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York – loose foods and refill gin… hopefully

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged 7 Comments

Seems like a trip to York is in order… and not just because the Minster is lovely.

Ruth tells me of Alligatorwholefoods.com in York. They have bulk bins of Rice, museli base, plus fresh local veg and fruit etc and lots of vegan and organic provisions. Plus NO plastic bags only paper ones – encouraged to bring your own containers.More Loose Foods

You can find lots  more loose food outlets  here the loose foods list

Demijohn offer a spirits, liquor and other drinks refill service in

11 Museum Street
York
YO1 7DT

01904 637 487

And many thanks to Gersende for this extra info

There is the Scoop as well in york, a food coop in uni but open to none students. They are brilliant, stock really nice bulk food, washing liquid, reusable pads…. They also do bags of local organic veg. They are on campus open Wednesdays and Fridays Here is the link to there fb page if you are interested https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=320332916601

We are very interested.

You can find lots more unpackaged food outlets here.

 

U.K. All over Weigh and Save Shops

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , , 34 Comments

Long time ago when I was young we used to visit the Weigh & Save shop in the precinct down the road. In it were a number of  big bins containing everything from beans to corn flakes. You  scooped what you needed into the bags provided, in the quantities you wanted then weighed and paid at the till. I loved it. But  then I grew up and moved away and never thought of it until I tried to go plastic free. I realized that this  was  exactly the kind of shop I needed right now. Of course I would have to provide my own plastic free bags  but….enough said. I eagerly returned to the precinct of my youth, Stretford it was, only to find the shop had shut up and gone.

So began the research quest….  and in conclusion, yes such shops still exist but they are bloody hard to track down. They go under a variety of names including Weigh & Save Scoop & Save Weigh House Weigh Inn. The  company  that supplies the products does not have a list of outlets they deliver to (!) but can help you set up a shop if you are interested. As far as I can tell, these shops operate as individuals. They are extremely idiosyncratic and vary greatly in presentation and  range.  Some go the whole hog with corperate green and yellow displays and a whole lot of stuff to choose from, others a are little more than a few dusty bins at the back of the shop.

Just a passing thought; I feel that this for want of a better word franchise are marketing themselves all wrong. They are presenting themselves as a way to save money and the whole shop screams budget from the ugly cardboard bins to the scrappy signage.  I think they should look at attracting the eco customer by installing better dispensers, promoting waste free shopping and using funkier imagary (see Wholefoods Market for inspiration).

Shops Reviews

Barmouth Good

Bridlington – good.

Brixam (grim but does pet food)

Croydon – great write up by Kake who gives this shop a very good press

Exeter – Devon Weigh CLOSED

Horsham – great write up by Kake

Invernes CLOSED

Kingsmouth Devon Free local delivery – spend £7.50 and we will deliver free – within a 7-mile radius of Kingsbridge. Great for bulk buys. Nice!

Penzance

Whitby NOW CLOSED

Wick – CLOSED

Worthing – closed

Emsworth in Hampshire  – Pantry Weigh. Thanks to Emma for this info “There’s a small shop called Pantry Weigh in Emsworth in Hampshire  https://www.yell.com/biz/pantry-weigh-emsworth-763392/

More

Loose Food Fill lists all the shops (not just the above) that sell  loose, food of the kind that normally comes plastic packaged ie rice, pasta and salt.

REMEMBER

Take your own plastic free bags and refillable pots.

Find more plastic free stuff  with  the  A-Z plastic free index

W – Plastic Free Places that start with the letter W

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged

Watford
Vicky has this to say about  Bon Appetite in Watford “that had loose nuts and dried fruit. Can’t find the original post now but anyway finally remembered to see what it is called – Bon Appetit – on The Parade in Watford. Sells world foods in bulk ( mostly in plastic but large quantities ) , loose fruit and veg, large paper bags of flour, loose nuts, dried fruit and some fresh food counters where you may be able to take own containers ( haven’t tried).

Wimborne
Spill The Beans, Wimborne, Dorset. As they sell loose spices, dried fruit and nuts. Plus eCover refills, Faith in Nature and other solid soaps – all package free. HTH . From Liz Hodge http://spillthebeanswimborne.co.uk/

Winscombe
“There is a wonderful little shop called Scoop and Spice, in Winscombe (a little village) in North Somerset. I think it still also has another shop in Yatton (a commuter village in North Somerset). You can take your own containers, or they provide paper or plastic bags. They have all the basics (rice, pulses, nuts, herbs, muesli, oats, dried fruit, pasta) and coffee beans. They also do Ecover refills. And I was delighted to be able to buy dark chocolate coated brazil nuts (and other yummies) in a paper bag the other day! They also sell cardboard deodorant sticks, loose soaps, shampoo bars. They are increasing their range all the time and it is an absolutely amazing place, notwithstanding it is a small shop in a small village. It is family-owned and they are lovely people. Definitely worth supporting.”

