TFB 034: How a zero-waste business ‘unpackaged’ their story

With Catherine Conway the founder of Unpackaged.

Catherine launched Unpackaged over ten years ago and is a seasoned entrepreneur. Unpackaged is a business, a social enterprise, a campaign and a mission to remove unwanted and unnecessary packaging from our food.

She started off with a market stall, she then moved into a physical shop in London, then a shop with a restaurant on the side and now today, ten years later she’s got a consultancy (@Unpackaged) – advising businesses all around the world about how they remove the completely unnecessary packaging from food products.

It really is an inspiring conversation because Catherine covers how to combine the commercial aspect of running a business with having a campaign and a mission to change people’s behaviours. And when it comes to communications there is no greater challenge than changing ingrained behaviours.

The behaviour change here is to buy foods which are not in unnecessary packaging. Why do we need to do that? We CAN change the way we behave! So, Catherine has been on a mission for the last ten years to do just that.

This is a truly inspiring conversation because Catherine brings to it a lot of humility, a lot of learnings and a lot of commercial nouse. It really is a rollercoaster of a journey – from starting with a great vision and idealism but also understanding the reality of building a brand.

Catherine goes into the detail of how to tell your story. How to shape the messaging which would persuade people to change their behaviours without lecturing or belittling them, which Catherine is absolutely not a fan of.

So, I think you are going to get a hell of a lot out of this podcast. If you are a social enterprise with a mission, this is the show for YOU!

Let’s listen to Catherine and unpackage her zero waste story…

Find out more about Unpackaged here and on TwitterFacebook and Instagram.


About Alistair Clay

Alistair is a former national journalist with 20 years’ experience working in the media and PR. He is the founder of UK healthcare agency Arc Seven Communications and a registered member of the PRCA.