Updated by Sarah Currie-Halpern
It's time to update you on Zero Waste Markets and Refill Shops across the country. These small businesses give consumers the opportunity to make conscious, sustainable purchasing decisions for their household. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the landscape of zero waste shops changed, with many closing their doors this made space for new entrants, and many new zero waste and refill businesses have opened up since.
What does it mean to be a “zero waste” or “refill” shop? In a nutshell, these shops stock products with minimal to no packaging, and allow customers to bring their own clean bags, jars, bottles, and other reusable containers to package the products to bring home. If a customer does not bring their own reusable container, stores usually have reusables on hand for purchase or ones that are donated from the community. Some of these stores pack their goods ahead of time in reusable containers meant to be returned to them and often charge a small fee for each container. The selection and mode of selling varies widely as well, many of these shops sell food, while others sell cleaning supplies, gifts and beauty supplies. Some offer in-store shopping only, while others sell online only, and still others have a hybrid format of in-store and online sales.
Products are often priced by weight (containers are usually tared, when a customer weighs the container when it’s empty, so they only pay for the weight of the product they are purchasing). Refill shop products’ prices can be comparable or competitive to traditional stores depending on the product and the area where you live. We recommend visiting a zero waste, refill shop near you and have compiled a mini-resource guide by state!
CALIFORNIA
SustainLA Los Angeles
Simple San Francisco
COLORADO
Nude Foods Market Boulder and Denver
JoyFill Denver
The Zero Market Aurora & Edgewater
FLORIDA
Verde Market Miami and Ft. Lauderdale
HAWAII
Keep It Simple Honolulu
IDAHO
Zero Waste Market Garden City
ILLINOIS
Zefiro Chicago
LOUISIANA
Vintage Green Review New Orleans
MASSACHUSETTS
Green Road Refill Cape Cod
MICHIGAN
Bee Joyful Shop, Kalamazoo and Dexter
BYOC Co. Ann Arbor
Fill Michigan Midland
Refillery TC, Traverse City
Walking Lightly, LLC Ferndale
MISSOURI
The Refill Effect Kirkwood
NEW JERSEY
Good Bottle Refill Shop Montclair
Sustainable Haus Summit
Unwrapped Asbury Park
NEW YORK
Earth & Me Queens
EcoBronx LLC Bronx
Precycle NYC Brooklyn
Package Free Shop Brooklyn
NORTH CAROLINA
Ekologicall Charlotte
Fill-More Burnsville
Good Earth Essentials Charlotte
PENNSYLVANIA
FD Market Emmaus
Good Buy Supply Philadelphia
Shop Wildfire Altoona
Refillery Oakmont
SOUTH DAKOTA
Rewild Essentials Rapid City
TEXAS
Earthen Market San Antonio
Usefull Dallas
VIRGINIA
Go Less Than Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton
Refill Renew Staunton
WASHINGTON
A Drop in the Ocean Tacoma
Green Life Trading Co. Madison
Kindred Homestead Supply Vancouver
Living Pantry Blaine
Pumped Bellingham Bellingham
Soap Refillery Tacoma
Spokane Refillery, Spokane
WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA
Full Fillery Takoma Park, MD
ONLINE ONLY AND OTHER
Note: Last updated August 2024; if you are a zero waste, refill shop and would like to be added to this list, please reach out to info@thinkzero.com.
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