Low Impact shopping at Bristol’s first Zero Waste store

Like many other South-West UK zero-wasters, I was delighted to hear about the opening of Zero Green in Bristol recently.

The gorgeous and green shop was opened by two passionate women, Lidia and Stacey, who said:

“Zero Green came about for two reasons; firstly, we were both becoming frustrated about how much packaging there is on everyday items and our understanding of how much damage plastic, and specifically single use plastic, was doing to our planet. Secondly, we realised that if we wanted to see something done about it we would have to do it ourselves! 

“We both come from a retail background, and when we worked together we used our lunch breaks to discuss TED talks we had watched, articles we had read, and YouTube videos we had seen, and we soon realised there are thousands of people out there who want to start working towards a zero waste lifestyle. That means different things to different people; for some it’s all or nothing and getting all of their rubbish for a year into a jam jar, and for others it’s finding a way of doing their weekly shop without filling up their bins and recycling.”

Absolutely ecstatic to hear about the vision of this store, I headed there to try a “zero waste” weekly grocery shop – Basically, I wanted to see just how little waste I could produce when purchasing all the items on my shopping list for a week’s worth of groceries and meals.

Using Zero Green for any dry goods I needed, and my local grocers for fresh fruits and vegetables, it was my hope that I could get most of what I needed from these two stores (and anything else left over from the supermarket, in as little packaging as possible).

It went fantastic! I was impressed by the number of products Zero Green had on sale, from the variety of flours, pastas and cereals, to nuts, snacks, and loose leaf teas. They even had toilet paper, safety razers, toothbrushes and soap, among other personal care products.

I was blown away by not only this abundance, but the adorable aesthetic of the store, the easy layout inside, the kindness of the shop’s owners who were more than helpful during my visit, and the obvious passion for good that lies in the foundations of the shop.

I will definitely be using Zero Green in my regular shopping run from now on, and I urge anyone else living in Bristol to give it a try to help you too also minimise your impact on the earth!

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See more of my posts about the Zero Waste Movement here.

Books about Zero Waste that I love:

Note: Some of these are affiliate links. I only ever affiliate myself with products and companies that I believe in and either use, or would use, myself.

Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson

Plastic-Free by  Beth Terry