[Fareshares_newsletter] Fareshares Newsletter, Samhain 2015

[Fareshares]

    Bag-ism

Éire was the first country to introduce a plastic bag fee -- '/PlasTax' 
--/ in 2002. Its primary purpose was to reduce the consumption of 
disposable plastic bags by influencing consumer behaviour and its effect 
was immediate, their use plummeting by 90% overnight 
<http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Waste/PlasticBags/>! The average 
Irish person used an estimated 328 bags each year, but now they are down 
to 21.

It took a decade to catch up in the North, where the carrier bag levy 
was first introduced in April 2013. At first, the levy applied to single 
use carrier bags, butsince January 2015 
<http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/baglevy?gclid=Cj0KEQjw75yxBRD78uqEnuG-5vcBEiQAQbaxSD7TfqOImgs6wv_9ct2sQKhY1X65fVzkC0QHvFHt0WwaAtXj8P8HAQ>, 
the 5p levy now applies to all new carrier bags with a retail price 
below 20p, whether they are single use or reusable and regardless of the 
material they are made from.

Wales introduced a 5p charge in 2011 and Scotland followed suit just one 
year ago, in October 2014. Now, finally, England is making the big 
supermarkets charge 5p for carrier bags. However, unlike the 
straightforward schemes in Wales and the Irish Republic, small 
businesses are exempt 
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26048425>, so some of us 
will no doubt continue to accumulate those utilitarian blue ones and the 
dinky black ones that carry the beers home from the nearest 
'convenience' store.

Still, to extrapolate the results from N.Ireland and Scotland, where 
plastic bag usage dropped by 80% 
<http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/carrier-bag-levy>, we are going to be seeing 
a lot less 'London bunting,' as Danny Baker used to refer to bags blown 
into trees. In some parts of Wales, allegedly, the number of bags being 
used has been reduced by 96% and so -- according to some 
<http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/new-5p-plastic-bag-charge-6584011> 
-- has the number of shopping baskets available at larger supermarkets!

What this means for Fareshares is that people may be less willing to 
donate carrier bags; indeed, they will have fewer of the bloomin' things 
lying around. This is a Good Thing, but it may be too much to hope that 
those Fareshares users who persist in giving us useless bits of old food 
packaging, or doing their recycling by proxy, might desist. Seriously. 
We regularly complain about people dumping their rubbish on us, yet on 
it goes...

Never mind the /PlasTax/, Fareshares is proud to announce two radical 
initiatives:


    Branded tote bags & a DIY bag-making workshop!

Fareshares fine & sturdy tote bags, crafted from canvas and emblazoned 
with our logo, shall be available soon, very soon. Look, it's in the 
newsletter now, so before Cristmas, anyway. Their cost to you, dear 
shopper, shall be £3.50 and funds raised used to plug our trading 
deficit, repair the building and, perhaps, supply paper bags for folks 
to weigh stuff into...

What's more, three Faresharees volunteers are pledged to organisize an 
exciting bag-making workshop, one Saturday lunch time early in December. 
See our Facebook page <https://www.facebook.com/FaresharesCoOp?ref=hl> 
for details, as they develop. There are also plans for a pickling 
workshop, watch this space <https://www.facebook.com/FaresharesCoOp?ref=hl>.


    #howedoit -- Na-kd Bars, 75p each


      nakedbarsmain
      <http://fareshares.org.uk/files/2015/10/nakedbarsmain.jpg>

Standing behind Fareshares' counter, one does hear some dark rumours, 
but the one about the people behind Na-kd having sold out and 
incorporated GMOs into their hitherto organic, gluten-free wholefood 
bars never had the ring of truth. If you have, virtually 
single-handedly, created a new category within the retail snack market 
-- as Californian-born, Oxfordshire-based brothers, Jamie and Greg 
Combs, have since they started Natural Balance Foods in 2005 -- why 
would you compromise your USP?

In fact, what happened was that they gotNa-kd Bars 
<https://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/nakd/> into supermarkets and 
sales grew by over 70%, from £7.5m to £13.2m, in the year ending 
31.03.14. Having made it so far in 10 years, some early Natural Balance 
Foods shareholders chose to retire and, therefore, the company hired 
specialist advisers to seek new investors to take its brands to the next 
level. They attracted interest from bidders 
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11777071/Jammy-Dodger-maker-gets-sweet-tooth-for-Nakd-bars.html> 
including Burtons Biscuits (maker of Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels), 
Kelloggs, and Hain Celestial (owner of New Covent Garden & Linda McCartney).

In the end, though, Natural Balance sold 67% of its stock for £60 
million 
<http://www.bakeryinfo.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/14687/Lotus_Bakeries_buys_majority_stake_in_Nkd.html> 
to Lotus Bakeries, the Belgian company that makes those frightfully 
more-ish caramelised biscuits. A statement said both parties see the 
transaction as long term and "there is a clear agreement that the DNA of 
the brands will be kept unchanged... The Natural Balance Foods mission 
steadfastly remains to pioneer and champion the Wholefood Revolution 
around the globe and the team continues to be passionately committed to 
the business." Fat Gay Vegan, for one, was chuffed 
<http://fatgayvegan.com/2015/08/14/vegan-food-takeover/>.

At Fareshares, we stock a changing selection of Na-kd Bars that we sell 
for 75p each, but we tend to stay with the classic varieties: Cashew 
Cookie; Berry Delight; Ginger Bread Bar. Some folks, however, order 
their Na-kd Bars by the box of 18, paying only a 10% surcharge over the 
wholesale price, which means they can try the more unusual flavours, 
like Cocoa & Orange; Coffee Mocha or the new Bakewell Tart 
<https://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/nakd-fruit-and-nut-bars/nakd-bakewell-tart-bar/>.

