3 Important Tips I Wish I’d Known At The Start Of My Zero Waste Journey By Russ Storer Owner Of Balance Swansea
I'm Russ, father of 13-year-old Ella and owner of 'balance' a zero waste/refill shop in Swansea. A place where you can bring your own containers and bottles to fill up on dry goods, cleaning products and personal hygiene liquids. We've already saved over 10,000 pieces of plastic being sent to recycling, landfill or left to breakdown in nature and the movement is only getting bigger.
My zero-waste journey started back in 2017 when I was visiting friends in London, where every trend or movement seems to begin. I would visit these shops on every trip because it just made sense to me and there was nothing similar where I lived. Once I was back in Wales, I noticed my anxiety kick in as I was shopping for food in regular supermarkets, often feeling guilty walking out with large amounts of non-recyclable packaging. I was desperate for someone to open a shop in Swansea so we all had the opportunity of making better choices. Months went by when I realised that if I wanted to see a change locally, then I had to be the change. My shop 'balance' opened in July 2019 and although it took time for people to understand what we were all about we soon built up a core number of customers all with the same ethos.
I'd like to share with you three important tips that I wished I'd known at the start of my own zero-waste-journey and hope you are encouraged to make small changes yourselves in order to create a balance in the world.
Don’t panic
My eyes were opened to the horrendous result in our pursuit of convenience when I watched David Attenborough's Blue Planet II.
Seeing the marine life swimming through and choking on mainly plastic waste made me sick to the core and from that moment I decided to make changes in my own shopping habits.
I could no longer put my name to what I saw happening in front of me on screen.
I would stand in the aisle of a supermarket and felt like crying when looking on the shelves left and right, up and down, everything was wrapped in mainly un recyclable material.
But here's the thing; everything has a waste stream from production to storage and if you only buy products that don't come in packaging then like me you risk losing too much weight which could potentially lead to health issues.
Remember this is a journey and not something that has to happen at the flick of a switch.
Slowly corporations and businesses are making their own small changes that will help us meet in the middle, we can all play our part.
Start small
Now the panic is over you can start to look at ways in which you can reduce the amount of plastic and other waste in your home.
The easiest change is to not buy a product in the first place;
Plastic bottles of water can be replaced by carrying a reusable water bottle with you (Dwr Cymru rocks)!
Single-use coffee cups can be replaced with reusable coffee cups and you often get a discount for using one too so you'll be saving money in the long run.
Buy as much of your fruit and vegetables loose from supermarkets or your local veg box scheme to reduce the amount of stretchy non-recyclable plastic going to landfill.
Take your reusable containers to the meat, fish or deli counter at your supermarket or the local butchers. The pandemic may have changed some rules but I think most are happy to keep providing this service as long as the containers are in clean and dry condition.
Use what you've got
In my initial panic I was keen to get rid of everything in a plastic bottle from shower gel to cleaning liquids and buy new eco-friendly products.
I also purchased metal straws, wax food wraps and reusable bamboo cutlery to take to work.
In reality throwing away what you already have is producing even more waste and buying new for the sake of it is also a backward step.
Use what you already have until it is all gone and then you can make decisions based on what is available locally or online. You may have a refill shop nearby where you can take the empty bottles and reuse them.
Ask yourself "do I really need to use a straw to drink".
Wax wraps are a nice gift for someone but you can simply place left over food in a bowl and put a plate on top in the fridge, it works just as well.
Bamboo cutlery is just a gimmick because you've already got a drawer full of cutlery at home that you can use.
The more we ask ourselves "do I need this or just want it" the more we will realise that the problem isn't really down to packaging at all, the issue is with consumption and the want mindset.
There are many more things I have learned on my personal and business journey and I still have so much to educate myself on.
This isn't a trend, it's eventually going to be a way of life so the sooner we all start making better choices the easier the transition will be and the results of which we will, our children and grandchildren included, all benefit from.
Find out more about the zero waste store Balance here.