Zero packaging at The Blue Pantry

Husband-and-wife team Gary and Kate Todd are about to open an eco-friendly food store in Fore St where Paprika used to be. The Blue Pantry  will offer foods with as little packaging as possible and customers recycling their containers.

“’Kate and I love the outdoors, especially hiking and kayaking. Everywhere we’ve been we’ve come across so much plastic packaging. In supermarkets we try to buy things that aren’t wrapped in plastic but it’s nigh on impossible,” said Gary as he worked on re-decorating the shop.

‘It was Kate’s idea to open a shop and provide the foods that people want but without the plastic.  She came home from a visit to a shop in Totnes called Zero Waste and said “We need to do this in Wellington. Totnes is too far away.”

‘We’ll stock everything you’d have in the larder; pasta, pulses, rice, flour, sugar. The list is extensive, everything you’d see in dry goods and baking aisles. It’s not vegetarian or vegan, it’s something for everyone. And we’ll be using paper and cotton bags,’ added Gary. ‘I’d like to eventually stock dairy produce but that’s a little way in the future.’

Wet goods will be in a space to the rear with olive and cooking oils plus soaps, detergents  and cooking oils. People will bring their own containers for refilling – including plastic bottles. They can bring whatever they want.

Gary Todd,53, is former manager in mental health services and worked at the Wellesley Hospital most recently. ‘I’ve never run a shop before but it’s about customer service and offering what people want,’ he said.