Ella Shone's little electric truck used to distribute milk, and now she drives it around London, providing plastic-free foods and home supplies.

The 32-year-old purchased her "top-up vehicle" last year when the first coronavirus lockdown inspired her to think about new methods to cut trash.

Customers have flocked to her service, picking up dry commodities like lentils or refilling bottles from big dispensers of vinegar or laundry detergent.

On even a rainy May day, the 32-year-old plied a route to eight stops in Hackney, an up-and-coming district in northeast London.

"It's quite simple: it's kind of like a go-kart ride," she spoke about driving the truck, that has a max speed of 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour.

However, she agreed that the driving might be "a little rough."

Three consumers purchased dried mango, pasta, raisins, and shampoo in one stop.

The mobile store was designed to offer "packaging-free" purchases to people's homes, benefiting from the increasing demand for delivery during the stay-at-home limitations.

"I believed there is a need to make it simpler, more approachable, and more apparent," she explained.

Nonetheless, she wasn't completely convinced that her proposal was realistic.

"I felt I'd gone completely insane on furlough leave when I started this," she said.

Shone was on government-subsidized leave from her sales job at a firm that makes sustainable condiments during the lockdown.

She chose to purchase the truck only with money she saved during the lockdown to provide a "community shopping experience."

Customers may plan a stop online for truck deliveries, which began in August of last year.

The electric vehicles, known colloquially as milk floats, were previously widely used by milkmen and ladies to carry pint bottles of fresh milk to people's home doorsteps.

Consumers returned them for reuse, and Shone describes her vehicle prompted a "nostalgic." emotion to her.

She is, therefore, addressing these present worries about plastic packaging, which degrades over time, resulting in widespread microplastic contamination.

She believes that activism aimed at governments and companies can assist, but she also believes that "a lot more has to be accomplished at the consumer end."

The beginning of a pandemic

As per Greenpeace, the United Kingdom is the world's second-largest producer of plastic garbage per person, trailing only the United States.

Despite pledges of change, the 10 major supermarket chains in the UK decreased their usage of plastic by just 1.6 % in 2019, as per research released in January by Greenpeace and the Environmental Investigation Agency.

Shone is positive about people's drive to reduce excessive packaging.

"Mostly during the epidemic, there seems to be a slight shift back into single-use (plastic) because people are afraid of recycling something which can transmit on Covid-19," she explained.

"But, I believe there seems to be a little of a realization in terms of our responsibility to the environment."

She earned £15,000 ($21,000) through a crowd-funding initiative in April, permitting her to expand the number of racks on her float. She has also resigned from her past job.

Shone eventually wants to see a prohibition on single-use plastic packaging.

"There are so many instances where plastic is utterly useless," she added, "and the government isn't setting limitations on what businesses are permitted to do."

"And also the recycling system is abysmal as well."