Worcester
“Pack It In – Zero Waste Living in Worcester Pack It In – Zero Waste Living in Worcester
Pack It In
Unit 7,8,9
The Gallery
(The Old Market Hall)
The Shambles
Worcester
WR1 2RD”

XYZ
York

What Are Refill Stores?
Bulk buy or refill stores are places you can buy food loose.You take as much as you want/need from a larger container and you can usually use your own packaging.
Packaging
While these shops provide bags and they are almost always plastic ones. You will need to take your own plastic-free /reusable bags, tubs and bottles.

Tare

The weight of the container may make a difference at checkout. Some shops  subtract the tare weight but other don’t. The tare weight is the weight of the empty container.

Shops

Watford
Vicky has this to say about  Bon Appetite in Watford “that had loose nuts and dried fruit. Can’t find the original post now but anyway finally remembered to see what it is called – Bon Appetit – on The Parade in Watford. Sells world foods in bulk ( mostly in plastic but large quantities ) , loose fruit and veg, large paper bags of flour, loose nuts, dried fruit and some fresh food counters where you may be able to take own containers ( haven’t tried).

Wimborne
Spill The Beans, Wimborne, Dorset. As they sell loose spices, dried fruit and nuts. Plus eCover refills, Faith in Nature and other solid soaps – all package free. HTH . From Liz Hodge http://spillthebeanswimborne.co.uk/

XYZ
York

More

Find other loose food stores here

Find A Milk Delivery Service With Glass Bottles Here 

Supermarkets
Sometimes supermarkets can surprise you – check out the plastic-free and reduced packaging products here.

Help Me

Please add any shops you know of in the comments below and I will incorporate them into the post.
Links to reviews particularly welcome.
Dont have a blog? Love guest posts…

More

You can find a list of all other plastic free products over at the A to Z

More

You can find more loose food outlets here These shops provide bags and they are almost always plastic ones. You will need to take your own plastic-free /reusable bags. You can find a list of all plastic free products over at the A to Z

Organic Textile Company

by Posted in 3.1 General & Homemade, 3.2 Shops & Businesses

I did buy from this store. They have a good range of fabric and they state that ” All our fabrics are good quality inexpensive organic, cotton fairly traded.
” Though they don’t actually have a fair-trade certificate you can see that they are commuted to the cause. There are  some nice personal details about the people they work with. I know who made my fabric,

They also  supply ready made products like aprons and tea towels for craft projects.

Know what you are sewing

The fabric descriptions are not so clear. There is nothing on the dies used. They make some suggestions for what to make but do not put in the fabric weight. If you are new to sewing it might be a good idea to use their sample service. I copied the following from their website.

For 50p/£1 you can choose your own – buy separately, denims, cord, velvet,etc You can buy all current woven organic cotton and bamboo samples for £20  around 200 samples. Jersey samples are extra, order set 4.

If you are in the UK and would like 2 small free samples …..
It would help us greatly if you send an SAE (self adressed stamped envelope) saying what you would like and we’ll be happy to send them to you.

I was too rushed to use this and just ordered what I thought would suit. The fabric was lovely and the service prompt. Reviews to follow.

Packaging NOT PLASTIC FREE

Sadly the packaging was plastic.

Due to the nature of what we send through the post it is not suitable for us to use paper packaging. We do reuse packaging that is from parcels that have been sent to us and we would be able to send out fabric using recycled packaging if it was requested by a customer.

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Huddersfield, Khadims

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , , , , , 1 Comment

Here in lovely Huddersfield, we buy much of our stuff from Khadims, the Asian Supermarket on Blacker Road, including;

Loose unwrapped foods

  • Pistacheos  and walnuts
  • Ginger, garlic and chiles
  • Basmati rice  loose
  • They do a wide range of unwrapped fruit and veg including
  • Small UNWRAPPED cucumbers,
  • They also do halal meat unwrapped. Take a bio bag.
  • Metal pan scrubs.
  • The ever useful coconut oil and some weird vaseline  rip off in tins.

Take

You have to take your own cotton produce bags, scoop up as much as you need and they weigh it at the counter at the counter. Smashing.

