Want to know the best ways to shop zero waste whilst living or working in a big city? Here I give you some tips on shopping zero waste in London from independent shops to supermarket chains.

Following a low waste lifestyle may seem challenging, especially when it comes to food shopping considering you have to do it on a regular basis and everything is wrapped in plastic!

Buying package free in London is fairly accessible and easy nowadays, with bulk stores and refill shops opening up all over the city, supermarkets slowly responding to consumer demand for less packaging or recyclable alternatives to plastic, and cafes and restaurants allowing you to bring your own coffee cups and tupperwares for takeaways. Here are some tips to help you take advantage of the eco-friendly options that London has to offer.

Bulk Stores:

The first and obvious choice when it comes to zero waste shopping are bulk stores; where you can bring your own up-cycled jars, bottles and boxes to refill with dried goods, oil, vinegar, washing liquids, etc… Here are a few of my favourites across the city: (remember to bring all your empty containers and reusable bags!)

West:

As a society, we live in a world where we expect everything to be instant and accessible- including our food. It has become the norm for apples to be available all year round, and to be able to buy strawberries in December. If you fancy a banana, you just go to the closest supermarket- it’s that easy! We have become so disconnected from the food we eat that we don’t question why we’re eating a banana from Ecuador or enjoying raspberries when there’s snow on the ground. The damage this disassociation is doing to our environment is widespread, and changes need to be made urgently.

Currently, 95% of our fruit comes from abroad, along with over half of our vegetables. The carbon emissions produced by this transportation is greatly damaging the environment. In fact, studies have shown that if air freight is used for a product, the carbon emissions of that product go up by a factor of 10. Buying British produce obviously reduces these carbon emissions, however, it doesn’t completely solve the problem if you’re still buying from across the country. Ideally, we need to be looking at buying locally. If you buy from a shop selling local produce, it’s likely that the food has been grown 10-30 miles away, and is coming straight from the farm that grew it. It is also likely that this food has been harvested within the last 24 hours (rather than over a week ago), meaning it will be much fresher.

Buying in season is also vital. You can buy British tomatoes throughout the year, however, this does not mean they are in season all of the time. When not in season, they will have been grown under heated glass for much of the year. For tomatoes grown out of season under heated glass in the UK, CO2 emissions are about 2.5kg per kg of fruit. When you compare this to the CO2 impact of trucking them in from Spain, where they grow naturally, the emissions of carbon is 10 times greater. This shows that although it is important to buy locally, it is even more important to buy in season.

If we want to save our planet it is vital that we start being more conscious about where our food is coming from. Making some small changes isn’t hard but can make a big difference, and you might even discover something new you like along the way.

The benefits of buying locally and in season include:

•A lower carbon impact

•Supporting your local area

•Fresher food

•Produce is likely to be organic

•Higher appreciation for what you are eating (not having access to strawberries all year round means when you do eat one, it will taste all the better)

Local and Seasonal Shopping Tips:

Let's get yourself hydrated and boost your metabolism with the refreshing infused water which you can make it at home with some leftover parts of fruits.

Here we have an idea to use apple cores and some ginger to make infused water that could aid your digestive system with the powerful antioxidants. You can always make different recipes with your favourite fruits as the benefits are mostly the same :)

Japan has a lot of beautiful and mindful culture, arts, and ideas. In this video, we want to share the method called "FUROSHIKI" which it's the arts of gift wrapping by using a piece of beautiful cloth.

And you can make different styles of the bag in Furoshiki way too. We like it so much since we can reduce our waste by using only a piece of cloth! :)

Adding some apple peels into the baking batter is not a bad idea! Here is an example of how to give the more flavour and smell to the simple oats breakfast cookies :)