Moving beyond reusable bags to reduce waste

By Áilín Quinlan

Customers in a West Cork town have moved beyond the reusable shopping bag — they are using everything from empty wine bottles to glass boxes to stock up on household essentials at a new ‘minimal waste’ store.

In a new shopping concept for Clonakilty, the Twig- Refill store allows customers to buy products ranging from pulses, grains, nuts, and seeds to olive oils, household cleaning, skin and hair products, without the need for plastic and packaging.

“Someone came in the other day with an empty wine bottle that she filled with chemical-free shampoo.

Someone else brought in an empty soft-drink bottle that she filled with eco-floor soap,” explains store owner Olive Finn.

“People are bombarded with images of how single-use plastic is destroying our beaches, seas, and land and wildlife,” said the businesswoman, who launched the store with her husband Andy Beattie earlier this month.

“Consumers are now ready to make changes to the way they shop. Going back to the old fashioned way is brilliant.

“The idea is minimum waste, cutting out packaging. You can bring in your own refill container if you want, and if you don’t have one, we can give you one — we have 100% unbleached cotton re-usable bags to bring home food from our food dispenser.

Take your time, think about what you need and how much you need, and bring your own reusable container to get it,” says Olive, whose two sons have now taken the helm at the new shop.

To this end, Twig-Refill boasts more than 100 food dispensers offering refills of an array of products. Some of the stand-out items on sale include Beeswax Food Wraps which offer an alternative to cling film, a 100% compostable bamboo-fibre toilet paper. and a water station offering Reverse Osmosis Filtered Water.

“Bring in your bottle and fill up. Hopefully, this encourages people to stop using plastic water bottles just once, and then disposing of them,” says Olive.

She also owns the nearby Olive Branch Health Food Emporium in Spiller’s Lane.

After undergoing a substantial renovation and extension at The Olive Branch, the couple simply wanted to provide a space that would encourage and simplify shopping without plastic and packaging.

“Yes, it was a risk, but this is a project of passion for us, once the decision to do it was made there was no stopping us.”