[Music]
one of my oldest memories goes back to
1995 I was five years old even smaller
than I was today and I was in the night
train and a little bunk bed and a night
train to Germany we were passing from
Russia to for Crane’s Slovak I
I don’t can’t even remember all the
names of his complicated countries
directly to Germany we’re going in there
because Germany is a safe place Germany
is a warmer place and to be aware I was
from and yeah we were going there it was
lying there I’m a little bit
all alone with my doll with my parents
around and here the people chattering I
could hear of sounds of rails and I
wasn’t afraid because I knew things were
going to change in a good way so we
arrived in this new country and quickly
became a home and my parents tried to
settle down as well they were trying to
adapt they were looking for jobs but
it’s hard it’s hard when you don’t speak
the language it’s hard when you degree
doesn’t isn’t accepted it’s just hard to
arrive in a new place and as a kid if
you grow up seeing your parents struggle
you always try to make it better you
want to impress them you want them to
make them proud and you also want to you
actually just follow the example you
just follow the example so that’s what I
did I try to arrive here in Germany I
tried so hard I started being on time I
started watching that ought I started
eating sauerkraut and I hated it
I’m not wearing Birkenstocks just for
fashionable reasons I have to say and
yeah and there’s like this other German
thing I don’t know if you know but
Germany is the world champions and
recycling this is actually something we
can be proud of and back then I was also
trying hard to do some ways of aeration
at home I was teaching everybody liked
this comes in this trash this this go
and it’s cool same I was teaching all
the other kids like which put the trash
I knew it I had all figured it out and I
really enjoyed it I enjoyed digging
deeper into environmental issues because
it was fun and was interesting and I
also felt like it was part of it
I didn’t start to read check all skin
jackets like I didn’t start hiking the
nature wearing them when I go to a local
organic shop like what usually people do
but I was interested about it and the
more I tried to find out what actually
is environmental issues invited people
care about it
I actually learned I actually know ash I
have fallen in love was a subject itself
I realized that why Germans care so much
about it it’s because we needed it we
can’t not care about it because nature
environmental issues sustainability all
these subjects have a key to our future
these are the things we have to care now
about so there’s still a future tomorrow
and this moment I realized that I
actually really started caring about
recycling it wasn’t just a thing to
impress other people how much I’ve
integrated or assimilated it was a it
became something I actually cared about
so we’re to care about wastes now that I
think about it but yes or started in for
myself and I try to be the uber German
not the uber like a company like uber
German by I thought okay if I don’t
recycle if I pre-cycle if I will avoid
one-way packaging I therefore avoid
waste so in the end there’s anyways
produce I thought I’d be like super
clever so I was figuring how to how to
do it I wanted to live without waste and
I was planning all I had and then I
quickly realized I couldn’t everywhere
we go in every supermarket in every
drugstore everything is packed and
plastic once twice you want to buy some
produce you want to buy some vegetables
inspect and plastic even bananas I mean
come on why do need bananas need another
plastic packaging and then cosmetics
same thing you want to buy a cream
then you have a scream it’s packing
plastic there’s microplastics in it and
it’s just so there and you can’t avoid
it and I’ve got sick of it I didn’t want
to use plastic because do you know what
plastic actually consists of plastic is
fossil oil plastic is water drinkable
water and it needs a lot of energy to
produce plastic and then we use it like
real quickly and ends up in the trash
you think oh well no problem we have a
good recyclable management system here
in Germany again world champions
but the problem is only twenty percent
actually gets recycled the way that we
can use it again the rest is good it’s
getting burned it’s getting down cycle
or shipped away and what happens it ends
up in the oceans you’ve probably all
heard about the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch in the Pacific Ocean it’s like a
huge island made of trash and that
sounds wrong right why is that trash in
the oceans so the best way actually is
not to recycle it but just to avoid it
just right from the beginning and this
is what I wanted to do and this is what
I couldn’t do
do you know what I did I open up a
supermarket for 90 years ago I wrote a
business plan about an idea had I wanted
to just think about it what would it be
possible if theoretically I open up a
shop a shop was up on my packaging so we
brought this business plan and we wanted
to start this company and again usually
when you’re young and foolish you just
don’t have money I didn’t have any money
and I wanted to have money I wanted to
open the shop I wanted to see this idea
