Help To Bring Zero Waste Shopping To Chorley

Hello! I’m Steph; a primary school teacher on a new mission! I’ve been wanting a Zero Waste shop to open locally for years, until I eventually I realised …why don’t I just do it myself?! My mission is to bring a convenient, eco-friendly shopping outlet to Chorley.

 

I've become increasingly aware of the problems around plastic, climate change and threats to our incredible natural world, embedded further after watching David Attenborough's "Our Planet" and also "War on Plastics".

Like many others, we're busy and often don't have time to go out of our way to make an effort to find non-plastic options or spend extra on postage from online outlets. With the covid pandemic and the ways in which we have had to adapt, we have an opportunity to reset and make changes to benefit both us and our planet.

 

What is zero waste shopping?

Some people may have known this phrase as previously being from the old "weigh and pay" shops. This kind of "zero waste" shopping drastically reduces single-use plastic packaging and by buying the amount you want, reduces likelihood of food waste thereby reducing our impact on the environment.

We have all become accustomed to a convenience lifestyle and unfortunately with this often comes a lot of waste and single use plastic. It has now been recognised that we need to make significant adjustments to the way we live to reduce our impact on the planet. Although many of us are conscientious, the need for convenience often makes it very difficult for us to change our habits. Imagine having a beautiful plastic free cupboard like this!

 

In addition to a large variety of foods, at Reed’s Refillery we will have an extensive product range where you will find refill stations for products such as dry foods (pasta, rice, lentils, nuts, seeds…the list goes on!) shampoo, washing up liquid, handwash, laundry liquid; toiletries including deodorant, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, an ethical gift section, a terracycle point, and so much more!

Our aim is to help making a difference more convenient. Based around that for us to make a change, things must be easily accessible, affordable and exciting! We'll be setting up regular charitable donations with a responsible environmental cause, donating any surplus produce to local schemes, and generally work to make a difference to our local area and the wider world.

 

How you can help

Because our business has a social purpose which benefits the environment and our community, we were eligible to apply for funding, however due to COVID, all applications closed down.

There are significant costs involved for this set up to make it work for the whole community, all of which have been carefully calculated, with the wonderful support of Boost Lancashire. Your pledges will help us to make this a true community hub where we can all make a difference!

Costs for the "boring bits" are covered but we'd love if you could help make sure we can provide the "exciting bits" too, like gravity dispensers, acquiring used furniture (hello Facebook marketplace and car boot sales!) and all the other parts which will bring the shop structure to life. All the boring bits will be covered by me.

By donating to this GoodFundMe you will be helping to make this happen! Every bit really does count, no matter the amount - even if you just pitch in £1 or £2 - it makes a big difference!

 

The vision

From the surveys I did on the streets of Chorley in late 2021, it was clear that all of us are conscious of the environmental problems we face and that people would like to reduce their impact. The simple mission for this shop is to make a difference more convenient. I'd love to try and help people access more sustainable shopping and enable all of us to make better choices for our environment.

The UK Plastic Pact hopes to bring big changes to the packaging sector by 2025 but we could be doing a lot more in the meantime.

The vision for Reed’s Refillery is to build a one stop sustainable shop which will become a hub for our community where people can enjoy an immersive shopping experience, working in harmony with our amazing town market who already supply the best fresh produce shopping.

The shop will be a warm and friendly, community hub for people of all ages, to inspire the public and show that change doesn’t have to be a chore, making people aware of how they can easily and actively reduce our impact on the environment by working towards more sustainable lifestyle.

 

Why it's important

Unfortunately, so far the UK has missed a lot of it’s 2020 targets to lower carbon emissions. Scientists say that we have 12 years to stop climate breakdown so we really need to act now.

There are so many shocking facts which for the sake of our future, we really can't ignore. It's suggested that 68% of all extreme weather events were made more likely or more sever by human caused damage, it's heart breaking to hear that by 2050 there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish and worrying that if we loose just 5% more of the Amazon, the damage could be irreversible, worsening climate change and leaving us on the brink of disaster.

Tonnes of plastics and waste are being exported to developing countries where disposal methods are very dangerous and polluting and recycling alone isn't the answer as it's been shown to be ineffective, with little actually being recycled. We all have the power to make change and together we truly can make a huge difference.

By shopping at Reed’s Refillery you will be able to reuse containers and cut down of masses of packaging helping you to reduce your waste and directly reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

 

Reed’s Refillery

• Good for the environment and our future

• Sourcing local products will reduce our carbon footprint

• Good for our community, the town centre and the local economy

• Reducing waste and promoting effective recycling

This local business will continue the momentum of exciting independent businesses coming to Chorley, helping our high street to flourish and making this kind of shopping not only the norm but also attractive and fun. It will provide an immersive shopping experience where you’ll be able source plastic free food, household supplies, and natural, ethical beauty products, plus lots more! Our products will be fair trade, and we’ll work with other small businesses, ensuring that things are locally sourced wherever possible supporting independent makers, as well as reducing our carbon footprint.

 

Where we're up to...

We have a premises on the main high street in Chorley; a great spot which is easily accessible on walking routes and just a few steps from lots of parking areas.

The empty shell is being remodelled by the supportive landlord to give us a blank canvas from which we can build on together!

This is a venture with a social mission which hopes to have a positive impact both on our environment and for our community and for that reason we'd love to hear your input as to how you think we can grow and improve. There have been many great suggestions and requests already - keep them coming!

 

We can't wait to bring this exciting opportunity to our high street and would love if you could help us in any way! Thank you!