Designing London’s Recovery

I don't have any reason to go to a school and there is no school as near as any supermarket or health/beauty retailer.

I am also very particular about the toiletries I use and tend to use niche premium brands - I very much doubt these stations will have stocks of said products.

II have concerns here about hygiene, security and contamination plus the quality of products. I don’t have children and would not expect, as a stranger, to be welcomed into a school.

I'm in several minds about this. I think refill shops are great in principle, but in practice find them very expensive. I think teaching children about how retail works is a great idea, but would be concerned about whether this is essentially child labour by another name, as well as the obvious safeguarding risks mentioned by others.

I don't have children, so it probably wouldn't be an option for me, but it might be a good way to get more parents and carers using refill shops.

Obviously this approach will take a lot of consideration. I am of a generation that can still remember the kind of shop where you could use a bag off a roll and scoop the food of your choice into it. These shops quickly closed down because the hygiene laws wouldn't allow the practice due to contamination. There are now ways and means of getting round this and if the result means less plastic pollution and cheaper staples, I favour the approach. I would especially like to see empty shops being filled with local enterprise, not just ethnic foods but perhaps hand-made goods. No shop fitting just stalls that anyone can rent on a daily basis.

I think this is a good idea, but it has quite a long way to go before it becomes mainstream. I would hesitate to buy loose items because of fears around hygiene, freshness, quality and value. There has to be a way to dispense food items like rice, beans, nuts , grains, which ensures they are not out in the open air too much. I know shops like Lidl have open boxes with scoops, but my family don't use them for the reasons I mentioned. In the (distant) past we used to sell things like this, but we have become accustomed to pre-packaged goods. Pre-packaging in a clean environment is a good thing because it ensures freshness and safety. But the package the goods are delivered in has become an issue. We humans are fairly lazy and careless about how we dispose of all the packaging, and our environment has suffered. Refilling and reusing is part of the response to this and I am all for it, so long as we can ensure good quality etc. Others have mentioned the need for more shops to be prepared to cater for refilling. Even if it were slightly more expensive than pre-packaged goods, I think I would still do it. I could probably convince my family too.

I do not use refill shops - there are none that I know of near me.

I did use them occasionally some 40 or more years ago but they were always slightly grubby and I would have a concern regarding cleanliness, especially during a pandemic (every customer would have to touch the dispensing equipment which cannot be safe).

I also would have a concern about locating anything for the general public inside a school. This sounds a daft idea. Schools should be for children to feel safe and not have to worry about people shopping - as anyone........ could shop there.

Sounds a good idea, and could be a nice way of the PTA raising funds etc, having a refill shop. For this to be a success, prices need to be in line with the supermarket.
However, as others have said, this consultation seems to be a waste of time, and cant believe you guys dont have more significant things on your plates rather than refill stations and ethnic food shops....

Talk about getting the economy going the ULEZ is going to kill outer london ,reducing disposable income and certainly wont be popping to the shops throughout the week, fewer bigger trips to the main supermarkets... which then kills these small business schemes... time for some more joined up thinking from this mayor and his administration.

I think it's a great idea! However I don't have children so it would need to be open to residents near schools in order for me to take advantage of such a thing. Learning about sustainability and economics at the same time sounds like a great idea.

This sounds good in theory but not sure it would work in practice. I wouldn’t want strangers to go into schools to buy products during school time. Many people are very choosy about a lot of these items for various reasons. The products sold would have to be good quality and good value.
In spite of my reservations, I would like to see some trials set up to evaluate the proposals.

It’s a good idea but it’s only going to appeal to parents. They need to be in High Street and local areas to be a good option for everyone. They also need to reduce their prices washing up liquid costs me a pound more in the retail shop then in a supermarket if I buy their own brand. Not ideal for the hard up and those on a pension.

I cant even believe you are wasting my contribution to the mayors costs on this nonsense. I cant believe it. You guys have lost the plot 100%. And the ethnic food shop consultation? What is that about? the mayor cannot get a handle on knife crime and his staff are concerned with refill shops and 'ethnic' food shops.

compostable packing is the way to go and the mayor should not be intervening in reducing or supporting shops unless there is an exceptionally strong case (eg proliferation of gambling outlets or strip joints near schools or sites of religious worship etc)

I think that this is a brilliant idea, especially involving the children, so that they grow up knowing about alternatives to supermarkets, etc. Certainly, I would use a school-based refill shop near me (South Norwood). Advertising/information on Nextdoor or other neighbourhood forums would encourage me to shop in a local school, and remind me and neighbours that they exist. Might it be possible for you to explore opening refill shops in currently closed businesses? Every high street has them, and they would create greater 'visibility' of the refill movement.

I think this sounds like a very good idea. It teaches children about reducing single use plastic waste, how a business works and could expose them to different cultures and people. I think encouraging people to use refill shops can definitely be a small but helpful step towards households and consumers being more environmentally friendly. It is also very convenient for parents to be able to buy some essential items while they are picking up their kids from school. I suppose my only concern is that the children feel comfortable, safe and have fun while they are working in this environment and that the money earned goes back to the school, the children and to the enterprise.

The idea is great and more refill shops are necessary. I can see some safeguarding issues if staffed by children and would clearly ask need adult support, this needs not to be reliant on staff, parents and volunteers.
It would be great combined with a mending space and swapping station so that it was encouraging all types of recycling and useful to the widest range of visitors. It will need separate space and staff to most schools I know as they are already underfunded and short on space. Some schools already run fantastic recycling programmes in their communities but it would also need to work for families with 2 working parents and those wanting value brands not just expensive eco products.

In theory this sounds like a good idea as it will teach students how to run a small business but there are a lot of other things to consider : There isn't time to run the sessions during school time so they would have to be available after school hours. Which means you will need pupils, members of staff or parent volunteers to supervise. Our local primary school has enough problems trying to get people involved with a bake sale so they would struggle to run a refilling station.
The logistics have to be taken into consideration such as ease of parking, what incentives are there for local people to use the scheme and in the current financial situation will it save people money.

Several manufacturers already provide refills for various cleaning products in packaging that can be recycled which you can have delivered to your door, either through online grocery shopping or direct from the company, so will people actually use the service?