Greener Habits
Mae Dorricott
We were able to chat to Hannah, who like many of us has seen some of our most beautiful coastal areas plagued by plastic. In this interview, she tells us how this encouraged her new venture into starting her own business - a plastic-free shop, encouraging more of us to increase our Greener Habits.
Hi Hannah! Tell us a little bit about yourself
I am a children's nurse by background, but have always had a passion for the environment, travelling and animals.
I love exploring and a future goal of mine is to travel to India via train. When not working at my shop, you will often find me dancing, singing or walking my animal companion Khaleesi the Chihuahua in the local park.
What made you want to begin Greener Habits?
For many years before starting Greener Habits Co, I had been trying to live more sustainably and plastic free. I used a reusable water bottle, had a reusable tote bag and was trying out things like shampoo bars rather than bottles. But it was whilst travelling in Bali and Brazil in 2017 that I saw first-hand just how bad the plastic plague was.
On a beach in Bali Hannah discovered how bad the plastic problem was. Photo: Hannah Rose
I saw waves washing up filled with plastic waste and sandy beaches coated in plastic. On one small stretch of beach in Bali I did a beach clean-up filling several bin bags with plastic food packaging, plastic bags, straws, plastic cups, and most worryingly tiny plastic fragments - all in the space of about 30 minutes.
During these trips I started to reflect on just how much plastic I used in my everyday life, deciding there and then I needed to change my lifestyle completely.
Once home, I started to research plastic free living and products. It was so difficult to find alternatives to almost all of the plastic items we use daily - like toothbrushes, beauty products, sanitary items to name a few. So, I decided I wanted to do something about it.
That’s when the idea for Greener Habits Co was created 4 years ago. I wanted to make it easy and accessible for people to make these swaps and to ditch plastic coated items for plastic free, vegan and natural alternatives. To help others change the world one greener habit at a time.
Plastic is washed ashore and coats beaches, showing us exactly where our plastic waste ends up. Photo: Hannah Rose
How does it make you feel to see the increase in demand for plastic free products?
It's really encouraging to see a growing demand for plastic free products. It brings me hope that as the demand increases, all businesses will be forced to adapt to change to meet this demand and that more zero waste shops like mine will emerge.
I usually find that once people are aware of the damage single use plastics does and how little is actually recycled or recyclable, they are usually really keen to find alternatives and make the switch to a plastic free life.
The COVID lockdown had an impact on us all – how did it affect your business?
The lockdowns impacted the business greatly. It led us to change how we did a lot of things. We put almost all of our food online (we had just non-food items online before), which was quite a big task in itself. We really wanted to help cater for those in isolation. This was a challenge, but it was something we wanted to offer at some point anyway. Just perhaps not so soon after opening the physical shop!
We also started a click and collect service, which we encouraged customers to use, as no entry was allowed to the shop for the duration of lockdown. Click and collect was implemented mainly to stop potential queues outside. Stopping entry to the shop was a tough decision, as customers like to browse and discuss all the alternative products we offer, which was a lot harder from the door.
Before lockdown, we encouraged customers to bring their own containers to shop, but during lockdown we offered food in paper bags and only allowed customers to use their own bottles for liquids, as long as they are clean and dry. This obviously meant we were creating more waste.
For the duration of lockdown, our foot fall dropped significantly, which was expected but obviously worrying. We know people had to isolate or go out really infrequently and we couldn’t compete with bigger supermarkets offering more product options in one place and regular delivery options.
It has been a challenge, but it has made us see things differently and adapt, which has been positive in many ways. There are a lot of lessons from the last years which we’ll take forward into the future.
Greener Habits Co in-person store. Photo: Hannah Rose
What has been your biggest lesson learnt since starting your business?
It really has been the biggest, scariest, most rewarding and growth-filled years of my life. It is almost impossible to choose the biggest lesson, but something that I have been reflecting on lately is just how important it is to take a step back from the business and rest. I find it incredibly difficult to switch off from it, because as well as being 'work' it’s also my passion. But, burnout is a real thing. I lose my passion and creativity if I don't take a break, as we all do. So, I am learning to take time out, to rest, and to get a better work life balance.
Something else that feeds into the need to rest and get a good work life balance, is the importance of finding team members that you trust that share your vision and that you can leave your business with in confidence. I am extremely lucky to now have my friend Tally as a team mate. She is amazing, as passionate about plastic free living and veganism as me and I can completely trust her with the shop.
Why do you think it’s so hard to go plastic-free in the UK?
The main barrier to going plastic free here in the UK is having access to products that come without plastic packaging, which can be particularly difficult with most items, but especially food items. It seems almost everything from a toothbrush to an apple comes in plastic wrap. Although there has been an increase in zero waste shops across the UK, they are still few and far between meaning not everyone has access to them.
Shopping zero waste can also be more time consuming at first. I think leading busier lifestyles makes it harder to go plastic free. It can take a while to get used to cleaning and remembering to take your jars and cloth bags to refill and to adapt to the prep that goes into zero waste cooking, for example pre-soaking beans or lentils to cook with.
Price can be something that puts people off too, or that stops some being able to access plastic free products. Some products are more expensive plastic free. But, lots of products are also cheaper plastic free.
Do you think we need more plastic free stores?
Yes, absolutely. We need plastic free bulk stores on every street corner making it accessible to everyone everywhere so it becomes the norm. It used to be the normal way to shop, so its not new or impossible. For example, when my grandmother was younger she used to go out with reusable bags and baskets buying all of her produce free from packaging as everything came in sacks or big containers.
Bulk shopping this way also helps to tackle food waste since it means you can buy the amounts you need, rather than pre-packaged quantities which can easily lead to food wastage. For me, this really is the future of eco-friendly shopping.
What advice would you give to individuals looking to start their plastic free journey?
Take it one step at a time.
Start by taking a good look at what products you use which currently come in plastic and gradually replace them with plastic free products as they run out or break/become unusable. It’s simple, but a great way to start.
It would have been overwhelming to try and replace everything at once as well as wasteful to just replace some items because they are plastic, like plastic Tupperware.
I started my plastic free journey by simply buying a reusable water bottle and ditching plastic disposable bottles for good. Then I started replacing bathroom items, like replacing my toothbrush with a bamboo one when I needed a replacement. Breaking it down like this makes the journey more manageable and less scary, but also more affordable.
Thanks Hannah for helping more of us take little steps towards a greener future!
To follow Hannah’s journey further you can follow Greener Habits Co. on Instagram @greenerhabitatsco and check out the website.