Mansfield zero waste shop aims to reduce plastic waste

Boos Pantry Zero Waste Store, on Toothill Lane, is a facility where shoppers can refill their own containers with dried foods, cleaning products and toiletries.

Single mum Beki O’Connell, 35, started the not-for-profit shop with the help of her daughters Laila, 12, and Neve, 10. Her girls initially helped her with pop up shops and a click and collect service started in March.

Since then, Beki has opened her shop, located above Not Just Desserts cafe, in August, with all profits going to Rainworth’s Social Action Hub food bank.

Beki said: “We are an innovative business aiming to reduce plastic consumption, selling things like dried foods, things that would normally come in plastic like rice, and other food staples, the kind of things that come in packages that don’t recycle easily.

"We are a ‘circular economy’ producing little waste, people bring their own washing up liquid bottles for refilling. One lady brought in her Tupperware saying it was probably older than me!

"The shop is proving popular and we hope to change people’s thinking. Children especially enjoy the refills. They learn a lot about recycling at school. My daughters helped me get the business going with our pop shops.

Beki added "You can refill much or as little of 100g, it is handy for people who don’t want large amounts or for cooks making specific recipes that might call for a particular spice, or something they don’t need a lot of.”

The family run store is open on Fridays, from 11-2pm and Saturdays, from 10-1pm, and also has community collection points for delivery at Mansfield, Rainworth, Warsop, Ravenshead and Farnsfield.

Beki is also launching a Christmas pop up shop featuring items such as recyclable wrapping plastic, wrapper free pick ‘n’ mix, jewellery made from tin cans, recycled fabric gift bags and candles. There is also a Christmas jumper swap shop and the cafe below the shop is doing a free coat rail.

Jumpers can be swapped for another, or you can buy one for a £1. Beki is appealing for donations of Christmas jumpers, and more collection points. Contact: [email protected] Phone or text; 07912309842. See Boo’s Pantry Zero Waste Store on Facebook for more details.

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