Zero waste grocery stores are catching on in Canada, with three openings across the country in the last seven months.
A new organic grocery store in the Saint-Jacques area of Edmunston, New Brunswick could be the province’s first zero waste food retail operation, according to a CBC news report.
Products at Terraterre (pictured), which has been open for two months, are sold in bulk and customers bring their own containers.
Owner Manon Whittom patterned the store after Montreal’s Epicerie Loco, which opened in 2016. She says customer response has been very good.
In November, Vancouver’s first zero waste food and grocery store opened its doors. The Soap Dispensary first opened in 2011, but until last November the store did not offer groceries.
Customers will use their own glass containers, although they can also be bought at the store.
“Kind of old timey, kind of quaint, but it works,” said On the Coast food columnist Gail Johnson, as quoted in a CBC report.
Last August, Ottawa’s first zero waste grocery store, Nu Grocery, opened in Hintonburg. The store sells packaging-free products and customers can bring their own reusable containers or buy or borrow them from the store.
Owner Valerie Leloup said her inspiration came from the book Zero Waste, which advocates a waste-free lifestyle.
You can read about the opening here.
