London's First Zero-Waste Supermarket Has Opened

A new store in the UK shows US supermarkets how to reduce food waste.

Refinery29 reports that the Bulk Market opened in Dalston, Hackney, a district of East London, and will run as a pop-up shop on Kingsland Road until 25th October, when it'll move to a more permanent spot. It’s the perfect spot. Dalston is considered one of the coolest spots in Britain – the place where funky creative types live and party. 

The concept is simple – just bring your own containers, such as a glass bottle or jar, fill it up, pay by weight and be on your way. There are no plastic wrappers, containers, tins or boxes, just all the produce you'd need, presented in a charmingly rustic, plastic-free way. 

The Bulk Markets sells everything from fruit and vegetables to dairy and eggs, oils and vinegar and even beer and wine, dog food, paper-wrapped toilet paper  and a bamboo toothbrush. The shop sources its produce locally, within a 50-mile radius, and does not stock the big-name brands. 

Ingrid Caldironi, who previously worked in retail marketing, created the Bulk Market and wants consumers to the shop's website to know she's no "hippie, or treehugger," and that she's "never been hardcore green" – so there's no excuse for us not to get involved. 

"Like many others, I used to believe that stuff gets recycled, and there was no other way of living without creating a lot of waste," she writes. "After reading about a 20-something girl from NY with years of rubbish fitting in a jar, I decided to go zero waste. But companies don't make it easy for people to avoid waste. Bulk Market was born to fix this."