A COMMUNITY refill shop aiming to reduce plastic waste in the area- The Green Gram is Trader of the Week.

The Green Gram is a volunteer run shop in Fordingbridge offering refill wholefoods, household items and personal care products.

Visitors to the shop are invited to bring in their own containers to take the products home in, in efforts to reduce plastic waste.

The company was launched by Jo Anderson in 2019 as a mobile refill shop known as ‘Gardener’s Zero Waste’. The Alderholt resident would drive around in a trailer, encouraging people to reduce their dependence on single-use plastic through her refill service.

Jo was able to build a loyal customer base from her trailer, and then form a group of local people who were passionate about reducing waste.

Bournemouth Echo:

One member of the group, Wendy Reid, said: “She wanted to have a shop and a base from which she could run it.

“She got a group of likeminded people together in Fordingbridge to form a steering group.”

The Green Gram shop was then opened in the village in 2021 as a community benefit society and a non-profit business, meaning it relied on members buying shares in the shop. Any profits made at the shop are then ploughed back into the local environmental and social projects, as voted by members.

The shop was also fortunate to receive a Community Waste Prevention Grant from Hampshire County Council.

Wendy added: “Jo never wanted to do it for profit. She just wanted it to be affordable for people.”

Wendy told the Daily Echo how important it is for communities to have access to such shops. She said: “We’re trying to reduce our dependency on single-use plastic.

Bournemouth Echo:

“It’s much better to be reusing for the environment in terms of energy efficiency. When you think about how the energy it takes to makes something, it's much better if we can re-use it as many times as possible.

“The food we’re selling is affordable too.

“It’s reducing single use plastics, while making food very affordable for people to buy.

“There is no animal testing done on any of the products so its also an ethical way of shopping.”

The Green Gram can be found at 4 Roman Quay Fordingbridge SP6 1RL.

For more information visit https://www.thegreengram.org/