A very happy Christmas to you all!

It goes without saying that none of us expected the year we’ve had; our love goes out to those who continue to suffer from the Covid pandemic, and our gratitude to every single key worker (and we mean all of you, especially our shop floor colleagues in retailers small and large who’ve worked so incredibly hard to keep the nation fed).  

It’s fair to say that when the pandemic started, we had no idea what it would mean for our work at Unpackaged, we wondered if issues around packaging would be de-prioritised as our clients focused on keeping food on shelves. 

Happily, it seemed the opposite was true. Once we’d got through the early weeks of helping our retailers safely continue to offer refills, we found ourselves inundated with some really great work, and haven’t really stopped! 

Here’s our round up of what we’ve been up to:

Cotswold Fayre X Unpackaged 

We’ve relaunched our UnpackagedAT units in partnership with Cotswold Fayre, the UK’s largest wholesaler to the independent food sector (and a B Corp too!). By joining forces we can offer a one stop solution of the equipment, the products and our unique training and ongoing support to help any independent retailer make a success of selling refills! Drop us a line to hear more about adding a refill unit to your store.

Abel & Cole Club Zero 

We started the year helping Abel & Cole launch an innovative Zero Waste home delivery solution - Club Zero - that offers groceries in reusable pots which are sent back to be washed and refilled, so zero single-use packaging waste for their customers.

Demand for Club Zero has been really high since day 1 and we look forward to working further with Abel & Cole to develop the range - the sky’s the limit!

Planet Organic Unpackaged Expansion

We’re delighted to be finishing off the year helping Planet Organic to open three brand new Unpackaged sections in their new stores in Chiswick, Ealing and Spitalfields.

You’ll be able to find the usual range of Unpackaged grocery items with some new favourites; as well as household cleaning and health & bodycare refills.

InnovateUK Funding - Revolutionary Reusable Supply Chain Solution

In June, we were very pleased to be awarded a grant from InnovateUK for a reusable supply chain solution we’ve been working on with our partners at CHEP who really understand reuse on a global scale! Using the grant, we were able to run a feasibility study to get feedback from across the UK grocery supply chain on the viability of our idea. Results were very encouraging and, although we can’t say much about it now, we’ll be developing the idea in 2021 with the aim of getting to live trials with multiple retailers so watch this space!

Setting Targets on Reuse - with WRAP & Greenpeace

2020 has also seen us delivering some behind the scenes strategic work on reuse for some of the larger retailers; as well as the UK Plastics Pact (WRAP) and a briefing document for Greenpeace. All separate projects but with a unifying theme of reuse; and especially how businesses should be making specific commitments to create, and meet, targets on reusable packaging as part of their overall packaging strategies. It’s complex, but feels like a very necessary step in the right direction and we expect to see this develop across all sectors in 2021.

Zoom, Zoom & More Zoom!

Like many of you, it would seem we’re now experts on every video conferencing platform available! Before the pandemic, we were fortunate enough to squeeze in a trip to Birmingham to speak at Packaging Innovations with other human beings - and then suddenly the world went virtual. However, it turned out all was not lost and we were able to speak at The Grocer’s conference, Food Matters Live, Recoup and Packaging News’ Environmental Summit which all had hundreds of attendees. When you think of all the emissions we all saved by not travelling, I wonder whether this might become the norm.. 

Adding to that the podcasts we’ve done (listen again to Sustainability Champions - How you can shop with Zero Waste & Speciality Food Talks - Plastic free solutions with Sian from A Plastic Planet) and it shows that, despite not being able to travel, we’re still able to get our message out!  

We’ve also run 4 sold out “How to Set up a Zero Waste Shop” workshops over Zoom proving that we don’t have to be in a physical classroom to do them successfully and really opening it out to people who couldn’t attend before. Turns out wherever you are in the world, you can do a workshop! 2021 workshop dates are up now (29/01, 23/04, 09/07, 22/10) and PRI did a lovely little short podcast on the workshops if you’re wondering what they’re like.

A Thank You…

A huge thank you to our associates and partners: Helen, Rob, Chloe, Simon & Celia who many of you will know from our projects. Thank you for bringing your amazing skills to the Unpackaged mission, your support and endless good humour especially this year - we couldn’t have done it without you, or had half as much fun!

…Onto 2021

We’re super excited as to what 2021 holds for our mission - we’ve got some really interesting projects and collaborations on the horizon to help drive reuse & refill. We're also looking forward to the launch of the new Eataly marketplace in Liverpool Street in the spring; it's their first launch in the UK and we've been helping them to design and develop a uniquely Italian bulk retail experience for their customers.

And Finally...

There’s a few charities very close to our hearts who are running Christmas appeals - if you felt able, please do send a donation:

Refuge - who support women and children fleeing domestic abuse 

Crisis at Christmas - who offer a lifeline of friendship, and access to support services, to people on the streets over the Christmas period 

The Big Issue - buy a 3 month subscription to help their vendors

Have a wonderful break for Christmas, and see you all in the New Year refreshed and ready for 2021.

Best wishes,
Catherine, Helen, Hannah & Tamsin x