7to9 GreenStore in Kerala’s Kolenchery is a zero waste shop where products and packaging are plastic-free.
This sustainable retail outlet encourages customers to BYOC (Bring Your Own Containers) to buy anything they want. Those who do, get discounts. But hey, if you forget to bring yours, they have paper bags, organic cotton bags or glass bottles that you can pick up from the store.
Bittu John, the founder of 7to9 GreenStore, comes from a family that has been in the grocery market for generations. On his trip to London in 2016, he came across a zero-waste store that inspired him to start the same concept in his hometown. He re-modified his family grocery store to a one-of-its-kind zero-waste store that provides package free sustainable and organic goods.
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You’ll find different plastic replacement products up for grabs, including eco-friendly options like bamboo toothbrushes and tongue cleaners, cutlery made out of neem wood, steel straws, reusable sanitary pads, loofah scrubbers etc. You also find masalas (spices), pulses, grains, the liquid items stored in glass jars and steel containers. They also deliver goods to your doorstep.
Bittu John prefers to source homemade products locally so that everyone can access them at affordable prices. He understands that a shift to organic products entirely wouldn’t be reasonable at the moment as the prices will shoot up.
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For now, his aim is to encourage zero-waste shopping so that people understand that there are alternative, conscious ways of going green. Every time a customer gets billed, they are told how much plastic they’ve avoided.