become real so we started crowdfunding
we needed twenty five thousand euros to
get started
and we got twenty five thousand euros
within a day because people all over
Germany liked the idea so much they were
jet felt probably just like I did like
they wanted a change they wanted an
alternative they wanted to see something
change and I wanted to send the retail
the economy a message this is how we
want things to be deal twist deal was it
so yeah they supported us in the end we
had more than hundred thousand euros and
we were able
to open up the shop in 2014 we opened
the shop in Berlin Freud’s back at girl
it’s a pack you know where you usually
buy also unpackaged stuff so yeah we
also sell unpackaged us but the legal
ones and you can we open up back then
was 350 products now I’m till today two
and half years later we have more than
600 products actually probably wanna see
pictures right so this is the shop from
the outside we have pastries we have
produce we have bulk we have pasta
cereal it’s nuts
sweets basically everything you need on
a daily basis as I said before produce
all kinds of other stuff oil spices teas
tofu from the tofu ptosis which in
English is translated tofu bitches a
lava tofu so good so fresh the best and
then we have a cosmetics corner which
are really adore because he shows you
don’t need to have plastic you don’t
need to have Micro plastic to her and it
doesn’t even has to be expensive because
if you buy in bulk you can actually save
money after all so yeah that’s a shop
this is the kind of products we offer it
works like that you bring your own
container you weigh it empty you feel it
offers as much as you need you go to
cashier you pay and you’re excited about
how you not spend so much money as you
expected no I’m not trying to make an
advertisement but that usually people
think if something is good if
something’s organic it has to be
expensive but it hasn’t because
sometimes good things work differently
so it sounds amazing right that was
actually one problem
people came into our shop they loved it
they took pictures I posted it online
they shook our hands and they were
amazed and said you’re doing a good job
and then the left again was out buying
anything and went on for the lives and I
was feeling like a museum like a museum
of I don’t know unpackaged food that
wasn’t what I was going to supposed to
do I wanted to build a sustainable
business something which can survive and
something which also quite has
change but therefore we have to survive
as a business so it took us actually a
long long time until we were profitable
and until customers came regularly
bought all the groceries there and did
it the way we wanted them to do it
actually we have one customer she was
there from the first day on and back
then she was pregnant and now her little
baby son is running through the shop and
throwing away like all the glasses and
destroying the whole shop but it’s
amazing it’s like we could saw him throw
up and she’s wonderful many loyal
customers we have who make it possible
to survive as a small business so that’s
the story of a shop but that’s not the
end of my story so yeah we made it work
after all so and sometimes I really
stand there and I’m wondering how a
little girl like me could make what
actually no idea what she was doing
again me open up actually a real shop so
it all started was me just wanting to
have another turned I wanted to live as
always I wanted to have a shop so then
came to shop and what happened next was
actually quite surprising this is
something I wasn’t expecting this is
something what every business owner
hates somebody comes along and starts
copying you and then the beginning was
hard to deal with and then I actually
realized this is the best thing what
could ever have happened to us because
this is the moment where the movement
started rolling this is a moment where
people not only start to say oh it’s a
good thing but actually could live and
shops your waste in their own hometown
so they’re opened up a lot of zero waste
shops not only over Germany but all over
the world we still get emails from
people saying oh cool I’ve been to a
shop I heard it I liked it I open up my
own it’s like okay cool interesting and
it’s amazing and we help these people
also kind of we gave workshops we now
give an online workshop where we teach
them how to open up your own zero waste
shop so wherever you from wherever
you’re listening if you google your
hometown and type in zero waste a
package free store you might actually
find one already there so just do it and
try it and support this local shop ok so
what happened next we have a girl we
have one shop we have many shops then we
have a big chain so actually seeing oh
there’s something going on there’s
people
making money we want that part too so
the big chains realizing people want
something different they’re realizing
people ask for a change so big chains
like both born in Canada for example
very big huge supermarket chain started
to offer not bulk only but they
encouraged the customers to bring their
own containers they told them bring your
own containers fill them up we’re fine
with it that’s new that’s cool too hip
for soca logical I know it usually
