The Review - RESTAURANTS Published: 15 November 2007
?Catherine Conway watches Siân Berry, the Green Party candidate for Mayor of London, open Unpackaged
If packaging isn’t your bag...
A new food shop is supporting the green cause by asking customers to bring their own containers, writes Jamie Welham
THERE was a time when going green was the preserve of sandal wearers, alfalfa eaters and Swampy – but these days it seems everyone’s at it.
Airlines, politicians, high street shops and car manufacturers are all flexing their green muscles.
But do you ever get the feeling that the talk is mere window-dressing – empty gestures to satisfy the marketing men? Well, one woman not interested in smoke and mirrors is Catherine Conway, whose latest venture, Unpackaged, requires shoppers to bring their own packaging before they can buy any groceries. “None of our products has any packaging,” says Catherine, who opened for business last Thursday. “We put the green agenda at the heart of our business model by asking customers to bring their own Tupperware. If they don’t, we will sell them containers on a one-off basis. “The whole point is that unnecessary packaging is a waste of resources and a waste of money. “Packaging increases the cost to the environment and the cost to customers’ pockets.”
The shop, which is the first of its kind in the capital, is impressive, and will pull in punters on its looks alone. Situated on the site of a former dairy factory in Amwell Street, Clerkenwell, Unpackaged has been praised by politicians and celebrities for its innovative approach to what is often seen as an intractable problem.
It turns out recycling is only a partial solution because of the hidden environmental cost of transporting packaging to China for processing.
But will customers really be bothered to take their own containers every time they want some more rice?
Catherine said: “We have tried to make it as easy as possible for people. For the food and products we sell, it is a highly plausible idea. Most of our customers will be local, but I honestly don’t think people mind doing their bit and it certainly make sense financially.”
The shop sells fruit, vegetables and whole foods as well as organic cleaning products and household goods that are all locally sourced and sold in gigantic bins and vats.
It was three years in the making, the logical step from the two successful market stalls that Catherine opened in the East End last year. But what inspired her to ditch the security of a job in the charity sector to go it alone in the cut-throat food industry?
She said: “The charity sector and what I’m doing now are more closely related than you might think. I just got fed up always chasing money for funding -– there were too many closed doors. I managed to get a grant for my start-up costs and the rest is history. “The business is run as a social enterprise and, although I can’t compete with the chemical-sprayed foods of the supermarkets, our prices are actually very well matched to rival set-ups. I also felt that much of the green agenda was being skewed by too much doom-saying and local people would respond to something more positive. “There is no reason why in the future the model can’t be used in lots of different shops and I hope I can encourage people to do this.”
• For more information visit www.beunpackaged.com. Unpackaged, 42 Amwell Street, EC1R 1XT
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