Kind Lab: Please introduce yourself.
Sabrina: My name is Sabrina Auclair and I am the owner of Unpacked Living, the first plastic-free store in Massachusetts.
Kind Lab: We hear a lot about zero waste, sustainability, and plastic-free when it comes to conscious living. What are the differences, and what do you focus on?
Sabrina: Excellent question. While the concepts are all interconnected, they have different goals but share one which is to try to do better for the planet and ourselves.
While Zero-waste is the most known term of all, that one focuses specifically on reducing as much as possible what you “waste” meaning trash, water, food, E-waste, etc, “plastic-free” focuses solely on the purge and refusing of plastic in our lives, which as I’ve mentioned before comes with the perks of making us a bit more “zero/low-waste” but not completely.
When it comes to sustainability, it gets a little confusing because the planet is unsustainable at the moment, no matter how we look at it and it takes a lot of information and knowledge to know what truly is “sustainable” and it also depends on individual approaches.
But Basically sustainable means “Balanced”, we take and we give, Yin and yang to call it somehow.
Kind Lab: What inspired you to start Unpacked Living?
Sabrina: I started Unpacked Living as a Blog where I shared my own struggle to be plastic-free because “If I can do it, anyone can” and then I saw a hole in the market for plastic-free products. I am not the kind of person that waits for someone else to do things, so I decided to step in and create a brand that aside from providing plastic-free products, also supports local businesses, mostly women-owned and bring awareness to the whole topic.
Kind Lab: What are 3 things someone can do to reduce their footprint on earth?
Sabrina: In a more “overall” way:
- Use what you have
- Think before you buy “where did it come from?” and “Where is it going after I am done with it?” that way you’ll be more aware of how much trash you buy.
- Don’t waste. “Don’t waste electricity, don’t waste paper, don’t waste food. Live the way you want to live but just don’t waste” Sir David Attenborough
In a more “practical” way:
- Reusables are your best friends. Bags, coffee cups, water bottles, cutlery, napkins, etc. Reuse.
- Turn off your computer/laptop every day and erase your emails from 2007
- Use less, buy less.
Sabrina & Unpacked Living will be poping up at Kind Lab in Beverly MA on Saturday & Sunday 6/20-21.