The awareness that our environment must be protected and not unnecessarily littered is becoming stronger and stronger among many people. However, most people think to themselves, "What can I do about such a global problem?" In itself, the question is quite easy to answer: everyone can and should make their contribution. For example, with your morning coffee, which you don't have to buy in the to-go throwaway cup, but can have it poured into your own recyclable cup. Or when you go shopping every day: Just take a bag with you for a change and avoid plastic bags. That's easy to do. But when it comes to packaging waste, things are a little different. Even if I leave the packaging directly in the store, the waste has not disappeared.
This is exactly where the concept of gramm.genau comes in. Franziska Geese, Jenny Fuhrmann and Christine Müller prove in their Zero Waste shop and Café in Bockenheim, that it also works without waste. The aim: to offer an environmentally friendly shopping alternative that does without packaging from the outset and which also scores points with handmade vegan cakes, delicious bowls and a muesli station. Thus gramm.genau meets the zeitgeist, is good for the own conscience and the palate.
When shopping, customers either bring their own cans or jars or use the gramm.genau deposit system. However, the range also includes unpackaged food and household products such as bamboo toothbrushes or shampoo by the piece, which can simply go into the shopping bag brought along naturally. It quickly becomes clear here how much unnecessary waste one buys day after day when shopping in the supermarket and that a concept has been developed here, which may not be applicable to all products, but which should definitely set a precedent.
In addition to environmentally conscious shopping, the Cafély adjacent to the store; but also a place of coziness, where you can meet and feast with relish. Of course, the concept of the shop continues here: You won't find disposable napkins, plastic straws or individually wrapped cookies here. As an alternative, cloth napkins, stainless steel straws and handmade cookies from the cookie jar are offered. Whether for the shop or the Café, one thing is particularly important to manager Franziska Geese: "We buy all products as plastic-free, sustainable and fair as possible." Wherever possible, the waste problem should be nipped in the bud.
This also applies to the food offered in the Café. So that in the evening not unnecessarily much must be thrown away, there should be portions according to need - quasi gram-exactly. And if something is left over, the food will be donated. The food will be purchased from organic wholesalers and regional suppliers - if possible in a reusable system or in paper bags. And so that everyone can take a leaf out of the book of this great concept, the three women from Frankfurt also want to offer workshops and lectures on various environmental topics in their shop. "We want to create a place of exchange where big and small Frankfurt residents can learn new things together, try out plastic-free tips and have fun with good food," says manager Jenny Fuhrmann.
Even though the store, which has been open since February and has been well received by customers, and the Café are new, grams.Exactly has been around a little longer. Two years to be precise. In January 2017, the founders started a pilot project for plastic-free shopping on Berger Straße in cooperation with a health food store. Since December 2017, gramm.genau has been operating Frankfurt's first plastic-free online shop with a CO₂-neutral delivery service on cargo bikes. Since the beginning of 2018, the company has also been supplying offices with healthy snacks and mueslis. In the summer of 2018, the team had raised over 20,000 euros via crowdfunding for its own new location, which is now opening in Bockenheim. Entrepreneur Christine Müller is thrilled by the willingness of Frankfurt residents to save plastic: "We are pleased that any number of people are infected by our motto #FrankfurtKannMüllfrei (#FrankfurtCanWasteFree) and are already taking up our offer so well."
We wish for the start of the Zero Waste shop with Café all the best!
Address: Adalbertstraße 11, 60486 Frankfurt am Main
Opening hours: Open Mon-Sat 10am-1pm
All further info at: www.grammgenau.de
