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Earth.Food.Love was set up by the former Manchester United fullback Richard Eckersley and his wife Nicola. At the peak of his career Mr Eckersley fell out of love with football and into saving the world by teaching the world how to reduce their waste with the launch of his zero waste shop…
Speaking about his decision to lead a kore concious : “We have a 15-month-old daughter, Willow, and I have woken up and become vegan. I became more conscious about how much we consume and how we can tread more lightly on the planet.
Inspiration from Berlin
The couple were inspired to launch their venture after reading an article about Unverpackt Kiel, a zero waste shop in Berlin. The couple say it opened their eyes as they didn’t knew shops like this existed until we saw an image of their shop, which was their ‘ah ha’ moment.
They found themselves wishing there was a shop like that for them to use in the UK, but there wasn’t- so they created one!
Shoppers must bring their own pots and bags
The supermarket in Totnes, Devon, asks shoppers to bring their own pots, jars, bottles and paper bags, but does offer compostable paper bags for those who forget or are visiting for the first time. They do sell some liquids including maple syrup and apple cider vinegar, and customers are advised to bring along a well-sealed container for these to avoid spillages on the way home!
“Nothing comes through the door here unless it’s unpackaged and organic. We sell everything that’s dried, so you’ve got grains, beans, pulses, legumes, rice, seeds, flours, sugars, seaweed and spaghetti, yeast flakes and stock. We’ve got herbs and spices and dried fruit. We also have two grinding machines so you can make your own nut butter.”
Goods on offer include 50g of Assam blend tea for £3.50, 60g of Cornish seaweed for £4.72, and half a kilo of muesli for £2.17. All the products on sale are delivered to the store in 25kg sacks which are returned when empty to be refilled. The couple even offer a 10% discount if you purchase over 2kgs of any produce.
Mr Eckersley said: “We are more into re-using than recycling, selling things that can be used again and again. We tend to get things from small suppliers as they work very well with us. We think this is the future of shopping.”
Earth.Food.Love don’t just sell food as they’re keen to eliminate the amount of waste caused by household and beauty products too. The store’s Zero Waste Lifestyle collection includes sanitary products, metal razors and bamboo toothbrushes that allow you to replace the bristles when they wear out – which is hugely beneficial to the planet as every toothbrush anyone has ever thrown away is sadly still in landfill.
The only thing you won’t find at Earth.Food.Love is fresh produce like fruits and veggies. This is due to the fact that there is a local market in the town once a week that has plenty of organic greengrocers in attendance with an abundance of fresh produce to choose from.
