Roots & Hoots delivers plastic free groceries, personal care and cleaning products straight to consumers’ doors, using eco-friendly electric vans. If that wasn’t green enough, it is now looking to eliminate waste through a closed loop system concept, using reusable packaging and refillable products.
Plastic waste is a big problem, but it’s fixable – if consumers can make a change. It seems daunting; a big shake up to the way we purchase and consume, but it doesn’t have to be.
This is where the Roots & Hoots philosophy comes in; accessible and affordable ways to cut out the plastic, lessen your impact and even live a zero-waste lifestyle. Place an order through the Roots & Hoots website and everything will be packed in durable and reusable plastic-free packaging: oats in quality cotton bags, shampoo in glass bottles, spices in metal tins or bath salts in jars. These products are then loaded into an emission-free electric van and delivered right to the doorstep.
Once decanted or used up, the customer can order again or schedule a convenient time and Roots & Hoots will swing by to say hello and pick up the containers. These are then thoroughly cleaned (using eco-friendly sanitising agents) ready for the next order. This creates the closed loop; a zero-waste and packaging free alternative shopping experience with absolutely no waste, says the company.
Behind this concept are Shiv Misra , founder and owner of the ever-popular vegan and organic supermarket Kindly of Brighton , and Ram Krishnan , who runs a successful tech start-up innovating food waste recycling systems.
“I knew that we had to change our lifestyles if we were to do something about the growing issue of plastic,” explains Misra. “I looked around my house and saw a vast amount of single-use plastic that could be avoided, and that whilst some businesses offered products to lower your plastic-use, it wasn’t convenient, and neither was it cheap. Before Roots & Hoots I wanted to do something on my own but I didn’t have any retail or business experience. I took the plunge and set up Kindly of Brighton, a 100% organic and vegan supermarket in Seven Dials. With the retail experience of Kindly now under my belt, I set up Roots and Hoots with a tech-savvy business partner in Ram. We are both equally passionate about the plastic pollution issue and want to provide an option to everyone who wants to move to a plastic-free and zero-waste lifestyle. We hope that we can play our part in encouraging more people to think twice about how their purchases affect the environment. We need more small businesses like ours to force the large grocers to move towards a sustainable model.”
Roots & Hoots’ small close-knit team of specialists bring with them a range of skills from business sustainability and waste reduction to plant-based media and ecommerce . Armed with the tools and the know-how to provide a meaningful and impactful service, they aim to create a real change in the plastic-ridden lifestyles of anyone who wants to lessen their impact. Furthermore, as an official sponsor of Big Blue Ocean Clean-up , an international network of beach cleaning and education programmes, Roots & Hoots strives to make a difference far beyond their own business and customers.