sounds like greenwashing but I really
appreciate the big companies trying to
make the step because this is what we
wanted this is just what I wanted from
the whole beginning on and also other
chains especially also here in Germany
we don’t have bulk here but it’s
starting to get to become a thing so
what happened next we have a chains we
have Oh what happens next so bad now
that we have a shops we have a movement
as well the people who just like me who
have a consumers but just want to laugh
is out waste so want to live according
to the conscious and these people are
part of your waist movement you can
check it out on Instagram I guess
there’s like yeah Johnson she’s a mother
as your way Lauren singer she’s like the
princess of your ways there is these
amazing people all many who try to lose
your waist and write about it and by
others as well so I try to live like
that as well I try to have like plastic
and it’s even so far if you’ve ever been
out with me you know even when I’m drunk
after my virgin tonic I’m standing at
the bar like one more please but no
straw please and then usually people
just wonder like why why’d it’s like
just a little piece of plastic why do
you care so much about this little piece
of plastic and I tell them it’s because
it starts a conversation so I’ve been to
many months ago I’ve been to this one
place and Kreutz Berg and I met a girl
at a bar and again I was ordering no
straw please and we started talking and
she was very cute so I told her why I
tried to put plastic I told him a long
story since we had time and it was a
nice conversation because she didn’t
care about sus2 Benilde sustainability
we had nothing in common but she was
just curious over
and then we parted fast-forward months
passed by I meet this girl again and
she’s super excited she’s so thrilled to
see me
she’s like Melina oh my god I have to
tell you so many things so I stopped
using coffee one way paper max no more
paper coffee to go max for me I have now
my reusable it looks so fresh ok cool
then she keeps going actually she’s like
oh I stopped using the plastic bag from
the supermarket the one forever produce
because I don’t need them actually it
just found out I just I don’t need them
and she was so excited to tell me she
was so proud of herself I was amazing
there was just one conversation one
straw which I said no to which lead to a
girl thinking about stuff which she
hasn’t done before and who knows whom
she has aspired well no saying no to a
mug or saying no to a plastic bag so if
we can now go back 22 years ago it’s the
year 1995 I am five years old and I
would have never fought this this would
be my journey I would have never thought
that ask coming to Germany and we try so
badly trying to adapt
I mean becoming part of his culture
would actually lead to me feeling for
environmental things and now I’m 27 now
I found out actually two successful
companies and I’ve been doing a lot
after working a lot and still it doesn’t
feel like enough Steel it feels like
global warming is still happening
climate change is still moving on and it
feels like it’s not getting better it’s
actually getting worse and I feel like
I’m not doing enough I feel like I have
to change something although I’m doing
already so a lot and this is actually
when I’m realizing it’s it’s not only
the Germans who care about environmental
issues it’s happening all over the world
right now
because this is an issue which is all
important to us when I have these
thoughts and I think this is all too
much when I’m paralyzed when I’m lying
in bed and can’t get out of it when I
realize it’s just getting too much it’s
I don’t even know where to start
there should I stop flying should I stop
eating meat should I stop using cars
bikes can I even breathe can I have
children one day
all these questions because I know this
is actually what makes climate change
this is I would have to change
everything to stop climate change right
now not only me but all of the people
and that destroys me because it’s just
too much and I feel like maybe I
shouldn’t do anything at all I mean I
can’t change anything at it so when I
get into all of his complicated thoughts
there’s one way to get out of it and
there’s one way to get actually started
I have to realize that it always takes
just one little change one little step
to get going so for me this one little
step was caring about the environment
reading up on recycling trying to avoid
waste opening up my shop many more shops
open up shops inspired more chains to
offer bulk wear and these inspires other
people to shop and lives your waste as
well so seeing that a little thing
actually had quite a chain reaction is
amazing if you if you think about big
companies which you know which are now
very very big and important today you
have to remember that all of his
companies one started out of small
business every big personality every big
famous entrepreneur politician whoever
started out as a kid and every big idea
every movement started out with a
thought it was a sentence was the people
talking about it so what I’m trying to
say is just let a small thing not stop
you from achieving big things not only
today not only tomorrow but just in
general thank you
[Applause]
