Oxford

Yesterday, I went to Oxford to visit Rina, who runs the Community Refill Programme. She operates out of East Oxford Farmers' Market on a Saturday morning and it was encouraging to see that her stand was really, really busy with people who brought their containers and had them magically refilled. This is it:-

         

 

 

I can see you now, furrowing your brow and scratching your hairy chin and saying, 'But that's plastic.' It's true. That is plastic. But much like fat, plastic can be split into Good Plastic and Bad Plastic. Good Plastic is used to make stuff that needs to last for shitting ever, like Tupperware, kitchens and husbands. These sort of things, when constructed out of plastic, save on materials like wood, which means wildlife isn't vulnerable to destruction of habitat and they also require less carbon in the manufacturing process than, for example... something else *shameful knowledge failure*. Also, if you get a plastic husband with remote control, you can just get him to do stuff for you and not be annoying with all that fucking flu.

Bad Plastic is the stuff we use once or not for long, then dispose of, but which goes on to last for shitting ever, like bottled drinks, cosmetics, shampoo, carrier bags, cleaning products, take-out food containers, toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, tablecloths, all sorts of packaging, every single one of my children's toys, loom bands (fucking loom bands), disposable cutlery, disposable nappies... Everything, really. You can't breathe for bad plastic.

So in the case of the community refill programme, this is all Good Plastic.  

Anyway, I talked to Rina and setting up this sort of thing sounds pretty easy to me. I know, even as I type, that my mother will be reading this and saying, 'She's bloody mad. What's she even doing, thinking she can take this on? *AND* you know she took the children to forest school last week? She'll have moved them all to a mud hut the Amazon before long.' Yeah, well. Never let the fact that other people are slightly bemused by you hold you back, that's what I say.

So - and this is where I could really do with some input, if anyone wants to advise me - I need to start small. I thought I'd start with either food or tedious old cleaning products, then build up. I do, however, really, really want to stock olive oil from the outset because I have found a brand called The Lesbian Donkey and I know my well-being will be significantly increased if I am selling something called The Lesbian Donkey. Look. It's from the Greek island of Lesbos.

 

Anyway, the other thing I need to do is find somewhere from which to operate. I'm not much of a woman for standing around outside in the cold, though perhaps I would if I could also be shouting, 'Lesbian donkey! Lesbian donkey! Only two pounds a pint. Come and get your lesbian donkey!'

 

 

However, the location also needs to be really convenient for people because unless I make this easy for them, they're not going to use it. So somewhere central and cheap, that I can run on a Saturday morning. That's what I need, Hexham. Help.