Measuring Zero Waste and Customer Behaviour with Tash Gorst (S2, Ep2)
Discover how two refillery store owners, Tash & Laura, are starting their journey to measure the waste they don't create and their customers' behaviour change.
When your business goal is to help people in your community make inspired lifestyle changes to reduce their impact on the planet’s natural resources, it can feel daunting to know where to start with measuring your impact.
How do you know people are inspired by what you're doing? How do you know they're making changes as a result of interacting or purchasing from you?
These are all questions founders, Tash Gorst and Laura Swidzinska, of the refillery store Gather, were exploring when I met them back in January at my Retreat for Female Social Entrepreneurs. Questions that they're getting clearer on how they plan to answer with their impact measurement approach.
Just a year in to trading, when we recorded this podcast, Tash and Laura have created a profitable social enterprise and I wanted to share their story here for three reasons:
a) I think it's really interesting that they see their refillery store as just the starting point of their engagement with customers and exciting that they have a lot more going on "than just selling things" as part of their master plan for creating change.
b) They're happy to talk about their journey and what they've learnt along the way, which I think will be super helpful to other social entrepreneurs just starting out
c) and when it comes to impact measurement, they admit, they don't have it all figured out but they're taking action on what they can now and sharing hear how they're getting started.
And if you're interested in how to start thinking about measuring how you're reducing or limiting waste as a business or how your thinking about measuring customer behaviour changes as part of your social impact then this is going to be a great episode for you.
“Where you spend your money is a vote for the kind of planet that you want to be living in. It’s something that we, as a business, would like to get a bit more involved in - making people aware of campaigns ... like the Green New Deal. In terms of individually, thinking about the brands that you’re spending your money with ...are they aligned with your values, and making whatever small changes that you possibly can".
-Tash Gorst
In this episode we discuss:
What a low waste refillery is and how Gather is more than just a store [1:11]
How Gather has embedded their values in the way they run their business [5:56]
How co-founders, Tash and Laura, met and set up Gather [7:18]
Top Tips based on what Tash and Laura have learned along the way [8:56]
"Not being ready" but just getting on and doing it anyway [11:04] The changes Gather made during Covid-19 [12:57|
How Gather measure their impact and the difference they’ve made in less than one year [16:18]
Tash’s thoughts on what the future holds post pandemic [23:50]
How to find your nearest zero waste store, and how to connect with Gather [32:42]
Where the name “Gather” came from [33:37]
Listen to episode two with Tash here.
About Tash & Laura
Gather isn't the sort of store you open without a backstory. For Tash, things kicked off after she had a child. Being a parent made her think about things a bit differently. A Plastic Ocean really woke her up to the damage single-use plastic packaging was doing. So she decided to take a stand for her son's sake.
As for Laura, she was brought up in a home where the heating only went on when icicles had formed on your nose. But it wasn’t until she stumbled across Earth.Food.Love in Totnes that her eyes opened to a whole world of simple, affordable, sustainable products.
Today, they both try to live more sustainable lives. "It was tough at first, but along the way we've discovered the joy (yes, really) of plastic-free kitchen scrubbies, eating by the seasons and rifling through second-hand stores."
Gather's Links:
Links mentioned in the episode:
Not in Peckham? Don't worry find your nearest zero waste store here.
Want to read more about going zero waste and find online stores, have a look at this article from Pebble Magazine.