The founders of In.gredients, a zero-packaging grocery store, want to spark an American movement. Christian Lane, Patrick Lane, and Joseph Lane, all brothers, along with Christopher Pepe, want to eliminate food-related waste while supporting local businesses and farmers. Set to launch in the Fall of 2011, In.gredients will encourage shoppers to bring their own containers to pack up items, such as grains, oil, and dairy. If a shopper doesn’t own any containers (or forgets them at home), the store will provide compostable ones.
“Truth be told, what’s normal in the grocery business isn’t healthy for consumers or the environment. In addition to the unhealthiness associated with common food processing, nearly all the food we buy in the grocery store is packaged, leaving us no choice but to continue buying packaged food that’s not always re- usable or recyclable.” – Christian Lane, In.gredients co-founder.
Why the Zero-Packaging Rule? Well, if you didn’t know, Americans add 570 million pounds of food packaging to landfills everyday. Not to mention, pre-packaged foods encourage consumers to buy more than they need, causing overconsumption and/or extra waste: 27% of food brought into U.S. kitchens gets tossed in the garbage. Coming soon to Austin, Texas, In.gredients hopes to inspire a decrease in that problem.
Are you down with the zero-packaging movement? Weigh in!
Source: GOOD
This is actually really interesting, and I think would catch on pretty quickly for most people. It’s kinda like this idea of only buying what you can carry. Because if you don’t need it and you can’t carry it, then it goes back. I don’t really have any complaints or suggestions since the store hasn’t really opened yet, but I’m curious to see how much American eating habits change. People talk a lot about how in Europe, they only buy for the day or for a few days whereas Americans seem to buy for weeks at a time.
I know recently I had to throw out a bunch of food that had gone by but had also been sitting in the cupboard for months/years – totally forgotten. But I don’t know which is cheaper: buying in bulk to last weeks or only buying what you need every few days?
Great post. :]
I am on the fence with this one…while I support the decrease in unnecessary packaging and less waste I am concerned about hygiene. Most people are unhygienic and do all sorts of nasty things so I would be reluctant to frequent this type of store for this very reason!! Perhaps I will be able to convince myself to come around to support the environment.