From The Ground Up in Tubber has sustainability goal
ONE OF Sligo’s newest businesses has opened with an emphasis on sustainability and eco-friendliness.
From The Ground Up opened in Tubbercurry in January – becoming Sligo’s first refill station in the process.
The business is operated by Jenny French-Malone, a Sligo town native who moved to the south Sligo town 11 years ago. Before exploring the idea of a shop last year, she explained how From The Ground Up grew from a market stall after she decided to take her efforts at home to a new, local audience. Jenny said: “From The Ground Up was a lockdown project. We have been good at home in growing our own vegetables, working our land and we thought we would come into town and show people what we do with a stall at Sligo Farmers’ Market.
“This was Sligo’s first refill station and we brought refill products which ranged from washing up liquid, hand soap and shampoo. We then moved on to Achonry Market and also opened in The Square in Tubbercurry and from the three markets we have just seen it grow from there.” The shop is plastic free and stocks organic products aplenty, in addition to having refill stations which cover various needs.
Jenny’s business is based on the need for sustainability in the products we buy and that a culture of reusing and recycling is something that stands to be much better than it is in Ireland.
“There is a real need for this because everything we get now is easily thrown away. We have to concentrate on having resuable products. Reuse and recycle is something we aren’t great at doing in this country, but it is something we need to do.” At this stage you might be asking yourself ‘what is a refill station?’.
It is more or less exactly what it sounds like. A refill station allows you the opportunity to refill your containers, instead of buying new ones.
Jenny outlined the variety in which the stations operate within her store.
She said: “We have a refill station for three different purposes. We have one for cleaning and self-care products, one for herbs and spices and another for dry foods. You can bring your own containers and refill, it is all done in weight.
“You can also bring containers like washing up liquid bottles and laundry liquid and have those refilled here too. We also recycle old glass bottles and they can be used here as well.”
She went on to point out that refill stations are largely exclusive to big cities, but that they can be implemented anywhere which has been supported by the response she has received from visitors to From The Ground Up.
“Normally places like this only pop up in larger cities like Galway and Belfast. We saw a niche in the market and we felt a fantastic place like Sligo should have one.
“This hasn’t been done here before and since we started this it has really taken off, people are coming in, eager to learn what we do and return with containers to be refilled instead of them ending up in a landfill. “One of our containers which holds 20 litres saves in the region of 60 bottles going to landfill – that’s just one container.”
Jenny feels the feedback she has received is reflective of changing mindsets as more people are trying to put a greater emphasis on reusing and recycling.
“It’s amazing how many people are eager to learn themselves and are coming back. “People are really started to think about their food sources and the sustainability factor of everything coming into their house.
“With a store like this, people know we will only supply the best in quality.”
In addition to their refill station, From The Ground Up is also a great retailer of food from Sligo-based businesses and just five weeks after opening has already expanded on their offering with a deli-style takeaway and a gift shop.
“We work with a lot of Irish businesses. Not everything can be sourced here, but we work with as many as we can.
“We started with a company in Cork and we now support several Sligo business including Carrow Coffee, Shells Bakery, Sligo Wellness Centre, Sweet Beat and Flo’s Jam.” From The Ground Up is based on Mountain Road, in the building where the NCBI shop used to be and is open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.