Don't forget about new Na-kd Nibbles 
<https://www.naturalbalancefoods.co.uk/nakd-nibbles/>, either! Made from 
raw fruits and nuts lovingly 'smooshed' together in sweet shop favourite 
flavours, with no added sugars or syrups, these nibbles are also wheat, 
dairy and gluten free. With a soft, chewy texture they fill you up till 
your next meal and most count towards 1 of your 5 a day too. With trick 
or treat season approaching, you might want to lay in a supply.


    Volunteer Opportunities

Fareshares is entirely run by volunteers, who are always welcome and needed.
Shiftworkers work two hour shifts; three of those on Thursdays, when we 
most need help on the closing shift, 6-8pm. If you've turned up to 
Fareshares after 7pm one Thursday recently and found the shop shut, it's 
because we really need you to volunteer as a shiftworker! If not on 
Thursdays, then perhaps you can join the Wednesday afternoon crew who 
unpack and display our weekly deliveries?

If you can't commit to a regular shift in the shop, perhaps there's 
another way in which you can help Fareshares,  by contributing a more 
specialised skill? For example, we have put out a call in the past and 
are still waiting to hear from a Refrigeration Engineer who is qualified 
to service our Graf commercial 'fridge.

Now, there are several carpentry jobs that we need someone with the 
skills and tools to do for the Collective:
1.    Remake the disabled access ramp so it's not so steep.
2.    Construct shelving under the window, behind the counter, for 
customer orders.
3.    Construct a shelving unit to display Zaytoun 
<http://www.zaytoun.org/> products.

If you think you might be able to take on any one of these tasks, please 
contact us by e-mail -- info at fareshares.or.uk -- or come into the shop 
and have a word with the shiftworker. Why not join us for a late Sunday 
lunch (see below) where you can meet some of us?


    November 15 Meeting -- Sunday Lunch @ Pullens Centre

When the Pullens Centre is free on the 15th, Fareshares has held it 
monthly meetings there, preceded by a vegan potluck 
<https://www.pinterest.com/pin/130534089175095326/> meal, to which all 
who might want to be and those who used to be as well, as those who are 
actively involved with running Fareshares are warmly invited.

Sunday the 15th November is our final get together of 2015 and you are 
welcome to join us, upstairs at 184 Crampton Street, where a fabulous 
nut roast shall be served in all its glory, accompanied by lashings of 
with onion gravy & roasties at 3pm. Please bring salads & puddings.

The door will be open from midday, if you'd care to peel spuds or help 
get set up. Please let us know if you're coming, if possible, so we have 
an idea of numbers, but come anyway. Join the event via Facebook, or by 
e-mail to info at fareshares.org.uk. Or just turn up.

Fareshares' monthly meeting will start at 4pm. All prospective and past 
members of Fareshares are welcome to eat with us, but only current 
members of the collective may participate in its business meeting.


    Bio-D: return your empties!

One of the least popular chores among Fareshares volunteers is refilling 
the recycled washing up and laundry liquid 
<http://www.biodegradable.biz/products/bio-d/laundry-liquid-1l/> bottles 
-- we lack one of these 
<http://www.biodegradable.biz/products/bio-d/tap-for-bio-d-large-drums/> 
-- but that isn't currently an issue, because we haven't got any empty 
laundry liquid bottles to refill! By retuning your empty bottles, you 
save the environment (see plastic bags, above) AND  money, because we 
buy 15L drums, which works out cheaper (currently, £3.80/L).

As you probably do not need to be reminded, domestic pollution causes 
more damage to the environment than industrial pollution. At least, that 
was the state of play back in 1980, when A.M.Gower produced 'Water 
Quality in Catchment Ecosystems', which The Bio-D Company continues to 
quote on its web site page devoted to 'Our Philosophy 
<http://www.biodegradable.biz/about-us/>'. Over the intervening 35 
years, British industry has shut up shop and environmental awareness has 
increased exponentially, but still.

Michael Barwell, the man who started Bio-D in 1988, knows all about the 
social trends of the past decades. From Hull, he used to clean ships 
before realising that household cleaning products contained the same 
petrochemicals, phosphates, preservatives, enzymes and synthetic 
perfumes as the stuff he wore industrial protective clothing and a 
respirator to use in his job. 'We're proud of our funky (recycled and 
recyclable) packaging,' say Bio-D 
<http://naturewatch.org/blog/article/its-whats-not-on-the-inside-that-counts>, 
'but overall it's about what's NOT on the inside that counts!'


    Fareshares on Facebook

Fareshares Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/FaresharesCoOp> page is 
the place to keep up with the day-to-day goings on within our collective 
and key suppliers, such as Suma 
<https://www.facebook.com/SumaWholefoods> and Infinity 
<https://www.facebook.com/Infinityfoodswholesale>, and smaller suppliers 
such as Zaytoun 
<https://www.facebook.com/Zaytoun-CIC-170054474041/timeline/> and BioD 
<https://www.facebook.com/The-Bio-D-Company-Ltd-120683571279169/>. We 
don't (often) post mawkish animal-related stuff, give or take the odd 
skipping rhino 
<http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/happy-rescued-orphaned-rhino/>, but 
we do seasonally appropriate recipes. Fareshares currently boasts 14 
reviews and a perfect score of five stars on Facebook, but we could 
score more, maybe, if you were to like and rate us too.

-- 
--
---------------------
Fareshares Food Coop
56 Crampton Street
Thursdays: 2-8
Fridays: 4-7
Saturdays: 3-5

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