one of my oldest memories goes back to
1995 I was five years old even smaller
than I was today and I was in the night
train and a little bunk bed and a night
train to Germany we were passing from
Russia to for Crane’s Slovak I
I don’t can’t even remember all the
names of his complicated countries
directly to Germany we’re going in there
because Germany is a safe place Germany
is a warmer place and to be aware I was
from and yeah we were going there it was
lying there I’m a little bit
all alone with my doll with my parents
around and here the people chattering I
could hear of sounds of rails and I
wasn’t afraid because I knew things were
going to change in a good way so we
arrived in this new country and quickly
became a home and my parents tried to
settle down as well they were trying to
adapt they were looking for jobs but
it’s hard it’s hard when you don’t speak
the language it’s hard when you degree
doesn’t isn’t accepted it’s just hard to
arrive in a new place and as a kid if
you grow up seeing your parents struggle
you always try to make it better you
want to impress them you want them to
make them proud and you also want to you
actually just follow the example you
just follow the example so that’s what I
did I try to arrive here in Germany I
tried so hard I started being on time I
started watching that ought I started
eating sauerkraut and I hated it
I’m not wearing Birkenstocks just for
fashionable reasons I have to say and
yeah and there’s like this other German
thing I don’t know if you know but
Germany is the world champions and
recycling this is actually something we
can be proud of and back then I was also
trying hard to do some ways of aeration
at home I was teaching everybody liked
this comes in this trash this this go
and it’s cool same I was teaching all
the other kids like which put the trash
I knew it I had all figured it out and I
really enjoyed it I enjoyed digging
deeper into environmental issues because
it was fun and was interesting and I
also felt like it was part of it
I didn’t start to read check all skin
jackets like I didn’t start hiking the
nature wearing them when I go to a local
organic shop like what usually people do
but I was interested about it and the
more I tried to find out what actually
is environmental issues invited people
care about it
I actually learned I actually know ash I
have fallen in love was a subject itself
I realized that why Germans care so much
about it it’s because we needed it we
can’t not care about it because nature
environmental issues sustainability all
these subjects have a key to our future
these are the things we have to care now
about so there’s still a future tomorrow
and this moment I realized that I
actually really started caring about
recycling it wasn’t just a thing to
impress other people how much I’ve
integrated or assimilated it was a it
became something I actually cared about
so we’re to care about wastes now that I
think about it but yes or started in for
myself and I try to be the uber German
not the uber like a company like uber
German by I thought okay if I don’t
recycle if I pre-cycle if I will avoid
one-way packaging I therefore avoid
waste so in the end there’s anyways
produce I thought I’d be like super
clever so I was figuring how to how to
do it I wanted to live without waste and
I was planning all I had and then I
quickly realized I couldn’t everywhere
we go in every supermarket in every
drugstore everything is packed and
plastic once twice you want to buy some
produce you want to buy some vegetables
inspect and plastic even bananas I mean
come on why do need bananas need another
plastic packaging and then cosmetics
same thing you want to buy a cream
then you have a scream it’s packing
plastic there’s microplastics in it and
it’s just so there and you can’t avoid
it and I’ve got sick of it I didn’t want
to use plastic because do you know what
plastic actually consists of plastic is
fossil oil plastic is water drinkable
water and it needs a lot of energy to
produce plastic and then we use it like
real quickly and ends up in the trash
you think oh well no problem we have a
good recyclable management system here
in Germany again world champions
but the problem is only twenty percent
actually gets recycled the way that we
can use it again the rest is good it’s
getting burned it’s getting down cycle
or shipped away and what happens it ends
up in the oceans you’ve probably all
heard about the Great Pacific Garbage
Patch in the Pacific Ocean it’s like a
huge island made of trash and that
sounds wrong right why is that trash in
the oceans so the best way actually is
not to recycle it but just to avoid it
just right from the beginning and this
is what I wanted to do and this is what
I couldn’t do
do you know what I did I open up a
supermarket for 90 years ago I wrote a
business plan about an idea had I wanted
to just think about it what would it be
possible if theoretically I open up a
shop a shop was up on my packaging so we
brought this business plan and we wanted
to start this company and again usually
when you’re young and foolish you just
don’t have money I didn’t have any money
and I wanted to have money I wanted to
open the shop I wanted to see this idea
become real so we started crowdfunding
