Saturday July 21st marked the opening of Falmouth’s brand new zero waste and single-use plastic free shop Un_Rap, situated on Webber Hill.
Owner Hannah and some of her staff on opening day. (Image from the Plastic Free Falmouth Facebook page)
The shop has opened just months after Falmouth was awarded plastic free coastline status by charity organisation Surfers Against Sewage. To be given this accolade a town must band together to reduce the use of single-use plastics and participate in beach cleans. Falmouth is the third Cornish town to be given this title following Penzance and Perranporth.
Providing yet another alternative in the fight against plastics, the shop is a popular idea with locals and students alike, with a crowd of people turning up to watch the ribbon to be cut by the Mayor of Falmouth following promotion via the Un_Rap Facebook page.
Speaking with Truthfal, Falmouth’s Mayor said “we need to be plastic free. It’s getting absolutely ridiculous the amount of muck we’ve got in our sea.” His passion about the subject was clear and he spoke of his pride for his town, after only taking 6 weeks to gain the coveted status of ‘plastic free’.
In regards to Un_rap, Mayor Chappell told Truthfal: “this is a fantastic idea, we’re wasting too much plastic, we’re polluting the sea, and although this is a small small seed against that we’ve got to take that and welcome that seed into Falmouth with open arms.”
The store displays a wide variety of products. (Image from the Plastic Free Falmouth Facebook page)
“I bought the shop around May and the community’s support has just been absolutely incredible” shop founder Hannah Pearce told us. Pearce decided to pursue her dream of opening a plastic free shop after completing a charity hike across Northern Spains famed Camino trail in aid of Surfers Against Sewage. During this whole period, she refused single-use plastics and when it came to the end of the hike, she decided to carry on her challenge thinking to herself: “we should have the choice to live without wastes or plastics”.
Hannah’s shop has a range of products, from dried foods with which you fill your own container, to sustainable toiletries and lifestyle products that are completely zero waste and single-use plastic free.
Marine conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage released in a statement how they are “incredibly proud” of Hannah for her plastic free approach in Falmouth, with the opening of her store being a “wonderful example of proactive action” against single-use plastics.
Talking about Surfers Against Sewage, Pearce told Truthfal: “I’m really happy to have hiked in their honour and then still be in connection with them, they’ve been really on board and hopefully we can keep working together.”