The greenest packaging is no packaging at all

One hallmark of our green-conscious age has been the rapid rise of reusable, cloth grocery bags, sold at checkout counters or brought from home. Some cities have banned single-use plastic bags altogether, which others encourage (or require) stores to charge a few cents for them. Either way, plastic bags and other packaging create obvious issues in terms of waste and environmental damage. Now, two enterprising German women are further changing people's attitudes towards packaging. Their grocery store, Original Unverpackt in Berlin, uses no packaging at all. All goods are sold in bulk from dispensers, jars and vats. Customers’ only options for taking their purchases with them are to bring their own containers or buy reusable ones from the store. In the interest of making this a real trend, the OU girls are offering their knowledge to other companies and stores to teach them how to dispose of disposables altogether. Rest assured that green thinking will be with us for years to come and new models for storing, packing and shopping are just the beginning.