A glimpse of the future.

Have you ever wondered about all the packaging that can be found in a normal supermarket? These tons of  plastic and other (in my opinion) unnecessary materials that help keeping your potatoes, rice and all the other products fresh? Do we really need that much packaging? Two days ago a friend of mine showed me a more than intersting and somehow sensational article that really caught my attention. Unfortunately I only found it in German but nevertheless it's worth reading: Original Unverpackt

source: austinchronicle.com

"Original Unverpackt" is the name of a new, innovative start-up project of two young entrepreneurs named Sarah Wolf and Milena Glimbovski. Their idea is simple and at the same time really smart: a zero-waste, packaging-free grocery store that will be the first one in Berlin to open this summer. 

When I started researching on this topic I realized that there already exist such kind of grocery stores. For instance there is one in Austin, Texas called in.gredients.

If you are wondering how this should, here's the answer: Most of these stores, like the one in Texas, consists of a number of bulk bins which contain items like flours, cereals, rice, beans as well as teas and coffee, spices, dried fruits and nuts. There are also special containers which dispense liquids like honey and maple syrup, oil and vinegar or things like dishwashing soap. Other products like butter can be scooped from vats. The only thing you need to do is bring your own containers from home, because that's the only way to go without packaging again. It would be against the original idea if people used plastic bags to carry their rice or cereals home. 

I really like the idea and at the same time I know that it's still unrealistic to imagine a future where all supermarkets will stop using packaging. For too many people the idea of carrying a number of containers with them still seems inconvenient and much more effort than just carrying their plastic bags with their packed rice or butter. And somehow I can understand this way of thinking because of course it's not the easiest way. Then there's the question of meat and fish, how is it sold? There are certain laws and local regulations which limit the opportunities of packaging-free grocery stores. Meat can't be sold without certain packaging and that's not the only question remaining unanswered. On the other hand I've seen films like Plastic Planet and know about the consequences of our excessive production of waste and the way this production affects the environment. There are far too many people who just don't even think about this issue even though it's something that affects all of us.

Maybe the time for zero-waste, packaging-free grocery stores hasn't come yet and just a small number of people make use of this offer, but at least it's a beginning. To me it seems like a little step into the right direction. If people start thinking about the consequences of their shopping habits and for example try to avoid the use of plastic bags it may not be a milestone but at least a beginning!