How one woman's crusade against plastic sparked a new era at Waitrose

Catherine Conway tells how her long campaign led last week to a supermarket trial of unpackaged goods that could change the way we buy our food It all started with a mouse. Catherine Conway was unpacking all her food from the supermarket into glass jars to prevent it being eaten by a mouse that had taken up residence in her home when she had an idea. "I remember very distinctly, one day, having all this packaging in my hands, thinking: why I can't I just go to a shop and refill everything in jars?" It was 2005, and Conway, a charity worker, had been learning about the businesses that are set up to create social and environmental good. "I was in my late 20s. I didn't have kids and I didn't have a mortgage. And in my professional life, I was looking for something interesting to do."She decided to set up a market stall in central London selling unpackaged dry goods - everything from Ecover cleaning products and cereal to nuts, dried fruit and rice - which people could only buy if they brought their own containers. "It was popular with a small amount of people right from the start: early adopters who, like me, wanted a solution. People who knew packaging was a problem, and didn't want it in their homes." Continue reading...