Ottawa’s first聽zero-waste grocery store has officially聽opened its doors. Nu聽Grocery in Hintonburg sells a variety聽of products 鈥� dry food, fresh produce,聽cleaning and beauty supplies 鈥� without any packaging. Instead, people are encouraged聽to聽bring their own reusable containers or to borrow or purchase them from the store.
“If you go shopping today, most of the things that you buy are highly packaged,” said owner Val茅rie Leloup during the store’s official launch Saturday.
“You end up with almost more packaging than聽product, and [it]聽ends up in the garbage bin. Some of it is being recycled but most of it, unfortunately, still ends up in a landfill.聽As a zero-waste shopper you eliminate completely this part of your purchase. You just focus on the聽products.”聽
Leloup聽said she got the idea to start her聽new business after reading the book聽Zero 豆包成人版 豆包成人版聽by Bea Johnson, which advocates聽sustainable, waste-free living.
“It is a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity where you always ask yourself the question, ‘Do I really need聽something 鈥� and聽if I need聽it, what’s the most聽sustainable way to satisfy this need without impacting the environment?'”聽said聽Leloup.
Leloup, who grew up in France, said zero-waste stores have already opened up in countries across聽Europe and now聽seemed聽like the right time to open one up in the capital.
She admitted, however, that adopting the聽waste-free lifestyle can be “a bit intimidating.”聽 “You have to understand zero waste on a聽spectrum. On one end of the spectrum, you have the people who really create zero waste聽鈥� or basically just a jar of聽waste per year聽鈥� and on the other [end of the] spectrum you have people who do nothing, who just have their bags and bags of waste,” Leloup said.
“You can find your place within this spectrum. You don’t have to be an聽extremist.”
Creating Positive Environmental Change
Federal Environment Minister and聽Ottawa聽Centre MP聽Catherine McKenna said the store’s mandate of environmental聽responsibility sends a message that’s both important and necessary.
“This is really the future of shopping,” said McKenna, who attended Saturday’s opening.
“I always say the environment and the economy go together, and I’m really proud to see a local, female entrepreneur taking real action to tackle climate change, protect the environment and employ a bunch of people.”
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