With talk of how to save the planet on everyone's lips, lots of us are looking for ways to cut down on how much plastic we use. And one shop that opened on the North East coast last year is helping locals to do just that.
The idea to open zero waste shop All Good In The Hood in Monkseaton came to owner Kerri Roffe in the midst of the pandemic, when she no longer felt comfortable going to a big supermarket because of Covid-19 and found herself searching for a way to shop more locally.
Feeling that the area was crying out for a different way of shopping, and inspired by other zero waste stores in the region such as Buy The Kilo in Tynemouth, Kerry opened All Good In The Hood on Cauldwell Lane in August 2021.
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The shop now has over 600 items on sale, including dried staples like pasta and rice, fresh fruit and vegetables, cakes and sweets, oils and herbs, cleaning products, and toiletries.
Many of the goods are locally sourced to help support makers in the North East, and it also stocks a variety of specialised vegan items.
Customers can bring in their own containers to fill up on the products they need, helping to cut down on unnecessary packaging.
“The whole ethos of our shop is that you only buy as much as you want, and you can buy it often so there's no food waste and you're eliminating all that plastic waste,” Kerry explains.
As the first and only zero waste shop in the village, Kerry was unsure how successful it would be - particularly with the added uncertainty surrounding Covid-19.
“It was terrifying,” she admits, “because we just didn’t know if anybody would take to the idea of coming out to the shops again in a pandemic.”
But since opening its doors, Kerry says that the response to All Good In The Hood from locals has been “better than I could ever have dreamed of”.
“The local community has really taken us to heart,” she smiles. “We started off getting a few people in the doors, just kind of curious. And now we've got more and more people who have really turned to the plastic free way of living, which is great.”
This January All Good In The Hood has been taking part in the Just One Bottle campaign, designed to encourage more people to try refill shops across the UK by bringing in just one bottle to fill up.
Watch the video above to take a look around All Good In The Hood.
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