4 minute read
Naked shopping
l Many of us are taking steps to live more sustainably, but maybe we are overlooking a major culprit: packaging. l Zero-waste or bulk shopping is at the heart of Ella and Margot’s store in Tai Po where nothing sold is prepackaged. l Their solution is not only to ask customers to bring their own bags and containers but also to let them serve themselves from jars holding products in bulk. l 雖然愈來愈多人願意實踐可持續生活，卻 忽視了包裝所造成的浪費。 l 本身是老師的Ella和Margot所創辦的裸買 小店位於大埔，主張「零浪費」和「散裝購 買」。 l 店內所有貨品均沒有包裝，顧客要自備購 物袋或容器購買。
The concept of zero-waste shopping, where nothing is pre-packed and everyone brings their own containers, is slowly taking root in the city and in a corner of one of the old-style shopping malls in Tai Po, you can find Ella and Margot’s zero-packaging “Bulk Shop.” In just 100 square feet, they sell all sorts of things, from daily necessities and food to hand-made soap, all neatly arranged on the shelves, unpackaged.
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The idea can transform daily life, says Ella’s co-founder a New Zealander called Margot. “It’s not just a fashion. It’s proactive.” Margot, a teacher, came to Hong Kong eight years ago and now lives in Tai Po. She says Hong Kong gave her the impression of being very modern and fastpaced, and its people very anxious. “Even teaching here is done at high speed.” It’s very different in New Zealand, she explains, where great importance is attached to outdoor nature education. “Children there spend a lot of time exploring nature. They see how to live with nature, watching animals move, smelling plants, and learning how to cherish and protect the environment.”
Ella, a native of Tai Po, has three children and is a teacher too. Nodding her agreement, she says her son is supposed to be learning about environmental protection at school. “One day, no drinking straws. Another day, homework about the colour of recycling bins… but it all comes from textbooks. There is no time for practice.”
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Making time for nature not textbooks
Both Margot and Ella often ask their students what they think about pollution and protecting the environment, but they see hardly any garbage sorting for recycling at school and feel that local environmental education is just disconnected empty talk. “Many of my school colleagues order takeaways every day. Very few of them bring their
p Even in the wet market, be quick or get a plastic bag!
own containers and the plastic boxes the food comes in won’t decompose for hundreds of years. Why can’t we all take one step further to save our environment?”
Both Ella and Margot have changed their own habits gradually. They began by taking their own reusable bags, boxes and baskets to the shops and avoid supermarkets where everything comes pre-packed. But they face challenges. In the wet market, for example, “The vegetable seller is quick and efficient. She will pack our purchases into a plastic bag we don’t need before we even have time to blink!” says Margot.
That’s when they had the idea of opening a zero-package or “naked” shop with no plastic packing. There were one or two in places like Sai Kung and on Hong Kong Island, but they had never seen one in Tai Po and the pandemic meant they had the chance to create a business plan.
“It was a difficult decision to make last year, at a difficult time for everyone in Hong Kong, but we knew that if we hesitated the idea might be lost,” said Ella. “She thinks of everything,” says Margot, “including meeting up with all the owners of other naked shops.” They got together and formed a “Zero Waste Alliance” to exchange trade secrets. “Everyone cooperates. We have the common goal of reducing waste and helping one another.”
Bringing generations together
The store opened a few months ago but already the relationships with customers and other shop owners are for a lifetime. “Some of our students brought their parents here and the next week, the parents came back alone,” says Ella. “Another day an elderly couple arrived with a crumpled old red plastic bag to shop for their children.”
Ella is amazed by the enthusiasm of the Tai Po community. They help in many ways, not only by supporting the shop and making sure it has a bilingual online presence but also by helping to stock it with environmentally-friendly produce and handicrafts that help reduce Hong Kong’s carbon footprint.
“Life without packaging is not difficult or expensive and naked buying is not just a trend,” says Margot. “We want to turn it into a widespread movement. It’s not for the money. It’s for us all. If we are willing to take one small step together, the movement will grow and grow till it’s unstoppable.”
The first of its kind in Tai Po, The Bulk Shop is at 25-28, Level 2, Jade Plaza, 3 On Chee Road, Tai Po, Hong Kong. Tel 5161 9454