we needed twenty five thousand euros to
get started
and we got twenty five thousand euros
within a day because people all over
Germany liked the idea so much they were
jet felt probably just like I did like
they wanted a change they wanted an
alternative they wanted to see something
change and I wanted to send the retail
the economy a message this is how we
want things to be deal twist deal was it
so yeah they supported us in the end we
had more than hundred thousand euros and
we were able
to open up the shop in 2014 we opened
the shop in Berlin Freud’s back at girl
it’s a pack you know where you usually
buy also unpackaged stuff so yeah we
also sell unpackaged us but the legal
ones and you can we open up back then
was 350 products now I’m till today two
and half years later we have more than
600 products actually probably wanna see
pictures right so this is the shop from
the outside we have pastries we have
produce we have bulk we have pasta
cereal it’s nuts
sweets basically everything you need on
a daily basis as I said before produce
all kinds of other stuff oil spices teas
tofu from the tofu ptosis which in
English is translated tofu bitches a
lava tofu so good so fresh the best and
then we have a cosmetics corner which
are really adore because he shows you
don’t need to have plastic you don’t
need to have Micro plastic to her and it
doesn’t even has to be expensive because
if you buy in bulk you can actually save
money after all so yeah that’s a shop
this is the kind of products we offer it
works like that you bring your own
container you weigh it empty you feel it
offers as much as you need you go to
cashier you pay and you’re excited about
how you not spend so much money as you
expected no I’m not trying to make an
advertisement but that usually people
think if something is good if
something’s organic it has to be
expensive but it hasn’t because
sometimes good things work differently
so it sounds amazing right that was
actually one problem
people came into our shop they loved it
they took pictures I posted it online
they shook our hands and they were
amazed and said you’re doing a good job
and then the left again was out buying
anything and went on for the lives and I
was feeling like a museum like a museum
of I don’t know unpackaged food that
wasn’t what I was going to supposed to
do I wanted to build a sustainable
business something which can survive and
something which also quite has
change but therefore we have to survive
as a business so it took us actually a
long long time until we were profitable
and until customers came regularly
bought all the groceries there and did
it the way we wanted them to do it
actually we have one customer she was
there from the first day on and back
then she was pregnant and now her little
baby son is running through the shop and
throwing away like all the glasses and
destroying the whole shop but it’s
amazing it’s like we could saw him throw
up and she’s wonderful many loyal
customers we have who make it possible
to survive as a small business so that’s
the story of a shop but that’s not the
end of my story so yeah we made it work
after all so and sometimes I really
stand there and I’m wondering how a
little girl like me could make what
actually no idea what she was doing
again me open up actually a real shop so
it all started was me just wanting to
have another turned I wanted to live as
always I wanted to have a shop so then
came to shop and what happened next was
actually quite surprising this is
something I wasn’t expecting this is
something what every business owner
hates somebody comes along and starts
copying you and then the beginning was
hard to deal with and then I actually
realized this is the best thing what
could ever have happened to us because
this is the moment where the movement
started rolling this is a moment where
people not only start to say oh it’s a
good thing but actually could live and
shops your waste in their own hometown
so they’re opened up a lot of zero waste
shops not only over Germany but all over
the world we still get emails from
people saying oh cool I’ve been to a
shop I heard it I liked it I open up my
own it’s like okay cool interesting and
it’s amazing and we help these people
also kind of we gave workshops we now
give an online workshop where we teach
them how to open up your own zero waste
shop so wherever you from wherever
you’re listening if you google your
hometown and type in zero waste a
package free store you might actually
find one already there so just do it and
try it and support this local shop ok so
what happened next we have a girl we
have one shop we have many shops then we
have a big chain so actually seeing oh
there’s something going on there’s
people
making money we want that part too so
the big chains realizing people want
something different they’re realizing
people ask for a change so big chains
like both born in Canada for example
very big huge supermarket chain started
to offer not bulk only but they
encouraged the customers to bring their
own containers they told them bring your
own containers fill them up we’re fine
with it that’s new that’s cool too hip
for soca logical I know it usually
sounds like greenwashing but I really
