There is a boom of stores with bulk products in Europe

youtu.be/5zaQx-6Q9Yw

During my time in Lugo (Spain) doing the IVY (Interreg Volunteer Youth as part of the European Solidarity Corps) I became even more aware of the importance of recycling and of being a responsible consumer and trying to buy the minimum possible number of products with plastic.

It is something that is among the Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations, whose goal is to reach it before the year 2030.

This year I have been in 11 countries in Europe and I have observed the concern to be more responsible consumers and buy greener products without plastic. Do you have noticed?

I met in Lugo (Galicia, Spain) Bico de Grao, a small local store with bulk products, such as rice, pasta, lentils, detergents, ... and I decided to make this video to raise awareness about it and demonstrate that making the purchase without plastic is possible.

Bico de Grao is much more than a store without plastic. Bico de Grao is a store managed by three women members who constitute a cooperative of associated work to start up a space for the sale of ecological products in bulk and community service management, with the ultimate goal of creating a conscious and sustainable consumption network. responsible in Lugo.

The project aims to offer sustainable alternatives in all its aspects (food, cleanliness, hygiene, clothing, education, clean energies, ethical banking or culture), for that reason and with the contribution of the cooperative formula they offer a space of alternatives that includes:

- Store of ecological products in bulk, food and hygiene.

- Space of creation, design and textile sale, based on the use of raw material of leftover remains, with its own brand: FIXENÖEU.

- Social space, in which diverse activities related to the values ​​of the cooperative are carried out and which offer answers to the needs and demands of the social environment.

Even if you think otherwise, buying in a more sustainable way saves time and money because we buy what we need, without being seduced by advertisements, flashy packaging.

Have you noticed?

Have you ever noticed, when making the purchase, how much plastic we use?

Is it really necessary? There is no other alternative?

Do we know how long it takes to disappear materials that we discard on a daily basis?

Approximately 150 years, is the time it takes a plastic bag to degrade.

Certain plastic items need up to 1000 years to decompose.

Virtually any food we buy has plastic: meat trays, sausages, milk cartons, biscuit packs, pasta packages, rice ... Fruits and vegetables that are already cut, prepared food, frozen, ...

One of the reasons why those who consume fresh products. It is "almost impossible" mission to find food or anything we need, without plastic packaging, something that as soon as we consume it is a waste that we throw away. Plastic products are very common in our life.

It is estimated that approximately 1.6 million barrels of oil are used each year only for the production of plastic bottles for water and soft drinks.

Let's recycle these materials correctly and, whenever possible, replace them with other biodegradable materials such as cloth bags.

Plastic waste is one of the groups of waste that take longer to denature and disappear. 1 million plastic bottles per minute are purchased.

It is estimated that around 10 million tons of plastic end up in the oceans every year.

"There are so many plastic waste in the world that could cover a country like Argentina": warn a group of scientists.

Since 1950, when we started producing plastic on an industrial scale until .2015, some 8,300 million tons of plastic were generated. This figure is equivalent to what a million Eiffel towers would weigh. If we make the relationship with the world population,

Approximately 1,100 kilos of plastic would correspond to each inhabitant of the planet approximately. Half of all the plastic produced in history has been manufactured in the last 13 years according to the study by scientists from the University of Georgia, the University of California and the Sea Education Association

The micro plastics are in the food chain. They end up in our stomach because marine life can not distinguish them from their real food.

A European generates an average of 150 kilos of disposable containers per year.

For all this, I look for shops, near where I am, where I can get products without plastics. Do you know if there is some shop like this in your neighborhood?