'THINK GLOBAL, ACT LOCAL'

 

Plastic in all its forms is a very real problem for our planet

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Recycling is not enough!

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Single-use plastic can and should be eliminated from our shopping

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Why did I decide to open a Zero Waste Shop in 2018?

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Like so many others, I had been meticulous about recycling as much as I could of my household waste. When I looked in my bin to see what I threw away, it almost completely consisted of plastic packaging from pasta, rice, cereals and the plastic film that covers so many packaged products. I was also very aware of the huge amount of plastic I put into our recycling bin. Then in December 2017 I read an article in the papers about a Zero Waste shop in Devon and was  intrigued, so the whole family took a trip down to Totnes to visit - what a fantastic shopping experience! Buying products using our own bags and containers was the way forward , and it made me aware of a gap in the market in St Albans. And so the foundations of The Refill Pantry in St Albans started to take shape!

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With a growing awareness of how plastic is affecting our planet I believed that it was the right time to bring plastic-free shopping to the centre of our city.

 

Changing shopping habits is made easy with our system which allows customers to bring their own containers to fill with as much or little of a product as they like. This has brought us full circle back to the original way of buying food before the days of plastic. With more and more shops like ours opening around the country we believe that this environmentally friendly way of shopping is the future for all of us :)

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Celina Mendoza, Founder

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