 

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Frozen Food Loose

by Posted in 3.1 Food & Drink, 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , , , 1 Comment

Pain Au Chocolat –

home bake Pain Au Raisen –

Home Bake Yorkshire Puds

Fruits of the forest and other soft fruits

Roast veg – peppers to potatoes

Uncooked Vegetables – Peas!!!

Fish Cakes

Just some of the frozen stuff sold loose at Emly Moor Farm Shop.

Here is the company who supply them – Field Fare. They supply shops nationwide. There is a postcode locator here which tells you where your nearest retailer is.

The Emley Moor shop doesn’t stock the full range, but it will give you an idea of what’s available.

Heres how it works. Using the little scoop you shovel what you want into the bags provided. Of course the bags provided are plastic but take your own bio bags (corn starch bags – made from vegetables they are fully compostable)  and the plastic bag problem is solved. Bio bags are fine to use in the freezer.

The Range – a chain of home & garden shops

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses, 3.2.3 Supermarkets & Chains Tagged , ,

Loose pet food, home wares and some loose sweets.

Being committed to local shopping, I prefer to buy that way whenever possible. I would encourage you to do the same. One of the joys of living plastic free is mooching round the local shops seeing what you can source.
Sometimes though there is no option but to use

Supermarkets & Chainstores

And yes you can get some plastic free and zero waste stuff there but YOU WILL NEED TO TAKE YOUR OWN PACKAGING. Check out the plastic-free shopping kit here.

The Range

This is new to me. It replaces Homebase on Leeds Rd, Huddersfield HD1 6ND.

It is one of 120 U.K. stores.

It sells  paints, crockery, bedding, art supplies and some garden stuff.

AND……..

Pet food & Bird Seed

It gets my plastic free vote for it’s loose bird seed and pet food. You can see pictures here.

There is

  • bird seed,
  • rabbit,rat and chinchilla feed,
  • dog chews and sweets
  • And other stuff

all sold loose.

Of course they only supply plastic bags for your purchases but you could take your own reusable produce bags. If you have forgotten them, then they sell compostable plastic bags similar to biobags. You can compost these.

There is more animal feed in paper bags.
I don’t have pets so cannot speak from experience how good this is but well done for offering plastic free.

Other Stuff

Includes enamel cups – very pretty!

Get There

Directions to the Huddersfield Store
Phone:01484 534707

Hours:

Wednesday 9am–8pm
Thursday 9am–8pm
Friday 9am–8pm
Saturday 9am–8pm
Sunday 10:30am–4:30pm
Monday 9am–8pm
Tuesday 9am–8pm

Other Stores

Check out the Website

Shopping Tips

If you want to buy loose you will need to take your own reusable packaging – produce bags, tupperware even compostable disposables. You can find them here.

For the plastic free freak metal lids to glass jars are of course plastic lined .

Tin and cans including those for cosmetics are also plastic lined

For products that are packaged in plastic choose to buy simple plastics that can easily be recycled

Do remember not all stores stock all products. It might be wise to check ahead if you are making a special visit.

Don’t Like Supermarkets?

Other places to buy unpackaged food are listed here

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Tea & Coffee Merchants

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses Tagged , 1 Comment

Here are some independent Tea & Coffe merchants. You may need to take your own bags

Leeds The Teapot has  coffee beans and leaf tea from all round the world. Really lovely stall in the food hall. Also makes coffee to drink. See what else the market has to offer, here.

Nottingham Coffe roasters. Will also post out plastic free and you can order on line 

Aberystwyth great tea and coffee shop

Huddersfield
Coffee Evolution fantastic

Lancaster
Lancaster tea merchants http://www.thecoffeehopper.com/
Leaminster Nitty Gritty Wholefoods  do loose spices and tea.

TodmordenLoose tea can also be found on Todmorden Market.

WHole Food Market used to sell Tea & Coffee beans and are happy for you to use your own bag. http://plasticisrubbish.com/2014/07/21/whole-foods-market-revisited/

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Tescos

by Posted in 3.2 Shops & Businesses, 3.2.3 Supermarkets & Chains Tagged

I have one near me so I tend to visit more often then I think is ideal. here are some of the products they do;

PLA compostable plastic bags
Paper bin liners
Apple vinegar
Coconut oil
All kinds of oil in glass bottles
Big tins of vegetable oil

Tescos  sell bulk pasta in polythene bags – not plastic free I know but better than film!

