by josie
Zero-waste grocer in.gredients in Austin, TX, asks that customers bring their own containers to buy most of the items in bulk.
While many stores suggest that you bring your own grocery bag, in.gredients, a zero-waste micro-grocer in Austin, TX, takes it a step further, asking customers to bring their own containers for almost everything. The unique store was created with a vision of community-based sustainability in mind. The market, which has the look and feel of an old-fashioned curio shop, offers more than 400 items ranging from organic olive oil and natural dishwashing detergent to natural sodas and a huge selection of organic snacks, granolas, flours, seeds, rice, herbs and spices sold in bulk.
Don’t want to buy eggs by the dozen? Not a problem. The store offers shoppers the option of buying local chicken and duck eggs individually. Looking for vegan doughnuts, hyperlocal lemongrass or butternut squash from a Texas farmer? In.gredients has it. If you want to know more about what you’re buying, scannable QR codes on products provide additional information on the vendor and where the food comes from. Some of the food is sourced within walking distance of the store, from neighborhood farms or the front yard store garden managed by local organization Urban Patchwork.
It’s a waste-free zone, where sustainability rules, so shoppers are asked to bring their own bags and refillable containers. The sustainable system works like this—you weigh and label your container at the Tare Station scale, then fill it up with organic flaxseed, for example, take it to the counter to be weighed again and you’ll be charged for the difference. For the forgetful, the store offers compostable containers and reusable glass containers for sale.
Some food items, like yogurt, milk, and meat must be sold in individual containers to meet health regulations, but most everything else is sold in bulk or individually and you provide the “packaging.” The ultimate goal of shopping at in.gredients is to walk away with just food — nothing that would contribute to the daily burden of half a billion pounds of packaging in landfills. If that’s not enough, in.gredients also keeps track of the number of reusable containers customers bring in and, based on that number, donates 5 cents per container to a nonprofit organization such as the Mothers’ Milk Bank Austin. (In April, in.gredients starts the voting process for its next non-profit partner.)
But don’t think all this earnest concern about the environment means they don’t know how to have a good time. There’s an outdoor space where beer from local microbreweries as well as wine, is served, and where there’s live acoustic music in the evening. (The store is open until 11 p.m. Monday–Saturday and until 10 p.m. on Sunday). That’s one of reasons why, shortly after opening the intimate space last year, in.gredients was dubbed 2012 Best New Local Business by The Austin Chronicle, a local independent newspaper.
The store is quickly becoming a neighborhood fixture in East Austin and while, dreams of expansion are right now just that, in.gredients is filling a no-waste niche for selling local food with pure ingredients, with an eye on a better future.
