Bulk buy: why zero-waste supermarkets are the new, old way to shop

A bring-your-own containers store in east London is the latest shop to ditch packaging. But the principle of leaving nothing to waste dates back to an earlier timeThere is a decidedly retro feel to London's latest attempt at a zero-waste supermarket. The produce comes stacked in glass cylinders. Arborio rice is 62p per 100g. Pumpkin seeds are 86p for the same measure, with chocolate buttons at ?1.16. On the far wall: four flavours of dry dog food, stored in the same way. Adjacent to the counter, yellow, green and umber oils, in jars with spouts: tea tree, castor, almond, peppermint, and on. On a table in the middle, the breads have all been baked by local youths who are being siphoned out of gang life. Women recently released from prison have taken care of the cakes.It's being sold as radical 21st-century eco-vanguard stuff, but the organising principle is the same as that familiar to a generation who grew up before plastics: you bring your own jars, sacks and pots, weigh what you want and cart it home. Continue reading...