PACK It In – Zero Waste Living has a shop in the middle of Worcester.

As we know plastic is convenient and useful but it doesn’t break down for years. If everything you buy comes wrapped or packed in plastic it fills your bins, either the green or the black one, much of it going in landfill – which is actually a commodity of limited supply.

Surprising amounts also seem to not make it into bins. The next step in reducing throw-away plastic after using your own bag to bring groceries home, is to go to a bulk bin store.

Pack It In offers the opportunity of buying the food without the plastic packaging.

The shop is in The Shambles and there is social-distancing in place. You show up with your own containers, weigh them, fill them with a variety of food and other stuff, weigh again and pay for the difference.

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The shop also sells containers for the purpose. It also takes orders and deliver – since having to do exactly that for the last three months.

The company is trying to make it easier to live without generating waste. The goods are ethically sourced and bulk purchased so as to enable people on low incomes to get food and other essentials without the packaging.

Where possible, the store buys organic and local and since going public two years ago has managed to get a significant number of institutions in Worcester to go plastic-free by not selling single-use plastic cups or straws.