Shop Inside the World’s First Package-Free Supermarket
In San Francisco, there’s a $.10 bag fee anytime you have to choose paper or plastic and don’t have your own tote in tow. Even though it was a headline-making decision started years ago, there are still times you, a SF-ite might forget. You realize you don’t have a bag with you, apologize to the cashier like you just ran over their beloved pet, say a prayer to Mother Earth and instantly start scheming ways you can upcycle the bag you’re buying so you’re not the bad forgetful, wasteful person you feel like right now. But what if supermarkets asked you to BYO something else? Like P. Packaging, that is.
A supermarket sans packaging is coming to a neighborhood near you. If you live in Berlin. Inspired by the 16 millions TONS of straight up packaging that gets thrown away every year in Germany alone, a team of women there are working on the grand opening for the very first Original Unverpackt (Original Unpacked). This grocery store goes beyond bag fees, even beyond the sustainable methods flexed by programs like coffee shop Cupcycle in Brooklyn, to make all of the items in the supermarket available to purchase pre-packaged.
Instead of the colorful boxes of treats and family-size toiletries we’re used to, the first OU will be stocked with more than 600 products served in bulk-type bins. Everything from fruit and veggies, to beans and cereal, shampoo, toothpaste and diapers will be for sale — shoppers will just have to bring their own containers to cross these items off their grocery lists.
Crowdfunding for the project begins July 5, so check back if you have some Euros to pledge. Though it doesn’t seem like the creators will need to look to us to fund their initial idea, people from around the world interested in opening their own Original Unverpackt franchises are already approaching the co-founders.
Would you shop at a supermarket without packaging? Could you see something like this being a success in the US? Sound off below!
(h/t: German Pulse)