Deposits on bottles are back!

Filed in Blog by on April 7, 2010 7 Comments
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olive oil in glass bottle fromFour Oaks Deli

olive oil in glass bottle fromFour Oaks Deli

Well they are in one small shop in Ledbury.

We’ve completely changed our shopping habits lately, thanks to Mr Green announcing he is ‘going green’. This means he is on his annual raw food diet which usually starts in May and lasts the duration of the summer.

This year however, due to a rapidly expanding waistline, he bought his start date forward and told me two weeks ago (after I’d bought enough meat to make curries for the week) that there was no more beer and curry until autumn.

Fortunately, Little Miss Green was on a growth spurt week so I made pies, soups, pasta sauces, invited a few friends around for tea and we managed to get through everything sans food waste.A radical change in diet calls for a change in shopping habits, so now we go to the market town of Ledbury to a rather delicious Organic Farm shop. The last time I shopped there LMG was a large, hungry bump inside my tummy. I used to get the most amazing cravings for apples and carrots; so much so that Little miss Green was born with a tinge of orange on her. The midwives thought she was jaundiced. Little did they know she had been eating a lot of raw carrots …

Unfortunately our favourite organic farm shop shut down during the foot and mouth saga, so we went elsewhere. A month or so ago, however, we heard that Handley Organics was back in business and we couldn’t wait to go and see what it was like.

We were NOT disappointed. Everything we want is in there – fruit, vegetables and salads to keep us all happy along with an Aladdin’s cave of  storecupboard standbys. What I love is that Little miss green can pick anything up in that shop, look at me with those big brown eyes  and I don’t have to tell her to put it back because it’s full of rubbish. She’s in organic chocolate heaven.

A few doors down the road from Handley Organics is a deli called Four Oaks. A wonderful smell hits your nose as you are walking past of freshly baked pies and bread. Mr Green went in there to buy his cheese (in his own reusable container of course) when I spotted something rather exciting. It was a refill for Olive Oil. Not only that, but you had a massive £2 deposit if you took back the original bottle!

A very generous £2 deposit when you return your glass bottle

A very generous £2 deposit when you return your glass bottle

You can also buy lose olives, coffee beans, pate, and all sorts of other deli things, many of which I’d never seen before. We also learned, through having a chat with the lady working in there, that Ledbury have plastics collections from their kerbside which includes yogurt pots.

Now I wonder if I could exchange a few yogurt pots each week for some of her green waste …

What about you – have you seen a deposit on bottles recently?

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About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (7)

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  1. Oh you make me “green” (scuse the pun) with envy; how I would love to have a couple of shops like that near me.

    When we holidayed in Cornwall a few years back it was amazing to see the little organic shops everywhere.

    The best I have is a small wholefood shop in the next town, which is good for dry things but not fresh produce, hence my veg box delivery,

  2. Poppy says:

    I’m now frantically searching for an excuse to go to Ledbury! Just looked at the map and it would be so easy when we go to pick J up on Saturday, but sadly we have to be back here by lunchtime, so unlikely to have the time. btw I love the M50! How sad am I? It’s so different to the other motorways – very empty and very rural 😉 I love it 😀

  3. Julie Day says:

    I wish lots of shops did that all over the country. Even better doing it for plastic bags and packaging. I am sure it would be an incentive to people not to use plastics so often.

  4. Mrs Green says:

    @maisie dalziel: Hi Maisie, thank goodness for the veg box deliveries; they make such a difference. I am rather spoiled around here with our choice of organic farm shops…

    @Poppy: Well your excuse could be to come and see me! Bring J with you and he and LMG can climb trees. Yes, the M50 is a rather quaint motorway LOL!

    @Julie Day: Hi Julie, I think you are right. There is a wonderful shop called Unpackaged; have you seen it? http://beunpackaged.com/

  5. Sarah says:

    Hmm, I drive down the M50 a couple of times a year….

  6. H0gg!t says:

    Well I like the M50 too!!

    Yesterday went to the Gower Peninsular, Wales to take a look at the Gower Wildflower Centre. Had a lovely meal, all locally produced and then browsed the shelves in their deli. Went over to look at two smallish metal milk churns… Olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar on tap, reusable old fashioned pop bottles and a £1 discount when refilling. How topical was that!!

    Even small places are starting on the grenn crusade! Long may it last!

    Be going down there more often, ended up with an impromptu visit to the beach – deserted and totally beautiful and a wih to take a really old fashioned caravan beach holiday this year! Heavenly!

  7. Mrs Green says:

    @Sarah: We must meet!

    @H0gg!t: Oh H0gg!t; I was sitting in the sun yesterday with the desire to drive that instant to Oxwich Bay for the night. Mr G and I used to take off on a whim pre kids and camp for the night overlooking the sea – it’s such a special place. Now I need to go just to visit the Wildflower centre to see their oils; how timely!
    Glad you had such a lovely time.

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