No-Waste Grocery Store to Open

A grocery store called in.gredients will open this year in Austin, Texas and the owners say it will be package and waste free. Food items will be kept in bulk bins and no plastic bags will be given to customers. Patrons will bring their food-storage containers and bags for transport. Items they will sell are very much what you would find at a health food store: produce, organic grains, spices, loose leaf teas and coffee beans, dried fruits and nuts, baking items (flours, sugars, etc.), oils, dairy, beer and wine.

Their products will be organic or all-natural. In their press release, one of the founders explained, “Truth be told, what’s normal in the grocery business isn’t healthy for consumers or the environment. In addition to the unhealthiness associated with common food processing, nearly all the food we buy in the grocery store is packaged, leaving us no choice but to continue buying packaged food that’s not always reusable or recyclable.”

Each year the use of about one billion plastic shopping bags in the US results in 600,000,000 pounds of waste being added to landfills. One estimate stated the annual growth rate for packaging and container waste was 1.8%. One no-waste store is not going to make much difference when the total amount of waste is so enormous, but it could be the start of other stores adopting the same, or similar, measures. The fact they are trying to do something differently also raises awareness and sets the right example.

Image Credit: Public Domain

Read more: Basics, Conscious Consumer, Environment, News & Issues

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Laura M.

2:45PM PDT on May 1, 2012

Yay! Hopefully others will follow suit.
For years I've admired LUSH for their low-waste, low-packaging, what-packaging-we-have-is-recyclable practices, but I rarely buy from them because most of what they sell is unnecessary and I don't make a habit of buying unnecessary things. But implemented in a grocery store, the same mentality is so useful, practical, and awesome!

send a green star

Winn A.

11:09AM PDT on Apr 25, 2012

Fantastic! We need more throughout the US and the world.

Sheree S.

1:05PM PDT on Apr 22, 2012

This is a great idea and I hope it catches on fast. I'm glad to see it open too.

1:00PM PDT on Apr 22, 2012

This should be mandatory to happen at least in a great percentage in each city , town , place
within the next FEW years to prevent total destruction.

KS G.

4:07AM PST on Nov 10, 2011

Thanks for the article.

Faith B.

10:21AM PDT on Oct 21, 2011

great article, thanks :)

Elizabeth B.

8:58AM PDT on Aug 25, 2011

i am happy this business is opening (-:
...would be good to have one in australia
......remember not to use polyurethene reusable bags as they take 1000 years to biodegrade instead use cotton or hemp reusable bags as they are biodegrade alot quicker and are more sustainble to produce

Prochi T.

1:29PM PDT on Aug 24, 2011

Wonderful idea. hope it catches on.

Robert O.

10:34AM PDT on Aug 24, 2011

Great idea!

Regina P.

8:40AM PDT on Aug 24, 2011

This is good, hope this travels to other states. thanks