At last! Sustainability and an Idea…

This is something that Stephen has been banging on about for ages and ages. It takes us both back to our childhoods when milk was only in standardise glass bottles. Most of the goods on supermarket shelves were in glass jars and bottles, even though the Tetra Pak was being slowly introduced it took quite a long time before it eradicated the glass milk bottle.

Tupperware was something that you bought at a party with your friends and neighbours and you kept it for a lifetime. (My mother still has hers!). Tupperware was the height of modern technology and if you didn’t have any you were basically rubbish as a modern housewife and should hang your head in shame. I explain this because it was more or less the only plastic that was used in the kitchen.

A Tupperware collector, slightly chilling…..

And, before I leave this particular part of the discussion, if you wanted a takeaway from the local Indian you took a couple of saucepans down to be filled with chicken curry and rice. I realise that this would not be practical now with delivery but metal returnable Tiffin Tins certainly would be.

Now gradually people are beginning to realise that with modern technology and our racing capitalist society we are filling up the world with plastic mountains.

So just up the road from us here at Stephen Einhorn in Dalston we were delighted to see a new pop up shop open with the right idea. It’s called Bulk Market and supplies zero receptacles for the goods you buy, you need to bring those yourself. It was incredible popular and although it has now closed we’re happy to see that they are due to open a new permanent store in Hackney in July.

Yikes I hear you say, that means I need to be more organised when I go shopping? Yes is the answer, however we have all got used to carrying long life fabric bags around and this is just a small step further. It’s a great idea and one we could all get used to. Personally I think with a financial incentive if you use your own glass containers this idea could be very successful.

Stephen sees the biggest problem with all this as the fact that all glass containers need to be standardised. That way every manufacturer could use the same bottles but put their own labels on. It makes sense and would simplify everything if we are going down the more sustainable route of shopping.

To this end he has written to Emily Thornberry our MP, Caroline Lucas of the Green Party, Michael Gove, Team UK at Greenpeace, and Sue Hayman MP to suggest this as something to think about. So far all is quiet….