How a woman's crusade against plastic has opened a new era for Waitrose | Environment

IIt all started with a mouse. Catherine Conway unpacked all her food from the supermarket in glbad jars to prevent her from being eaten by a mouse who had taken up residence at home when she had an idea. "I remember very well, one day, having all this packaging in my hands, thinking: why can not I just go to a shop and fill everything in jars?" That was in 2005, and Conway, a charity worker, had been learning about companies created to create a social and environmental good. "I was about 20 years old. I did not have children and I did not have a mortgage. And in my professional life, I was looking for something interesting to do. "

She decided to open a market stall in central London selling unpackaged dry goods – from Ecover cleaning products to cereals, through nuts, dried fruits and rice – that people could not buy that they brought their own containers. "He was popular from the beginning with a small number of people: early adopters who, like me, wanted a solution. People who knew that packaging was a problem and did not want it at home. "

Fourteen years later, Waitrose launched an unpacked trial last week that allowed shoppers in Oxford to purchase a wide range of products for sale in their own reusable containers. And it's Conway, 42, to whom Waitrose has turned to help create the store concept and set up the test. She now runs a retail consulting firm called Unpackaged and initially attracted the attention of Waitrose and other supermarkets after creating an unpackaged space within a Planet Organic retailer branch. .

"We were trying all these different ways to encourage people to switch to reusable containers," she says. Success did not come immediately. For years, retail experts had told him that the concept would never work in a supermarket. Conway admits that sometimes she was thinking of giving up. "It's only when the public awareness about the issue has changed that people have really started to rock."

This moment arrived in December 2017, after the now famous episode of plastic pollution of Blue Planet II broadcast on television. In one night, Conway was faced with a huge tidal wave of public dislike for plastic packaging. "When Blue planet came out, he totally moved the dial on every aspect of the package. "

Disturbed by images of aquatic life entangled in plastic waste, some people realized that they had to change their habits immediately, she said. "This program has operated the switch. When Mr. Attenborough, a wonderful man, spoke to people, he did not seem to be preaching. It was just a fact to people: it's a real problem we face, and there's no choice but to manage it. "

Suddenly, she says, finding new ways to reduce your plastic packaging waste – from reusable coffee cups to paper straws – has become fashionable and casual. People who were previously too embarrbaded to bring their containers to Planet Organic began to do so. In one month, purchases of unpackaged products in the store had increased by 40%. At Easter, Planet Organic had extended the Unpackaged concept to three other stores and by the end of the summer, Waitrose had also joined the group.

"I pushed open a door," she says. "They were ready for that. They were like: morally, we know that's the right thing to do. We just need to build a business case for that. "

The supermarket's 11-week experience will not only test the concept of unpackaged workshop, but also the popularity of various refillable charging stations. Upon arrival, customers will be overwhelmed with environmental messages encouraging them to reduce their packaging waste and offering 10% discount to those who bring their own containers to fill.

For Conway, who advised Waitrose for everything from supply chain logistics to customer renewal processes, marketing and staff training, the past week has been a dream come true. "The best thing in recent days has been the willingness of people to say that it was not a problem to take away their containers, and that they understood that things had to be done differently. "

On the other hand, when it started trying to sell products via reusable containers, many potential customers said: what is the problem of packaging? "Now there is a consciousness that was not there before. And people talk very strongly about wanting change. "

Conway is currently in talks with "two or three" other big supermarkets and thinks that in six to twelve months they will all be conducting unconditioned tests. Supermarkets are under "considerable pressure" to change their approach to packaging, she said. "The staff is the target of many abuses by customers, frustrated at not wanting to shop without plastic." Organizations such as Greenpeace are also trying to hold them to account with the rankings ranking the plastic policies of supermarkets.

Under a new waste strategy unveiled by the government in December 2018, supermarkets and other retailers could face penalties for allowing customers to buy hard-to-recycle plastic and lower fees for packages that are easy to reuse or recycle.

"I hope the work we are doing at Waitrose will show other supermarkets that it is now time to be bold," Conway said. In the end, however, she wants systemic change. For example, brands offer their products in reusable containers that customers can return to the system or supermarkets implement programs that redistribute used containers to other customers after home delivery.

"I think we'll start seeing the introduction of these systems in three to five years," she says.

For the moment, however, she savored the triumphs of the past week. "Supermarkets are listening to us. I feel finally heard.

It's a trick

Clean

Trade your soap dispenser and bottles of shampoo and conditioner for bars.

Water supply

Take a bottle of refillable water with you. Download the Refill application to find places near your position that will allow you to fill your bottle.

Freeze bags

Buy clear biodegradable bags instead of plastic freezer bags.

Cut the food film

Instead of cling film, use parchment paper or, if you need something that will hold the bowls and plates, opt for a beeswax reusable wrap.

Many bottles

Get your milk delivered in glbad bottles that can be returned and reused. Use findmeamilkman.net to find the nearest provider.