Singapore Is Getting Its First Zero Waste Grocery Store

Going zero-waste can be quite daunting, especially when you read stories from people like TIFT‘s founder Lauren Singers who totally does not produce any garbage. But going zero-waste is not something that you can decide to do overnight – it’s a process and you have to start somewhere.

IKEA has already adopted a no plastic bag policy, and they sell plastic recycling bags that you can always reuse when you return or even when you go shopping. While some supermarkets have attempted to charge for the use of plastic bags and implementing bring-your-own-bag days, most supermarkets are still bagging everything in plastic bags for free.

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Founders Florence Tay and Jeff Lam has now brought the idea of minimising unnecessary packaging with UnPackt, a grocery store that follows a packaging-free concept to reduce wastage.

At UnPackt, it’s more than just bringing your own plastic bags for items. Be prepared to bring your own containers, jars and bottles when you visit the zero-waste grocery store. You can also expect there to be healthier options amongst the food options so that you can also adopt healthier eating habits.

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Dry goods like rice, pasta and cereal will be sold straight from gravity dispensers instead of being pre-packaged that you’ll see on supermarket shelves. You’ll pay based on the weight of the items, which means that you need to weigh your containers, jars and bottles before filling them up. The absence of pre-packaged portions also means that you can just buy however much you need, thus reducing the amount of food waste and practicing “mindful shopping”. There have been many times where I had to throw rotten food away because the pre-packaged amount was just too much to finish, and being able to buy the required amount will curb unnecessary waste.

With this in mind, you’ll be able to reduce impulse purchases. At the same time, if you ever realise that you underestimated the amount of containers you need, there’ll be cleaned recycled containers and shopping bags donated by members of the public that you can take for free. Either bring them back on your return visit or continue using them at home. There will also be new reusable containers for sale at the store.

Going green might sometimes be more challenging because of the higher costs when it comes to organic food and sustainable materials, but you can expect goods to be priced slightly lower than regular high street items due to the reduction of packaging  costs.

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Ecosense – one of the eco-friendly brands that will stock their environmentally-friendly house cleaning products at the shop

You’ll also be able to find eco-friendly detergents and locally made soaps, and the founders are working on bringing more organic fresh food and expand their eco-friendly consumer offerings to body wash and shampoos once sales have picked up. While UnPackt seems like they have the right idea, traveling all the way to Sembawang might not be very ideal for a lot of us. Maybe they’ll inspire other neighborhood grocery stores to start practicing zero-waste to make these practices more accessible to all of us. *crosses fingers*

Other than your groceries, there are other areas of your life where you can introduce zero-waste initiatives – we’ve also put together an introduction guide to zero-waste beauty to help you begin your sustainable lifestyle.


Visit UnPackt at 6 Jalan Kuras which opens this Saturday, 5 May. Open daily from 9am to 8pm.
Header image from UnPackt