Zero waste pioneers: The story of The Clean Kilo
As part of Independent Retailer Month, we're showcasing a unique business that's making waves in the community. The Clean Kilo in Bournville is one of the UK's first zero-waste shops. By selling plastic-free products and focusing on sustainability, they're pioneering a greener future for us all.
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00:00So we're here at Kilo Zero, which is our bar. It has the same ethos as the
00:07Clean Kilo and it's actually where the Clean Kilo began in 2018. We moved
00:16that location to Bourneville in the end and opened this bar in the same spot.
00:21Here in Bourneville the Clean Kilo is setting a national example by saving
00:26over half a million pieces of plastic from entering the environment within
00:31just one year. It's a fantastic illustration of how local businesses
00:35can make a significant global impact. Their innovative approach to sustainable
00:40food retail is not just saving plastic but shaping the entire future of
00:45supermarkets and packaging. Yeah there's three parts to our ethos so one of which
00:51is to be able to reduce your packaging so you can bring your own containers
00:56and refill with different products like rice, pasta, flour, baking products and
01:03but also cleaning products and toiletries and things like that so it's
01:06easy to like refill. But then the second thing is to be able to buy as little as
01:12you need so if you just need a small amount of a spice for a recipe but you
01:17don't want to buy a whole jar that costs quite a lot of money then you can just
01:20get that amount that you need and it means that you don't have as much things
01:25going off in your cupboards. And the third part of the ethos is to get as
01:28many things as local as possible so we get fruit and veg for example during the
01:34summer months from a farm in Hales Owen and coffees roasted locally, crisps we
01:43get from a local farm in Staffordshire, same with their oil, the same same farm
01:47gives us oil and yeah as many possible products as we can we get we get locally.
01:55Their commitment extends beyond retail through partnerships with local farms
02:00and community initiatives. They are boosting the local economy and
02:03emphasising the importance of supporting small sustainable businesses. Their
02:08approach is about creating a ripple effect that benefits everyone involved.
02:14Yeah so obviously we've got the shop that customers walk into and we've got a
02:20website where you can do click and collect or delivery but one thing we've
02:24started to notice is that smaller corporates are interested in ordering
02:30from us like in a for a larger amount maybe for a party they're having or an
02:35event or just generally ordering their regular stuff like cleaning products
02:40they might use washing up liquid in bulk amounts and that's like quite exciting
02:45to see. One of the departments at Birmingham University has started
02:49ordering cleaning products from us in large quantities so I think that side of
02:54the business might be something that we try to expand on especially like locally
02:57within Birmingham.