Buy from a Food Co-op to reduce packaging waste
I know this isn’t for everybody - if you live on your own, have limited storage or have to watch the budget carefully, then bulk buying isn’t an option.
However, for those who can, buying in bulk from a co-op is a great way to reduce the amount of packaging you have to dispose of. The irony is, that in the long term, it can save you money because you can buy goods more cheaply.
We buy from Suma food co-op. We get together with a group of friends and each put in an order. Some co-operatives split open the packs and share them, which means you don’t end up with too much of one thing. This is great for staples such as dried fruits, rice, cereals and flour. Buying from Suma saves you 1/3 - 1/4 of most shop prices.
Setting up a food co-op is pretty straight forward if you keep the group small. All you need is a group of reliable friends, someone with a bank account and someone to order and receive the items. Taking in the order can be time consuming and you need to be around for the day when the delivery is due; you also need to be very organised! Once the order is in, you contact everyone on the list and they come to collect their items.
Just be aware that when you make your purchases, you buy one large bag of something, rather than a pack with 6 small bags in. The latter will not help you reduce the amount of packaging you are left with at all!
Here’s an example of how you can save packaging waste by purchasing in bulk: We buy Ecover fabric conditioner. The packaging from 5 litres of fabric softener weighs 145 gms . The packaging from 1 litre of fabric softener weighs 52gms. If we were to buy 5 x 1ltr containers, they would weigh 260gms, which means we are reducing our packaging weight by 115gms.
How about you - are you a member of a food co-op - do you buy many goods in bulk and does this have an impact on the amount of waste you send to landfill or for recycling?
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The True Food Co-op buys BioD laundry stuff in huge containers from which we refill our 5l containers periodically. They started off as a group of friends, moved into an anyone-can-join, and are now on the verge of opening a shop!
@Ailbhe: Hi Ailbhe, It sounds like the True food co-op has really taken off - what an inspirational story!
Hi - Thanks for promoting food co-ops - we are also keen to promote them as a good way to reduce waste. If anyone needs help with setting up a food co-op Sustain can offer lots of free advice and support - for more information see our website http://www.foodcoops.org or e-mail foodcoops@sustainweb.org We are also trying to map all the food co-ops and buying groups across the country so if you run a food co-op please add your details via our website. Thanks Maresa
@Maresa Bossano: Hi Maresa, what a wonderful resource. Thanks so much for the heads up and keep up the great work.
Hi!
Thanks for supporting Suma. It’s a great privilege to be able others reduce their waste and lead more sustainable lifestyles. We’ve developed quite a few of our products recently to improve their ethical credentials, and make them more recyclable.
Our prepacked foods (nuts, seeds, lentils, beans, rice etc) are soon to be launched in recyclable pet 1 plastic bags, which are made from a high percentage of recycled content. There should be more information on this packaging in Feb/March, closer to the launch date.
Our museli’s have been redesigned so that both the inner plastic (pet 4) and outer cardboard box (from 80% recycled material) are both recyclable.
and we’re really proud of our own brand of cleaning products, Ecoleaf, as they are all made in the UK, and all containers are recyclable.
Thanks again for the post about our coop
Amy @ Suma
@Amy Beeton: Hello Amy, welcome to the site. Great news about your new packaging commitment. I asked, some time ago for a guest post from Suma, but nothing was forthcoming - perhaps you would like to rethink that and put something together for us so you can share exactly what you will be doing in more detail? We’re here to help spread the word and help our readers to reduce waste… Good luck with the packaging changes.
Hello,
I’m sorry about that. We’re really only getting up to date with blogging, social media, and the likes. A little bit slow of the mark, but we’d love to!
You can contact me direct at amyb@suma.coop and we can discuss potential ideas.
We’d really like to build on our web relationships and grow our affiliates who we can share information with.
Amy