appreciate the big companies trying to
make the step because this is what we
wanted this is just what I wanted from
the whole beginning on and also other
chains especially also here in Germany
we don’t have bulk here but it’s
starting to get to become a thing so
what happened next we have a chains we
have Oh what happens next so bad now
that we have a shops we have a movement
as well the people who just like me who
have a consumers but just want to laugh
is out waste so want to live according
to the conscious and these people are
part of your waist movement you can
check it out on Instagram I guess
there’s like yeah Johnson she’s a mother
as your way Lauren singer she’s like the
princess of your ways there is these
amazing people all many who try to lose
your waist and write about it and by
others as well so I try to live like
that as well I try to have like plastic
and it’s even so far if you’ve ever been
out with me you know even when I’m drunk
after my virgin tonic I’m standing at
the bar like one more please but no
straw please and then usually people
just wonder like why why’d it’s like
just a little piece of plastic why do
you care so much about this little piece
of plastic and I tell them it’s because
it starts a conversation so I’ve been to
many months ago I’ve been to this one
place and Kreutz Berg and I met a girl
at a bar and again I was ordering no
straw please and we started talking and
she was very cute so I told her why I
tried to put plastic I told him a long
story since we had time and it was a
nice conversation because she didn’t
care about sus2 Benilde sustainability
we had nothing in common but she was
just curious over
and then we parted fast-forward months
passed by I meet this girl again and
she’s super excited she’s so thrilled to
see me
she’s like Melina oh my god I have to
tell you so many things so I stopped
using coffee one way paper max no more
paper coffee to go max for me I have now
my reusable it looks so fresh ok cool
then she keeps going actually she’s like
oh I stopped using the plastic bag from
the supermarket the one forever produce
because I don’t need them actually it
just found out I just I don’t need them
and she was so excited to tell me she
was so proud of herself I was amazing
there was just one conversation one
straw which I said no to which lead to a
girl thinking about stuff which she
hasn’t done before and who knows whom
she has aspired well no saying no to a
mug or saying no to a plastic bag so if
we can now go back 22 years ago it’s the
year 1995 I am five years old and I
would have never fought this this would
be my journey I would have never thought
that ask coming to Germany and we try so
badly trying to adapt
I mean becoming part of his culture
would actually lead to me feeling for
environmental things and now I’m 27 now
I found out actually two successful
companies and I’ve been doing a lot
after working a lot and still it doesn’t
feel like enough Steel it feels like
global warming is still happening
climate change is still moving on and it
feels like it’s not getting better it’s
actually getting worse and I feel like
I’m not doing enough I feel like I have
to change something although I’m doing
already so a lot and this is actually
when I’m realizing it’s it’s not only
the Germans who care about environmental
issues it’s happening all over the world
right now
because this is an issue which is all
important to us when I have these
thoughts and I think this is all too
much when I’m paralyzed when I’m lying
in bed and can’t get out of it when I
realize it’s just getting too much it’s
I don’t even know where to start
there should I stop flying should I stop
eating meat should I stop using cars
bikes can I even breathe can I have
children one day
all these questions because I know this
is actually what makes climate change
this is I would have to change
everything to stop climate change right
now not only me but all of the people
and that destroys me because it’s just
too much and I feel like maybe I
shouldn’t do anything at all I mean I
can’t change anything at it so when I
get into all of his complicated thoughts
there’s one way to get out of it and
there’s one way to get actually started
I have to realize that it always takes
just one little change one little step
to get going so for me this one little
step was caring about the environment
reading up on recycling trying to avoid
waste opening up my shop many more shops
open up shops inspired more chains to
offer bulk wear and these inspires other
people to shop and lives your waste as
well so seeing that a little thing
actually had quite a chain reaction is
amazing if you if you think about big
companies which you know which are now
very very big and important today you
have to remember that all of his
companies one started out of small
business every big personality every big
famous entrepreneur politician whoever
started out as a kid and every big idea
every movement started out with a
thought it was a sentence was the people
talking about it so what I’m trying to
say is just let a small thing not stop
you from achieving big things not only
today not only tomorrow but just in
general thank you
[Applause]
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