The way food is currently produced, goes through the supply chain and how supermarkets operate is all wrong. Many businesses waste more in a day than a consumer wastes in a year. Supermarkets have practices and policies that lead farmers & growers to waste food which takes months to cultivate. Excessive packaging, especially plastic, is also a big issue. Tonnes of plastic bottles, bags, straws and the like are going to landfills and oceans because a lot of it cannot be recycled. Our solution to tackle those issues is enabling people to shop without bringing back home a mountain of waste, supporting local social enterprises, organic & fairtrade. You will be able to bring your own containers (or purchase reusable ones at the shop), tare them, fill them with the goods you want (and the amount you want), and pay.

What we'll deliver:

Tackle food and packaging waste

Help to increase number of London bees by having a beehive on site

Offer a community composting scheme

Provide education on waste reduction

Support local social enterprises, community farms and gardens

Why it's a great idea:

Recycling more is not the answer. What we actually need is avoiding waste to come to our homes in the first place. Plastic is cheap for manufacturers, but it is a product designed to last forever, it’s toxic to us and the environment. The current supermarket business model creates tonnes of food waste - according to the UN, the food wasted globally would be enough to end world hunger many times over. It costs money, labour, natural resources to produce food and packaging, and it is just unacceptable to toss it as we do. We can't keep vouching for a business model that wastes food, underpay farmers and growers and creates demand for more disposable packaging which ends up in landfills and oceans. By sourcing food produced locally and by the community, we can cut down on packaging, carbon footprint and costs, plus boost the local economy. We want to enable people to buy what they want in any quantity, using their container of choice, paying a decent price for good quality local food.

Steps to get it done:

Adding CCTV system

Adding fixtures and fittings

Adding till/POS systems

Purchasing beehive

Purchasing commercial grade orange juice machine

Purchasing composting machine

Purchasing gravity dispensers

Purchasing stock

Secure a lease in a permanent location

We will be launching our concept store in August in a temporary space, while we find a permanent home for the project in the same area in Hackney, where we can accommodate our apiary and community composting scheme. Who is behind this project: Ingrid Caldironi, with a background in Retail Marketing and a passion for all things related to food, craft beer and sustainable businesses. She is committed to give Londoners a more sustainable way of shopping and improve communities. Catherine Conway, Director of Unpackaged at Planet Organic, was the first to launch this business model in the UK, back in 2007. She is providing all the valuable insights and consultancy needed to make this project a success.