No-waste grocery store gives it a go in Vancouver

Customers at a boutique Vancouver grocery store won’t find racks of individually packaged goods or rolls of plastic bags in which to lug their food home.

The missing plastic and packaging isn’t an oversight. A carefully constructed supply chain allows Nada to sell hundreds of food products without single-use packaging and add little waste to landfills.

The store’s owner is part of a wave of environmentally conscious entrepreneurs opening no-waste markets across Canada to help Canadians and the grocery industry reduce waste amid a global garbage glut.

“There’s absolutely a huge demand for this type of shopping,” said Brianne Miller, founder and CEO of Nada, which opened its doors about seven months ago.

The roughly 215-square-metre shop stocks colourful produce; bins of bulk items like flour, confectionery and spices; vats of oils and vinegars; and other goods that customers can buy in any amount. Single eggs and sprigs of herbs? Sure.

The shop encourages customers to bring clean, reusable containers from home to box the food. Shoppers who arrive unprepared can rifle through bins of free miscellaneous containers or purchase reusable packaging.

Patrons weigh and label their container the first time they bring it, and that weight is deducted at check out.

The few products from other companies sold in containers, like Earnest ice-cream or Avalon Dairy milk, charge a deposit fee. Those made in-house charge a high deposit fee, like $4 over the more typical $1, to encourage returns.

Nada started as a pop-up to test the market and Miller soon determined it could be a viable business model in Vancouver. The shop is on track to break even in the coming months, she said.

She has already expanded the product offering and added a cafe that diverts what could otherwise become food waste from the market’s produce section to an ever-changing menu featuring soups and other dishes.

Miller plans to open a few more stores in B.C.’s Lower Mainland in the next few years, but recognizes she faces some challenges.

One such no-waste store already closed after receiving much fanfare when it opened on B.C.’s Salt Spring Island in 2016.