Innovation Manager Ollie Collard Discusses our Focus on Collaboration, Communication and Community.
I first read about this growing concept of plastic free shopping when ex-Manchester United footballer Richard Eckersley set up Earth.Food.Love in Devon. He aims to eliminate all packaging. Now being an avid football fan I admit their reputations and lifestyles come into question. But fair play to Richard for setting up a forward thinking business, with strong environmental & ethical principles at its core.
The second time I’d came across these new gravity dispensers was from Grant Mercer at a business planning workshop I was delivering. The dispensers are made from plastic, but they are BPA and EA free and multi-use as opposed to single use. Grant wanted to set up something up, similar to Richard, in Bristol, which I thought was a great proposition. He’d done his market research and gained valuable insights from Richard, including sharing of supplier details. Richard’s approach was to support this growing ‘plastic free’ community and help in any way he could – rather than see Grant as a potential competitor. This is a great way of thinking. Are they competitors or could they be strategic partners? The rationale is the more independent suppliers, the better-combined buying power they would have from their supply chain. Grant was at the same consultation that evening in at my local, not as an undercover spy, but sharing information and seeing how he could also add value.
Grant is just in the process of finalising his own lease, he will open ‘Smaller Footprints’ in North Bristol over the coming months. Now it would be unfair not to mention Scoopaway, this long-standing wholefood shop, has been an integral part of the Gloucester Road for more than 30 years. To quote their website, “We strive to minimise our packaging and food waste by making our best selling lines available loose, enabling the customer to scoop as much or as little as they need”. My grandma is a keen supporter, as an example amongst other things, she re fills her Ecover washing up liquid there and her current bottle is just short of its eight-year anniversary. Scoopaway demonstrates that this isn’t a new ethos or principal, but a growing trend. In fact shopping with reused bags isn’t a new concept either, my great grandparents were once accused of shop lifting when they tried to take their own bags with them, how times have changed now.
So back to the consultation, there was 16 locals in attendance, from all walks of life, young and old, everyone had their own interest in this new shop. The owner’s Stacey Fordham and Lidia Rueda Losada shared their vision for what they wanted the shop to be and how it worked. In a nutshell, they have gravity dispensers, you bring along your own containers, weigh them first, then fill them up, then the till system will deduct the weight of your container from the overall weight of your filled-up jar – simples. Along with zero-plastic being used, one of the other benefits is that you only buy how much you actually need. I think there is a great comparison here to that of the business support provided at Future Space. Our businesses can receive as much or as little support as they need, either on a regular basis or help with specific challenges when they need it. It’s my job to build a network of eco system partners, so I facilitate introductions to experts, who can help fuel business growth.
Going back to Zero Green, the owners really wanted to know what local people required, so they could cater to our needs. I think it’s great that I’ll be able to go into my local shop, for them to know me by name and the fact I can ask them to stock something – this helps build the local community. They also floated the idea of running workshops, on how to make your own toothpaste for example. This sense of community and buy-in from local people was what I was struck with that evening at the pub.
Community is about having shared values and collaborating to maximise outcomes for everyone. Here at Future Space, we have a thriving business community focusing on Science and Technology. We run regular workshops, drop-ins and have a monthly networking over a beer and a slice of pizza. The community extends beyond Future Space to that of the entire University West of England (UWE) and the Enterprise zone, which is only one of four in the UK. We work collaboratively with Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL), Launch Space (a graduate incubator) and the new Health Tech Hub. We act as a key link between our businesses and UWE, offering internships, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP’s) and access to academics amongst other things. Community and collaboration is at the heart of what we do.
Innovation Manager
