Loose foods are coming to your door!
During the process of setting up our shop in South Manchester we became aware of M20 Refills, who offer a zero waste / plastic free refill and delivery service service for household liquids: shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, hand, washing up, laundry and household cleaning.
The also off a small range of supplementary products such as soap bars, scrubbing brushes, dishwasher tablets, beeswax food wraps, toilet roll, toothbrushes, deodorant and cotton buds.
Their deliver their products to customers across Didsbury, Withington, Fallowfield, Burnage, Northernden, Levenshulme, Cheadle, Chorlton, Whalley Range, Stretford, Urmston, Altrincham, Sale and Stockport.
Lentils and Lather and M20 Refills share a very similar ambition - to enable people living in these parts of South Manchester to reduce the amount of plastic waste produced through everyday living, so we began to talk with the friendly couple who run the business about how we could collaborate to increase our impact.
The mutually beneficial collaboration will enable M20 Refills to offer a wider range of products to their customers (food and drink), whilst Lentils and Lather will be able to engage with people that live in a wider area across Greater Manchester - meaning we can raise awareness of our new business, build our reputation and grow our brand.
This collaboration has been in operation since October 2019 and so far it has been a success, with many customers placing repeat orders. These people have truly bought into the concept, which is not really surprising as consumers today are used to having food delivered to their door following an online order. You only need to think of the the rapid rise of the likes of Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat to know that this is what people demand.
Going forwards, who knows where this could lead to - we may be able to link up with other zero waste shops across Manchester and the North West of England to collaborate on an even bigger project to deliver plastic free products to many more doors. This is already happening somewhat, as M20 Refills collaborates with a plastic free project run by students called Want Not Waste.
Based near to the Manchester Academy, Want Not Waste provides shopping options to students that have concerns about the environment. As well as household and food items, Want Not Waste supports student with creative ideas for reusing waste products, such jewellery made with ring pulls and used coffee capsules or macrame plant pots and drinks coasters made from used plastic shopping bags.
Ultimately, the M20 Refills collaboration is the start of how we envisage running our business: collaboration is key to increasing our impact on the global plastic problem. We can raise awareness of major worldwide issues by supporting and working with other like minded entrepreneurs and enthusiasts.
