Think the Earth

Recently, many people have started to carry their own eco bags with them, but have you ever noticed that even though you brought your own bag, you end up going home with a bag full of products with unnecessary packaging? In Texas, a new "package-free" supermarket said to be the first of its kind in the United States is about to open. This quaint grocery store, named "in.gredients," which is preparing for its grand opening this spring, has declared that it will not have products packaged in containers on its shelves. Consumers will be responsible for bringing their own containers for vegetables, meats, spices, drinking water, etc. and they will be charged according to how much the produce weighs. According to in.gredients, 40% of municipal solid waste in the US can be attributed to packaging, so the company believes that reducing unwanted packaging would help reduce environmental impact. A package-free grocery store, "UNPACKAGED," opened in London in 2006, and it has begun to be more widely recognized and to attract a steady following.

Consumers shopping or consuming in a way that reduces waste is called "pre-cycling." As the word indicates, this means to reduce waste and reuse what we have, even before we begin recycling. In Japan, there was a time when tofu makers would walk around the neighborhood, sounding the horn, and selling tofu. People when they heard the familiar sound would run to buy tofu carrying their own containers with them. So when you think about it, this concept is new, but also familiar to those of us in Japan.

Nowadays, there are packaging containers everywhere we look. It is not easy to reduce such packaging to zero when we shop. And companies who decide not to buy or sell products in packaging will have to fundamentally rethink many aspects of the business, such as manufacturing, distribution, preservation of products, food sanitation safety, etc. Nevertheless, as consumers' awareness for the environment continues to grow, we may see more and more of these types of shops opening up.

There are also things we, as consumers, can do; it just takes a little time and effort. For example, we could choose products that do not come in packaging or are packaged in recycled containers, carry our own containers to purchase meat and deli foods, carry around our own water bottle rather than purchasing bottled beverages, use handkerchiefs rather than tissues, and the list goes on and on. Although these may be small acts, together they can make a big difference and contribute to reducing waste.