Zero waste shop in the works

Monday 07 August 2017

A local maths teacher is hoping to change the way we all shop and offer fellow islanders an "alternative" by setting up the first zero waste shop on the island.

28-year-old Felicity Williams, started on the venture out of "passion" for the environment after feeling frustrated by the amount of unrecyclable plastic she sends to the bin.

A longtime vegetarian, Felicity became vegan earlier this year, a process she found easier than she thought it would be, "I love milk and I love cheese, I thought I would miss it." The mother of two says she became "a healthier cook and person" by changing her habits, but that the experience mainly started an interest in where the food comes. "I started thinking about the origin of what it eat and how it is packaged. It then spiralled into how we live our lives within this plastic-world. It is all connected."

Pictured: Felicity launched into her project out of passion for the environment and fuelled by the desire not to leave a "plastic wasteland" to her daughters.

Her two-year-old twin girls also had a massive impact and prompted Felicity to make a change. She told Express: "I never thought about where my plastic came from. We live in a throwaway society where we just throw everything in the bin and think, 'That's it, that's my responsibility done with.' As a mum, it struck me to think we are just living a plastic wasteland to our children.

"It makes me so cross because I have these two girls to whom I need to show the right way to live. They see me chucking things in the bin,  so they do it too. They are being taught that it is ok to throw something in the bin and not care about what happens to it, and I want to change that. I don't want to leave my kids with a plastic wasteland that I helped created. To think that my girls might not be able to see coral reefs, go to the Rainforest and see the most beautiful animals and creatures, it makes me so sad."

To change things, Felicity is aiming to open the first zero-waste shop on the island. She admits that being completely waste free is "nearly impossible" but aims to manage the waste she produce and to completely ban single-use plastic.

She explains: "I am not against plastic, it has been revolutionary. My girls were born at 29 weeks and they were very poorly. If it wasn't for the plastic incubators, machines and tubes, they wouldn't be here. They were kept alive with the benefits of plastic and I am hugely grateful for that. There is a time and place where plastic is hugely beneficial and there are so many positive aspects to it.

"On the other hand, we use single-use plastic day-to-day and it can't be recycled. So much is being wasted and thrown into landfills. I myself throw plastic in the bin because I have no choice, I want to give people that choice, I want to give myself and my girls the choice."

In offering islanders the opportunity to shop "plastic free," Felicity is hoping it will help "...redesign the way we live by making a massive change initially with how we buy every single day." To get her project off the ground, she has contacted the couple who opened the UK's first Zero Waste shop, Earth. Food. Love in Totnes (Devon) in May. Nicola and Richard have proven to be a source of inspiration for the islander, offering advice on where to look for products as well as support.

Felicity says: "They are hugely successful and they have had a great response. People are fully up for a change in their shopping habits. The biggest benefit for the customers is they feel empowered, they can control what they have, what they are eating as well as where it is coming from. They take what they need rather than having to take a portion decided by someone and wrapped in plastic."

As for what kind of products Felicity will be offering, they will range from groceries, including dry food such as pasta, flour and others as well as toiletries and household items, "where we are still chucking away plastic bottles and containers." She says: "I won't be selling any meat or vegetables because we've got brilliant places for that at the markets. There will be a wide range of quality products and  it needs to be affordable, because it can be. Sourcing the products is easier than you think. I want people to walk into the shop and know it is safe, as organic as it can be and that they are making a change."

Pictured: Felicity has been inspired by the UK's first zero Waste shop, Earth. Food. Love, which opened in Totnes (Devon) in May. (Rachel Hoile)

While her project is still in the early days, Felicity is determined "...to go through all the hurdles." "I am dedicated and passionate enough in order to keep pursuing this until it happens," she says. She set up a Facebook page for the future shop so that people can contact her with ideas and feedback on her initiative. So far so good as the response has been "mostly" positive.

The next step for Felicity will be to attend markets with her products to ensure her shop would be "financially" viable. A little bit further down the line, once she finds the "right place," she will be opening her zero-waste shop. Before that, she is hoping to secure funding as well as some partners. "I would love to join up with a farm so that it can combine the zero waste aspect with fresh produce," she says.

Pictured: Felicity would love to partner with a local farm to combine zero waste with fresh produce.

The maths teacher is convinced that one person can make a positive change on the island by "giving an alternative fair, plastic free, organic, vegan one stop shop." "The way this world is going to change is by individual people. If everyone is saying 'No one is going to change it,' the world is only going to get worse and worse. If every single person starts by making a change, whether that's reducing the amount of plastic they use daily or looking into the facts and figures of how food is covered in plastic and where it comes from, it will all add up."