Making changes to your everyday life with the aim of becoming more environmentally-friendly can often feel a bit like bringing a dustpan and brush to clean up after a hurricane, especially when plastic is so ubiquitous, but thankfully there always seem to be people who are searching for practical solutions and making those changes feel more achievable.
I’d previously heard of zero-waste shops opening in New York and London but having just Googled ‘zero-waste grocery stores’ it’s quickly become apparent that they’ve sprung up all over the globe, everywhere from Vancouver and Birmingham, to Singapore and Goa. And now Sheffield has its very own zero-waste store. Enter Unwrapped.
Opened in Crookes earlier this year by pals Kirsty and Bex, Unwrapped is inspired by their love of the natural world and all things eco, and its purpose is to make zero-waste and ethical purchasing easier for the folks of Sheffield. To encourage people to start making zero-waste choices, Unwrapped’s focus is on accessibility so they stock plenty of weekly essentials and cater to a range of budgets. The shop is fully vegetarian, with a good range of vegan products and they use an evidence-based approach when deciding which goods to sell to minimise the presence of environmentally-damaging products such as palm oil.
To give you an idea of what you’ll find at Unwrapped, here’s a quick run-down of some of the goods they sell – baking ingredients, grains, cereals, dried fruit, oils, vinegars, honey, nuts, seeds, pasta, beans, lentils, sundried tomatoes, soya mince, herbs and spices, salt, snacks, coffee, tea, household liquid refills, toiletry refills, reusable straws (steel and bamboo), shampoo bars, soap, deodorants, menstrual cups, beeswax food wraps, steel water bottles, mascara, blusher and lip balm.
So be sure to keep hold of any reusable and refillable containers you already have at home such as takeaway boxes, jars, tubs and bottles, because you’ll be able to use them again and again at Unwrapped, cutting down on waste and moving closer to a zero-waste life. You’ll find Unwrapped at 152-154 Crookes, S10 1UH and they’re open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am-6pm and Saturday 9:30am-5:30pm.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unwrappedshop/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theunwrappedshop/
Words: Felicity Jackson
