Toothbrush tablets out of a jar, maple syrup out of a spout, dishwashing liquid bought with a ladle: mass sales are gaining supporters in the USA.
At Mason & Greens stores in Washington, customers bring their own plastic bags or containers to fill with items that are sold without packaging.
Years after a similar movement started in Europe, it’s a new trend in the United States, and the concept is spreading to several major cities across the country.
In the shop in the capital, “people even came to fill the boxes for their newspapers,” enthuses Anna Marino, the 34-year-old boss.
This type of deal is needed to bring about behavioral change in the world’s largest economy, experts say. According to official statistics, Americans produce an average of 2.2 kg of waste per day, compared to an average of 1.4 kg in Europe.
unpackaged vegetables
Anna Marino’s goal is to help everyone get closer to Zero Waste. For her and her family, paper towels were the number one goal.
His job “has resulted in a significant reduction in our daily waste,” the Mason & Greens founder explains with her husband in 2020.
They sell beans, oatmeal, and other bulk items from vending machines lining the walls alongside large cans of oil and vinegar. There are other curiosities on the shelves: bread and unpackaged vegetables, unlike usual in the US.
Anna Marino says she tries to avoid “excessive prices” to keep her store “accessible”.
In the United States, less than a third of household waste (and 9% of plastic) is recycled or composted – compared to 49% in Europe. And on average, each American creates 300 pounds of plastic waste a year, compared to 100 pounds for the French.
These statistics also prompt Anna Marino to ask her suppliers to use as little packaging as possible.
reuse
“Recycling won’t get us out of the plastic crisis,” warns Jenny Gitlitz of the organization Beyond Plastics, which fights against pollution.
She mentions the harmful effects of plastic on health: carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, etc.
Add to that the pollution of the environment with microplastic particles found everywhere on the planet, from the Mariana Trench to the top of Everest – right down to human blood.
Unlike aluminum and glass, for example, plastics cannot be recycled indefinitely because their structure gradually degrades.
In addition, the recycling of many types of plastic is expensive. This solution should only be used as a last resort, summarizes Shelie Miller of the School for Environment and Sustainable Development at the University of Michigan.
“I worry that too often people go straight to recycling without thinking about reducing and reusing,” she told AFP.
The professor warns that the actions of individuals or small shops will not be enough to disrupt the system.
Implementing such changes for a more sustainable future is a “fully shared responsibility” between companies, government agencies and waste managers, she stresses.
sobriety
At another Washington-area store, Emoke Gaidosch pours liquid soap into a large container. The company she co-runs, FullFillery, sells many of its own cosmetics locally.
“We want to reuse as much as possible because recycling still has a massive carbon footprint,” explains Rini Saha, head of the business.
And buying in bulk has another environmental benefit, says Prof. Miller: You only buy the quantities you need.
As a testament to the success of this type of business in Washington, FullFillery has left the outdoor markets of its early days for a real business. And Mason & Greens already has two stores.
The model “is profitable,” says Rini Saha.
Maybe not as much as a package deal, “but I think it’s inevitable, we don’t have a choice,” she says. “The industry has to get through this.”