Other Products

From Louises database

Bath Salts, Radox – Cardboard
Coffee Beans, Lavazza 1kg – Usual non-recyclable packaging, largest available
Double Edge Razor Blades 10’s– Cardboard and small plastic cover
Ecover Washing Powder – Cardboard, no scoop
Fish Fingers, Birds Eye 30 MSC – Big pack to save on packaging – Cardboard
Cat litter, Sanicat Eco – I believe this is in a paper bag
Olive Oil, Il Casolare – Flip top glass bottle, reusable?

Louises Data Base?
Louise Bayfields   “POSTIVE PRODUCTS LIST (UK) a list of High Street and Supermar-ket products that have no packaging or in some way help reduce packaging.”

The List
The original PDF will be updated as  Louise shops around so do check back there for updates. 
Remember not all stores stock all products. It might be wise to check ahead if you are making a special visit.
Once again thank you  Louise for such a fantastic resource!

Shopping Tips

If you want to buy loose, you will need to take your own reusable packaging – produce bags, tupperware even compostable disposables. You can find them here.

Sneaky Plastics

The plastic free freak should remember that
metal lids to glass jars are of course plastic lined .
Tin and cans including those for cosmetics are also plastic lined
Paper and foil wraps will be plastic lined.
Find other sneaky plastics here….

Choose Well
If you really can’t do without it and you have a choice a plastic wrapped products, choose to buy the one in simple plastics that can easily be recycled

More

see all our supermarket info HERE.
Find out more about the individual products here via the food index
Other places to buy unpackaged food are listed here

N.B.

lines changes, products get removed. For more information why not ask the Plastic Is Rubbish FB group for updates. They are a great source of tidbits, personal experience and the latest news. Why not join them and share the plastic free love x

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Cooperative Supermarket

by Posted in 3.2.3 Supermarkets & Chains Tagged ,

Plastic free teabags

For those of you who didn’t know, most teabags contain plastic. not just the packaging but actually in the bag.
However the co-op have stepped up to the mark.

“The Co-op’s own-brand 99 tea will be developed without the use of polypropylene polymers, which are used to enable the teabag to hold its shape. The Co-op sells around 376 million teabags annually and has worked with tea suppliers Typhoo and sustainable fibre developers Ahlstrom-Munksjö to eliminate the use of plastic. It is believed the move could stop nine tonnes of plastic being sent to landfill annually.

Co-op Food’s chief executive Jo Whitfield said: “Many tea drinkers are blissfully unaware that the teabag from their daily cuppa is sealed using plastic. Even though it’s a relatively small amount, when you consider the six billion cups of tea that are brewed up every year in the UK, we are looking at around 150 tonnes of polypropylene – that’s an enormous amount of accumulated plastic waste that is either contaminating food waste compost collections or simply going to landfill.
“A cup of tea is part of our national psyche, so we felt it was imperative that we fix the problem as soon as possible. We’re absolutely committed to reducing plastic in our packaging and want to ensure that tea lovers can enjoy a guilt-free brew.”
The new method uses heat sealing bags which eliminate the need for the widely-used plastic seal. The bio-degradable bags will undergo rigorous testing throughout the next month, and Co-op is hoping to commercialise them later this year. The intent is for the product to be rolled out across the Co-op’s entire own-labelled tea range. The retailer confirmed that the teabags will be fully compostable in food waste collections.
Plastic pledges
The Co-op already has a target in place to make 100% of its product packaging recyclable, with an interim target of 80% by 2020. The target also accounts for reducing hard-to-recycle plastics and using more recycled content “wherever possible”.
Co-op, which was also the first retailer to source 100% Fairtrade cocoa, has previously voiced its support for the introduction of a nationwide bottle deposit return scheme (DRS) to help reduce plastic pollution.

Other Products

*Bread and Cake mixes – Paper – Really good selection in some larger stores

*Louises Data Base
The starred information was taken from Louise Bayfields   “POSTIVE PRODUCTS LIST (UK) a list of High Street and Supermar-ket products that have no packaging or in some way help reduce packaging.”

The List
The original PDF will be updated as  Louise shops around so do check back there for updates. 
Remember not all stores stock all products. It might be wise to check ahead if you are making a special visit.
Once again thank you  Louise for such a fantastic resource!

Shopping Tips

If you want to buy loose, you will need to take your own reusable packaging – produce bags, tupperware even compostable disposables. You can find them here.
The plastic free freak should remember that
metal lids to glass jars are of course plastic lined .
Tin and cans including those for cosmetics are also plastic lined
Paper and foil wraps will be plastic lined.

Choose Well
If you really can’t do without it and you have a choice a plastic wrapped products, choose to buy the one in simple plastics that can easily be recycled

More

see all our supermarket info HERE