Green Spring Clean

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Our resident blogger Lucy Young @_Oceancityliving visits some of Plymouth’s best eco-stores to stock up on kit for the spring clean. 

Spring is definitely on its way: the days are getting longer and nature is beginning to bloom at last. But as the daylight increases and the sunlight spills in, the downside is…the dust shows up! The windows look smeary and the cobwebs have collected…so it’s time for a good old-fashioned Spring clean.

But these days you needn’t flood your home with harmful chemicals and a plethora of plastic bottles. There are plenty of sustainable swaps out there and some great local shops to buy them from so you can clean with a conscience and support independent businesses too.

Over the last couple of years, a quiet refill-ution has been taking place across the city and Plymouth is now home to a number of eco-friendly, zero-waste, refillable shops which offer fantastic alternative cleaning products alongside a range of store cupboard essentials, fresh, organic and plant-based foods, herbs and spices and self-care wares. The idea of a zero-waste shop is that you take along your own reusable jars or containers to fill up and buy what you need which is then priced up by weight. The shops buy direct from suppliers who deliver in bulk, cutting out unnecessary packaging and therefore leaving nothing for the consumer to throw away. The large containers delivered by suppliers are then returned to be cleaned and refilled too which is kinder to the environment than simply recycling. This idea of a circular economy has been catching on across Plymouth as consumers look for a greener and often more economical way of shopping.

So, with my Janner bag full of jars at the ready I set off to visit the city’s best eco-stores to stock up on some kinder cleaning kit that helps reduce single-use plastic and uses natural products and ingredients that are less harmful to the environment…

Zero-waste, refillable shop Jar was opened in 2019 by sisters Caroline and Helen when they discovered there wasn’t a food refill shop within 20 miles of the city. Their first premises was in the old Plymouth Arts Centre building on Looe Street, but they recently moved around the corner to another historic venue on Batter Street just before Christmas 2021. Jar offer a huge range of zero waste and sustainable home and lifestyle products including refillable dry goods and store cupboard essentials as well as cleaning products and eco-friendly plastic-free alternatives.

Jar stock the top three rated Ethical Consumer cleaning brands by Greenscents, Sesi and Miniml, all of which are environmentally friendly, super effective and made in the UK. They are available to buy from huge metal drums with handy, easy to use pumps in-store, so all you need to take with you is a suitable container to decant them into (or pick up a clean, donated jar in-store to fill up). One of their best sellers is a really concentrated organic washing up liquid and surface cleanser by Greenscents Organics, based in Somerset. Its super-concentrated formula means a little goes a long way and its kind to your home, body and the environment too.

Or if you prefer to give some old-fashioned cleaning methods a try (like your granny would have used) then Jar also stock some traditional products like bicarbonate of soda or white vinegar to try. Previous generations swore by these all-natural hero products and they’re still popular today for a truly green spring clean. You can even have a go making your own with organic castile soap, which is an amazing oil-based all-purpose cleaner that can be used as a hand wash and body soap, dish soap made into a paste with bicarb for serious scrubbing and more.

Jar also have a great selection of coconut scrubbers, plastic-free cloths and sponges and bamboo dish brushes, which having tried them, I’ve found to be much more effective than the average plastic sponge scourer or j-cloth. Plus, they look prettier in my kitchen too!

After their success on the Barbican and keen to help build a kinder, greener local economy, Jar now have plans to open a second Plymouth shop on Mutley’s Hyde Park Road next month. Jar want to tap into the idea of the ‘15-minute city’, whereby more people will be able to walk or bike to shops and services. They currently have a Crowdfunder campaign open to help secure some local authority match funding so they can offer the same excellent shopping experience in their second Plymouth store. You can donate a one-off amount or buy annual membership which gives you a discount on your shop as well as other goodies throughout the year.

Meanwhile, over on The Broadway in Plymstock, Earthkind Events opened their own shop at the end of last year after the success of their delivery service and regular Refills on Wheels stops in Gertie the mobile zero-waste van. Gertie was the brainchild of Earthkind founder Naomi and travels around Plymouth and South Devon offering accessible plastic-free shopping visiting towns and communities that don’t already have their own zero-waste shop.

Earthkind provide a plastic-free shopping experience offering ‘earth kind’ products that are good for you and the planet. All their stock is environmentally friendly, ethically produced and, where possible, locally sourced. They offer over 500 items in-store including many great cleaning products, from dish brushes to laundry liquids, which are really popular. Their eco-friendly refillables are great replacements for the harsh chemicals found in some big brands which can be harmful to the environment, you and your home. Plus, they smell amazing too! Yorkshire-based Miniml deliver their heavenly-scented, natural cleaning liquids in big barrels for self-service refill which are then returned to be cleaned and filled up again at source. Earthkind also stock 100% plant-powered home cleaning sprays, in stylishly sustainable and refillable aluminium bottles, from Devon brand Elmkind.

Earthkind have recently launched their own membership scheme with rewards and discounts for members and are also offering a growing range of events and workshops, including film screenings, coffee mornings and make your own workshops.

Other popular refill stores in Plymouth include Green Shoots Eco, opened by Louise Bohana in Devonport the week lockdown was lifted in April last year. From small beginnings, Green Shoots Eco now stocks over 350 products and provides a one-stop-shop for all the refillables you use in your kitchen and bathroom, from toilet cleaner to dishwasher rinse aid, plus a great range of biodegradable and compostable kitchen cloths, sponges and reusable bottles. Green Shoots Eco also prides itself on using local suppliers where possible and 99% of stock is bought from the UK. For those who can’t physically come to the shop, carbon-free delivery is available in the PL1 and PL2 postcodes using a local e-bike delivery company.

Meanwhile, on Union Street, laundry and ironing service Laundry@55 also have you covered for green Spring cleaning. They stock best-selling eco-cleaning products from ethical brands Bio-d, Ecover and Fill and offer a refill self-service for home detergents. One of the shop’s favourite plastic-free, vegan, toxic-free cleaning products are Ocean Savers concentrated sachets. You simply drop a sachet into a bottle, add water, shake and you’re ready to go! You can also buy a variety of eco-friendly, natural cleaning tools, sponges and scourers at Laundry@55 as well.

Over at Bretonside, Farley’s Food Cooperative also opened last year selling fresh fruit and veg as well as daily bread and a range of other local produce and sustainable goods, including refillables and eco-cleaning products. The members-owned and run grocery store is housed in the building where the namesake Rusks used to be baked and has the feel of an old-fashioned grocer’s brought up to date with some modern self-service kit. As a food cooperative, Farley’s operates on a membership basis, where members have a say in how they do business, have the option of offering time and skills to the co-op, plus they get a discount on products in-store.

Plymouth online eco-store The Mindful Hive also offers plastic and toxin-free products from ethical companies via their website and also at local markets and events such as Native Makers and the Good Food Market at the Royal William Yard. Founder Olivia saw first-hand the damage single-use plastic does to marine life and the environment whilst travelling abroad, so launched The Mindful Hive to make it easier for people to shop consciously and live low waste. Olivia offers great advice on sustainable swaps for body and home so you can switch and ditch single-use plastic for good. The Mindful Hive have some great starter kits of eco-friendly essentials, such as kitchen cleaning sets, which are a great starting place for people who want to get into eco-friendly cleaning. And at the moment they are offering 15% off sustainable spring cleaning with the code SPRING15.

So, there’s no better time to get stuck in with a bit of elbow grease and some green spring cleaning kit. Your home will be sparkling and as clear as your (eco-) conscience in no time…

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Funded by the Reopening High Street Safely Fund, part funded by the European Regional Development Fund and HM Government