ZERO WASTE

It is impossible to think of any aspect of life that plastic hasn’t in ltrated, and the sheer scale of the waste produced as a result is enormous – estimated at 6.3 billion tons, and only 9% of that has been recycled.

Food retail is one area where this crisis is very apparent and, if the current methods of tackling it are not enough, then the industry has to consider other options. FFD asks if...

... it’s time to go zero waste

Compiled by Tom Dale

SAVING THE PLANET WON’T COST YOUR BUSINESS THE EARTH

WE HAVE NORMALISED the phenomenon of waste, says Sian Sutherland of campaign group A Plastic Planet, and we need to move away from the “take, make and throw away lifestyle” we have become accustomed to. “Fundamentally, we need to give our customers the choice.”

And this choice, says Paul Hargreaves of distributor Cotswold Fayre, is something that the public is crying out for. According to research by Capgemini, 79% of consumers are changing their purchasing preferences based on sustainability. To satisfy this growing sector of the buying public, the distributor is set to open a new food hall with a focus on sustainability called Flourish.

The founders had wanted the farm shop, located just o the A4 between Bath and Bristol, to be completely plastic-free, but, says Hargreaves, “that just wasn’t viable”. The store will have a number of zero-waste options, though, and those lines will not have a prepackaged competitor on the shelves, forcing customers hands.

Flourish will host two UnpackagedAT gravity dispenser units – a collaboration between Cotswold and zero-waste brand Unpackaged – with each unit holding around 25 lines, a large serveover containing a wide range of deli items, and all fresh fruit & veg is set to be sold without packaging.

A GROWING MARKET

Hargreaves and Flourish’s managing director Paul Castle have absolute con dence in the concept, citing the shi in consumer behaviour accelerated by COVID. “A year ago, I may have said that there is some regionality in terms of the appeal of a store like ours, but I think that the pandemic has changed the way people think about consumerism,” says Hargreaves.

“Anyone doing this anywhere in the UK will

Picture: The Farm Stratford be doing the right thing and the pro table thing in the medium-to-long term.”

While Hargreaves and Castle are backing the sustainability of the business from an ethical standpoint, they say that it is the sensible choice in purely economic terms, too.

“We’re getting to the point now where people are realising that they need to be making some di erence,” says Castle, “and one of the easiest ways to do that is to go and shop somewhere that’s making those decisions and choices on your behalf and making it easy for you.”

POINT OF DIFFERENCE

Making a clear, visual statement that your business is encouraging people to move away from plastic packaging, says Sian Sutherland, is a good way to di erentiate yourselves from the supermarkets who, according to reports, are remaining static on waste reduction, something consumers are increasingly unhappy about. According to a 2020 report by The Green Alliance, supermarkets had seen an 800% upli in complaints about their plastic usage in the preceding year alone.

Castle says that while initially investing in the hardware for zero-waste retailing may be a cost, once installed, the customer buys into the concept and they’re happy to come back and spend a little bit more of their money with you. “Look a er the people, look a er the planet and the pro ts will follow,” he says.

This is a message that is echoed by Sutherland in no uncertain terms. “There can

Picture: Isabelle Plasschaert

WHERE TO START

If you’re a zero-waste virgin, where to begin can be a little daunting, but this retail style is nothing new, in fact, it’s as old as they come.

The two vital pieces of kit to make the shop run smoothly are food dispensers and an electronic scale system.

Historically, many whole food shops used large bins and scoops filled with dried goods, but the preferred method is now gravity dispensers – they are more hygienic and easier to maintain stock rotation. There are many manufacturers but the retailers we spoke to use UK POS, Martek Systems or the all-in-one solution from Unpackaged AT and Cotswold Fayre, and for scales the consensus was Bizerba.

Your current suppliers may already offer a zero-waste range, but, if not, you may have to look farther afield. These days, many producers offer their lines without packaging, and, if they don’t, they may be convinced to make a change. Cotswold Fayre now offers a range with Unpackaged, and Infinity Foods Wholesale also have a zero-waste range.

While food items may be your first port of call, to give your customers the full plastic-free offer, consider stocking some other products such as bamboo toothbrushes, cloth food wraps and cleaning products – Sesi (sesi.org. uk) supplies a wide range of domestic cleaning products for refill. - Earth.Food.Love, featured as this issue’s

Deli of the Month (see page 50) has produced a guide for anyone looking to branch into zero-waste retail on its website

thezerowasteshop.co.uk

Businesses that don’t start taking the environment more seriously simply won’t be here in ve or ten years

An UnpackagedAT unit at The Farm Stratford

be no return now to the bad old days of ‘take, make and chuck’. The public is hungry for a guilt-free shopping experience,” she says.

“Responsible businesses will be the survivors of the next decade and those that tread water, that try to squeeze every last drop of pro t out of the old, awed status quo, will not see the next turn of the decade.”

This is evidenced by the success of B Corps – a certi cation standard for ethical businesses – of which Cotswold Fayre is among the ranks. The organisation took a nancial snapshot of its rst 50 companies in the UK in 2015, and again in 2017, and it found that B Corps had grown 14 times more than GDP over those two years.

“Being sustainable is the only option,” says Hargreaves, “and giving your customers a simple way to reduce plastic waste is an obvious step.”

The distributor says businesses that don’t start taking the environment more seriously simply won’t be here in ve or ten years. “It may sound a bit blunt, but the market is changing.

“And the companies that do that, in the end, make more pro t anyway: they’re getting better customers, they’ve got a happy workforce and they are doing things that customers will buy into.”

Picture: The Farm Stratford

ZERO-WASTE SPECIAL

HYGIENE AND THE LAW

Some retailers considering adding a zerowaste offer may be concerned by the extra contact points and potential hygiene concerns around customers bringing their own containers in store.

The legislation around food safety for products sold without packaging – such as cheese or charcuterie – should be well known to most deli owners, but when the customer brings their own, we enter something of a grey area.

FFD’s Deli Doctor columnist Paul Thomas says that, while there are no specific regulations that cover the sale of food by a zero-waste retailer, food businesses have a responsibility to ensure that packaging which they provide is suitable as a food contact material in terms of it not shedding particles into the food. This does not apply where the customer provides the container, though.

“In addition to general food hygiene,” says Thomas, “the retailer should consider the security of foods which are loosely packed for self-service by the customer to prevent malicious tampering.”

A spokesperson for the Food Standards Agency told FFD that the food business operator will retain food safety liability. “The businesses’ HACCP procedures in place would need to ensure there are no risks of crosscontamination or problems with food contact materials.”

Many zero-waste shops provide their customers with the proviso that once foodstuffs are in their containers, the responsibility for food hygiene passes over to them. “However,” says Thomas “the retailer should also consider the cross-contamination risk when handling containers that have been brought from the consumer's home. While this may concern many pathogenic microorganisms, it is also of particular relevance during the current pandemic.”