Sustainable shopping

Hey everyone,

I hope you enjoy your last days before the holidays, now that university is over for this year.

For today I would like to talk about sustainable shopping. There are some things that are quite obvious and easy but some others could be new to you and if you are interested, you can give it a try.

Let’s start with the obvious one. Whenever you go grocery shopping, just take a little bag, a backpack or something similar with you and place your groceries in those, instead of buying the plastic bags from the shops. It’s a small step but it reduces your plastic consumption.

The same thing for reusable cups and bottles. Nowadays you can buy them at almost every coffee shop or café, they are not expensive and if you are a coffee lover like me, then you will definitely use it every day.

Those are some basic tips and I bet most of you knew things like that, or heard something about them before. Let’s talk about some other advice now that might be new to you. The first one will be about zero waste grocery shopping.

There is a place in Digbeth (check out my previous blog for more information about this area) called ‘The Clean Kilo’. It’s a zero waste shop, which means they use no packaging or plastic when selling their – mostly vegan – products. Just bring your own boxes, glasses, bags etc., get the amount you want of pasta, rice, nuts, spices, oils, tea, coffee, vegetables or many other things, weigh it and pay exactly what you bought. A great shop with great items and a very sustainable system.

The other advice I have for you is to buy your clothes in second-hand shops. Since the clothes are already produced, it costs way less in carbon emissions and you can find clothes that are so significantly reduced in price but of great quality, you won’t trust your eyes. Check out Oasis or look out for Kilo Sales in Digbeth, events where you don’t pay for every item, but the whole amount in a kilo price.

Alright, that’s it for today. Goodbye!

CG