Penistone Friends of the Earth

Shop Local

What do you mean by shop local?
We mean reducing the number of miles each of us travels to do our shopping, and also buying goods that have been produced locally so that they have not been transported hundreds or thousands of miles to get into our shops.

Why shop local?

To reduce the impact on the environment caused by the unnecessary use of fuel (e.g. in cars, planes, boats, train, lorries). (Also, not environmental but still important, so that we continue to have local businesses and local jobs.)

Do you know:

In recent years, there has been as much Australian cheddar shipped to Britain as there is British Cheddar shipped to Australia - can you tell the difference?
That a product, for example a yoghurt, may be made in one country, packaged in another, labelled in another and then brought here to be sold. Yet there are local producers who make it all under one roof.

What we are going to do:

As part of the Penistone Carry-A-Bag project, we are going to deliver a canvas bag to every household in Penistone (The Co-operative have very kindly agreed to fund these). Included in this bag will be a leaflet about reducing plastic bag use, shopping locally and a local shopping guide, listing all the local shops and some information about them.