Greg Hassell of Jollybrew in Thame is looking to raise £1500 to be able to turn his tea shop into a waste-free whole-foods store.
You can read all about it below in an extract from his Crowdfunding page:
"We live in a world full of damaging single use plastic which has become completely out of control. At home I noticed that on one of our weekly food shops, from a large supermarket, almost 80% of our food came in non-recyclable plastic and it actually didn't need it. Recently on social media people in our town/area have been crying out for local shops where they can buy food without feeling guilty about the amount of waste packaging involved in their every day purchases. It really is time for change before it's too late, if it's not already too late that is.
So I sat down and looked at how I could do my part. Yes, we can change at home but we're just a small family of four and perhaps we need to do something a little bigger. My company 'Jollybrew', which specialises in ethically sourced loose leaf tea, has a shop in Thame, Oxfordshire, which is already 90% plastic free, so I thought why not put that to better use.
I am now looking to turn our little shop into something that can have a bigger impact in our a community.
Already a refilling station for loose leaf tea, my vision is to now introduce a wide range of similar products with the same outcome - plastic free. We are looking for funds so that we can turn our tea shop into a waste-free whole-foods store. All foods and tea will be weighed up into your own reusable/refillable containers therefore completely cutting out the need for non-recyclable packaging. We will of course have some form of recyclable or compostable packaging (like we do now for our tea) for customers who have forgotten to bring their own tins/jars/tubs in. Although the shop won't be a self serve store initially, we want it to be as practical as possible so we'll start small and hopefully grow from there. I'm sure they'll be plenty of mistakes/changes along the way.
What will be the main purpose of the shop?:
To reduce waste, especially plastic waste and to provide the town with high quality, natural foods as well as our ethically sourced loose leaf tea. We’re hoping that this project will put back into the community and eventually employ staff too.
How it will work:
You choose the item(s) you wish to purchase.
We will weigh your container first.
We then weigh out the food to the weight of your choice.
Simple and waste free.
What products will we stock:
Loose Leaf Tea
Coffee
Cereals - Porridge Oats, Bran Flakes etc...
Nuts
Seeds
Rice
Pasta
+ lots more.
Eventually we will stock ethical cleaning and hygiene products too.
How we will use the money raised:
1. Design work for the new shop name (Jolly Wholefoods). Please note: Jollybrew will remain exactly how it is, it will just be some changes to the physical shop.
2. New shop signs
3. New display units
4. Storage Jars (if we manage more than our target we'll invest in gravity dispensers for ease and efficiency)
5. Scoops with buckets
6. Computer Scales for weighing out goods.
7. Reusable or recyclable boxes/pouches.
8. Fairtrade cloth bags.
9. Most importantly a great range of whole-foods.
At present our tiny shop only benefits those avid tea drinkers out there, but our passion for zero-waste tea has definitely had an impact and we've seen many conversions to loose tea. My new vision is to create a store that will be open longer hours, benefit the local community more, which is also friendly towards our planet and hopefully will encourage people to do their bit.
Every little positive change we make in our everyday lives will benefit the world that we live in.
Resourceful, responsible, revolutionary.
I hope that you can help us with this new exciting venture and I thank you in advance for your support.
Greg"
To donate please visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/low-waste-wholefoods-shop
