Scientist to open city’s first ‘no waste, no packaging’ supermarket
ASUPERMARKET with a difference is coming to Birmingham – there will be NO packaged goods.
Local scientist Tom Pell has come up with a way of stopping shoppers throwing away the mountain of plastic wrappers, bottles and tubs – he’s banned them.
Instead of adding to landfill, people will bring their own containers to The Clean Kilo, which opens in Digbeth early next year.
Then they will fill them with everything from pasta, rice and flour to milk, toiletries and cleaning prod- ucts. All the products will be stored in gravity wall-mounted dispensers so that people can dispense as much, or as little, as they need.
There will also be a deli selling cheese, ham and cured meats, which will be weighed before paying.
Tom says that there will be easily recyclable paper bags for those who need them.
Products for home baking, like sugar and flour, together with cereals, pulses and nuts will be on offer, and there will also be lots of spices and herbs.
Dairy items such as milk and creme fraiche will be available and there will be a fresh orange juice machine similar to those found in cafés.
Baked goods will be brought in twice a week from a bakery, and fresh fruit, vegetables and eggs will be supplied by a farm in Lichfield.
People will be able to grind their own coffee beans in store and choose from eight different loose teas.
There will also be a peanut butter grinder and Tom hopes to add an almond butter grinder, too. Items like dried fruit will be scooped out in a similar way to a pick and mix stand at a cinema.
There will be lots of products to cater for those with allergies, such as gluten-free pastas and flours and soya and almond milks, too.
People will also be able to pick up washing up liquid, detergent spray, cleaners, shampoos, conditioners and moisturisers.
“I lived in Australia for four years and used to shop at a store where you could buy in bulk using your own containers,” says Tom, 31, a PhD chemist, from Lichfield.
“The difficulty in Australia was the shop was next door to a regular
It’s important to have it accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy
supermarket and everything cost two to three times the price. I thought it would be great to open a shop here where you could weigh and pay whilst making the prices compete as much as possible with supermarkets.
“It’s important to have it accessible to everyone, not just the wealthy.
“The more people that can shop packaging-free, the better it will be for the environment.”
Clean Kilo will also offer a click and collect service so customers can drop off their own containers and collect them later.
Tom is launching a Crowdfunding campaign to help fund the fitting of the shop.
Find out more details at www.thecleankilo.co.uk.
Tom Pell