Zero Waste Stores

Packaging, and what we do with it once we’ve finished with it, continues to be a major bugbear for many people concerned about how we use the limited resources on our planet. Too many products are still being wrapped in layers of plastic and other materials that are either wasteful to create or difficult to dispose of – sometimes both.

Selling sustainably needn’t be a difficult thing, and in town and city centres up and down the country, new ways are being found to reduce the amount of packaging we use to sell food, cosmetics, cleaning products and other everyday items that we need to buy on a regular basis. 

One increasingly common sight on the high street is the zero waste store – but what exactly is one, what are the benefits, and how are they able to do what other retailers cannot? 

The concept is actually pretty well summed up in the title – a zero waste store aims to sell its products in such a way that no waste is created as a result.

When we get our weekly shopping from a traditional supermarket or even corner store, much of what we buy comes in various forms of packaging, from cardboard boxes and plastic bags to glass jars and aluminium tins. And although much of this packaging can be recycled, or may even have been manufactured from recycled materials, it still requires use of our planet’s dwindling resources to do so.

Zero waste stores eliminate all packaging by making their products available to buy loose, with the customer supplying their own jars, boxes, bags and other containers to transport it home. That can include lots of common foodstuffs, such as pasta, grains and rice, fruit and vegetables, spices and many more. Even things like shower gel and shampoo can be sold in this way – all the customer has to do is bring a previously used bottle and refill it from a much larger bulk-buy container.

Incidentally, most zero waste stores will supply reusable packaging if you don’t have any of your own at the time you visit, but if you’re buying into the concept, it is important that you retain it to use on your next visit!

Obviously, the main benefit with a zero waste store is to the planet, thanks to the elimination of unnecessary packaging. However, there are other useful benefits attached to the concept:

Cheaper groceries: 

Packaging inevitably costs money, which is built into the pricing of the products within. So it follows that what you’re buying should be cheaper. And because the product is being bought and sold in bulk by the store, there are savings attached there as well. Last but not least, many of the people running zero waste stores are doing so on a not-for-profit, or at least a minimal profit, basis. That’s because their motivation is nearly always the environment rather than personal gain.

Less food waste:

Because you’re measuring out what you’re buying, you can make sure that what you do buy is what you need. How often have you bought more than you needed to because that was the only way you could get it – and then ended up finding the balance at the back of a cupboard a year later and having to throw it away because it’s gone out of date?
Fewer shopping trips: on the other hand, for those things that you buy and use regularly, you can get them in bigger quantities than at a normal supermarket, eliminating the need for regular trips.

Healthier lifestyle:

It may be a bit of a generalisation, but the products sold at zero waste shops are also usually healthier – both for us and the planet. There is unlikely to be anything but the bare minimum of processed food, while cosmetics and cleaning products in these shops are also going to be ones that have been manufactured without ingredients that are likely to damage the environment.

Not every shop can fully eliminate waste, but we all need to do what we can to limit our impact on the environment in our daily lives. Here at Morplan, we have a wide range of eco-friendly ideas to help you reduce your store’s carbon footprint, from biodegradable bubble wrap to recyclable paper bags and even eco-friendly shop mannequins made from rice powder, raffia paper and bio resin. Get in touch with us today to find out more about environmentally-friendly retail supplies from Morplan.