Hang out in a hip neighbourhood of Montreal and zero-waste shops are as common as a fruit stand. But zero-waste shops that expect customers to refill and reuse packaging to remove plastic from landfill, aren’t easy to come by in the Middle East. Stuff a single apple or cola can in a bag, please. Plastic is too cheap and it’s too easy a habit to break. But entrepreneurs in Istanbul are showing how it can be done in culturally relevant ways.
The Dukkan Waste Free Shop initiated by the Kadıköy Municipality of Istanbul on World Environment Day a few years ago, is commended for being one of the best projects according to the ICLEI Europe, the European Council of International Local Environmental Initiatives.
Turkey is eager to join the European Union but still hasn’t made the grade according to European directives. But to ICLEI Europe, of which Kadıköy Municipality is a member, this may be one in a string of projects that can show the EU how local government practice can help the public kick the plastic addiction.
The Kadıköy Dukkan shop offers unpackaged, bulk, and ecological products instead of disposable products, with all this supporting the circular economy. The concept shop also brings together the consumer with local products and producers allowing for a larger number of cottage businesses to thrive. Packaging costs are also absorb by the producers so finding new ways to bring products into people’s homes is desirable.
Cleaning, living, food, kitchenware and personal care are the range of items sold in the shop and I love seeing the Middle East’s favorite nature scrub, the luffa, appear in such prominence. You can find luffas at street corner shops because some people just can’t live without them.
Customers are also invited to bring their own reusables to the shop, and women entrepreneurs are given a special boost when it comes to featuring their products. Shop second in Istanbul for some great clothing finds.
But when a local named A (who doesn’t want her name published) went to visit the shop she found their sustainability policies a little out of sync with reality. She tells Green Prophet: “You can buy a local version of liquid Castile soap there but the thing that annoyed me is that they forced me to buy a plastic bottle to fill; I couldn’t use my own container. So I actually increased plastic use by going there.”
This is the first such initiative in Turkey, making the Waste-Free Shop a good practice example for others seeking to provide access to durable, sustainable and ecological products, which support a circular economy as an alternative to single-use plastics.
Due to increasing environmental pollution and resulting health problems, consumers have been in search for and demanding more natural, chemical-free and non-toxic products. On the other hand, small scale local producers in Kadikoy providing ecological and natural products need markets for their goods, and have been so far trying to reach consumers through women’s or farmers’ cooperatives. The Waste-Free Shop fills this gap, bridging these two parties without intermediaries.
Other nearby countries like Israel are slow to catch on, but that said there is still a thriving market culture in Israel and other Middle East countries like Turkey, Egypt, Jordan and Syria. People love shopping for spices from bulk and fresh vegetables and fruit harvested that morning. The success of the Middle East diet is that the food is fresh, and buying it at a local market means you can’t get fresher than that. If you are looking to shop local and fresh, get our In Season Guides for each month of the year. Vegetables and fruits bought and eaten in season, locally, are the best for you and the planet.
Among the examples of good practice by ICLEI Europe; In the Dukkan shop where local producers, women’s and farmer cooperatives meet with consumers without intermediaries, there are healthy foods produced from local seeds and available in season, as well as long-lasting and ecological products such as daily life, cleaning, personal care and kitchenware. Products sold unpackaged or in recyclable packaging are offered to the consumer in glass jars, cloth bags or containers to be brought from home.
Getting to it?
::Dukkan
Gazi Muhtar Paşa Sokak No 57/1 Feneryolu, Kadikoy
The climate in Turkey regarding social media posts is fraught with risk (you can be detained for things posted online) so people we spoke with in this article do not want to be named.
