both) £2.50-£2.60/100g (prices accurate as of 18/1/22)

In addition we hope to be able to restart running workshops at Batter Street along with pop ups and makers markets again very soon. We ran a number of very popular wax wrap making workshops before Covid hit. Topics we plan to cover include zero waste living, and cooking with whole foods, using produce available in our shop, sharing ideas and recipes. Let us know if there are any more you would like to see :-)

Images: Jar customer's shopping in homemade reusable bags

Our zero waste journey so far

We spend a lot of time at the beach, often filling a bucket with litter, and have always been environmentally conscious, but five years ago we discovered the concept of zero waste. The aim of moving towards a zero waste life is to break away from the linear economy (where items are purchased, used, and thrown away) in favour of a more circular economy, where items are bought to last, reused and repurposed. 

Image: View of a Cornish beach

It is estimated that each household in the UK produces a tonne of waste each year. All of this waste has to be either sent to landfill, incinerated or recycled. Each of these has an environmental cost, and whenever we are able to reduce or reuse what we buy we make less waste, and reduce the impact on our local and global environment.

Inspired by Earth Food Love, the UK’s first zero waste shop in Totnes, and with fantastic support from our founder members and supporters plus the Plymouth City Council Development fund and Natwest Back Her Business, we opened Jar following a successful crowdfunder in 2019. 

Image: Zero waste picnic kit all available at Jar

Lots of single use packaging, especially plastic, can't be recycled, and where it can be, recycling also carries an environmental cost. In a zero waste shop you can buy products in your own reusable containers so you only take home the food, or other items, with nothing else to throw away. This is beneficial to the environment if the zero waste shop can purchase the products either in non-plastic packaging, or in bulk such that packaging is reduced, or best of all in returnable packaging that is reused by the distributor or manufacturer. More and more manufacturers are coming on board with circular supply of goods, where containers can be returned and reused. This saves both the environmental cost of producing the packaging and the cost in throwing it away or recycling it.

We are really enjoying our journey to reduce waste; by making one small change at a time, it feels achievable and we hope to hep you feel that way too. We look forward to sharing more tips and ideas for reducing waste through workshops and would love to bring together the local community to help each other make better choices.

Thanks for reading! Please follow our journey and feel free to contact us using...

Facebook @jarplymouth

Instagram @jarplymouth

Email [email protected]