Shopping: Zero Waste Edition – My first unpackaged experience

To start with, a confession: I have never been to a packaging-free store. Although I have a certain consumer awareness of my waste production and the environment, and there are actually quite a few such stores here in Munich, I somehow haven't had it on my agenda to go into one. Organic stores, regional markets? Yes, they are among my regular shopping stops. But packaging-free stores? Nope. So I took #plasticfreejuly as an opportunity and let Hannah Sartin, co-founder and owner of two packaging-free branches of the OHNE store here in Munich, take me behind the scenes in an interview.

1. First steps in the plastic-free land of milk and honey
2. Unpackaged – how does the concept work behind the scenes?
3. Declaring war on plastic: how to prepare for unpackaged
4. Zero waste concepts: a thing of the future?

1. First steps in the plastic-free land of milk and honey

Of course, I already knew what a packaging-free store could look like. I had already looked inside a few of them, and the organic store also has a little corner with the filling containers. But looking at the whole thing up close somehow made me feel like I was a child in a candy store. Only instead of jars and vases full of gummy bears and sweets, there were neatly lined up glass bins. These are the cylinder-shaped filling containers filled with beans, various types of pasta, rice, lentils, nuts, coffee, etc. Admittedly, my little foodie heart beat a little faster to see all the food presented so openly. And suddenly I remembered everything I had "always" wanted to cook, everything that was still missing from my pantry... Actually, nothing was missing, but I just wanted these foods that were shining at me through the glass containers. I was completely blown away by the stainless steel honeycomb from which you could tap fresh honey! As a passionate amateur cook, I went weak at the knees when I saw the spice rack. You simply don't see such a colorful and hunger-inducing selection through the rows of plastic bags in the supermarket. To put it bluntly: I really felt like shopping again!

2. Unpackaged – how does the concept work behind the scenes?

One of the first questions I asked myself was actually what goes on behind the scenes in such an unpackaged store. Hannah explains to me how the two OHNE stores in Munich work:

"It works in many different ways and I think every unpackaged store has its own system. Some work with a wholesaler, some with lots of direct marketers. With us it's a good mix. That means we sometimes work with an organic wholesaler from whom we buy goods in bulk - these are usually 25 kg bags. But we also have, for example, Bavarian tofu in returnable glass jars in the refrigerated section, which is made by a small family business. It works according to the reusable principle. The tofu delivery comes on Thursdays and then the empties are returned straight away. The baker comes every morning and brings fresh bread for which he also bakes the flour from the grain from the organic farm that supplies us. So the different stages from grain to flour to bread are in one store. We are particularly pleased with such cycles because we also want value chains that are as transparent as possible so that from the customer's point of view you can really understand where exactly everything comes from."

Transparency is in demand when shopping these days. We want to know exactly where our food comes from, or the cosmetics we use. And we want to be able to trust that the information we receive about the origin and processing is correct. It is simply not enough to simply print the country of origin on the products. This is especially true for the more "exotic" goods, such as chia seeds or various types of nuts that simply do not grow here but were requested for the range. Of course, you can raise your eyebrows and ask yourself whether it is even necessary to offer products that have traveled such long distances in a store that is all about sustainability. But the offer is designed based on demand - and that is a good thing, because otherwise all the unpackaged stores would have to pack up again.

"We have built our range mainly based on customer requests. So we started with linseed instead of chia seeds, with Bavarian rice instead of basmati rice. From the beginning, we set up boxes where we collected customer requests and then, so to speak, looked at what was in demand and expanded our range accordingly. After all, we live off customers coming to us and buying. As an organic-certified store, we naturally source everything in organic quality. And we always try to source everything fairly, that is important to us. But of course, for us as retailers, it also requires a certain process of trust with the manufacturer and the middleman. We can try to find out as much as possible from a distance - similar to the packaged goods in the organic store. But it is not always comprehensible down to the last detail."

Sustainable companies can only be as transparent as retailers, middlemen and manufacturers allow. Hannah sums it up: "If we didn't include many of the things that would be attractive in our range out of conviction, then we wouldn't be able to survive. So it's simply a compromise."

And a compromise is much better than the alternative: unbelievable plastic and paper consumption, all just to be able to transport food, whose country of origin we only know at most, from the supermarket to our homes in a more “convenient” way, only to then dispose of the packaging. Do we really need that?

3. Declare war on plastic: how to prepare for unpackaged goods

Hannah has shared her experiences for you (and me) and collected her top 3 tips for unpackaged shopping:

1. In advance: taking stock

“The first step is always to take stock at home – before you actually go shopping. I would say even several weeks beforehand. Then you can observe yourself and see: What do I actually need? How often do I go shopping? Am I someone who goes to the supermarket every day and buys spontaneously, or do I like to plan ahead and write it down. That way you get a good feeling for what you are buying, how often and what quantities you need.”

2. Don’t overthink it

“You can't be too hard on yourself and you just have to get started. I know that I thought a lot beforehand about what I would have to change before I could get off to a perfect start. But you can actually get started right away and you usually have everything you need at home. We all have storage or lunch boxes. You don't need fancy equipment. Before you slow yourself down because you think you won't get it perfect anyway, start with small steps before you turn away. Be yourself, observe, choose three products to start with that you want to switch to unpackaged and off you go.”

3. Make yourself light – not only in your head

"We always recommend making things as light as possible. That means: leave the glass or plastic containers at home. Instead, use washable cotton bags that you can close. We sell them here, but you can also simply sew them yourself or have them given to you as a gift. They are super practical because they are light, almost comparable to a paper bag. And you can also vary the quantities with them."

4. Zero waste store concepts: a thing of the future?

"When we started 6 years ago, it was still relatively new and was always viewed with a bit of skepticism, I had the feeling. It has definitely developed, as can be seen from the number of unpackaged stores that now exist across Germany. We have already seen that openness to the topic has increased significantly in recent years because it has become more of a focus of general discussion."

Six years ago there was still scepticism, but now concepts such as plastic-free, recycling, zero waste and second hand are well integrated in many places or are on the way to being so. This gives hope that the future is already here to some extent, that we are at least heading in the right direction, true to the motto: reduce, reuse, recycle. Consuming food, kitchen items, but also bathroom products, cleaning products, everyday objects and clothing more consciously, paying attention to our own waste production and also paying attention to which ingredients we ingest, release into the environment or let come into contact with our skin is something that each and every one of us can do. This does not mean that we can all turn our lives upside down overnight and only produce one cup of waste a year from now on (hats off to everyone who is already doing this in one way or another)! To conclude with Hannah's, in my opinion very fitting words: "Before you slow yourself down because you think you won't be able to do it perfectly anyway, it's better to start with small steps." And that's exactly what I'm doing now. You too?

Big thanks to Hannah for her insights, explanations, encouraging words and the beautiful pictures from the two OHNE shops! If you are from Munich and would like to stop by or find out more, you can do so here . And if you would like to open your own unpackaged shop or make your café or restaurant more sustainable with the wonderful filling containers, you can even get the glass bins from the OHNE shops that you see in the pictures!