Shopping with Zero Waste
Our shopping habits vary across the world, but the lure of supermarkets and plastics is everywhere
The methods and means of shopping have changed enormously in Europe and the U.S. over the last 50 years. To a large extent, gone are the local specialists shops – the butchers and bakers – and local grocery stores, run out of business by ultra-competitive chain superstores with economies of scale and low margins.
The twin appeal of low cost and efficient convenience have driven customers away from separate and often independent shops to one-stop supermarkets. For most people, the regular household grocery-shop now consists of driving to a megastore for one big regular purchasing spree – perhaps weekly – or even reversing that by ordering from supermarkets that deliver to the door, usually in multiple plastic bags.
Now, Europe and the U.S. are grappling with the problems caused by single-use plastic packaging – but is there a sustainable alternative? In China, is the grocery market moving towards megastores too? And in Nigeria, are people aspiring to the sort of shopping experience that has become the norm in the U.S. and Europe? What motivates the average shopper there?
We asked our worldwide Zero Waste Challenge participants to describe their regular shopping experiences, with a particular eye on waste.
Europe
Francesca Della Penna in London, UK
Francesca Della Penna, an Italian in London, is horrified by the pointless plastic at her local supermarket. /CGTN
Francesca Della Penna, an Italian in London, is horrified by the pointless plastic at her local supermarket. /CGTN
"Why do they wrap them with unrecyclable plastic? First, it's not needed. Secondly, it's not sustainable"
"I was utterly shocked about the amount of plastic I found during my food shopping," says Francesca, our Italian Zero Waste Challenge correspondent based in London, "and not only for the fruit and vegetables."
While the wrapping of fresh food in single-use plastic has long been contentious, Francesca found it "in all areas, from personal hygiene to snacks."
This is not necessarily a Europe-wide problem. "Anything that you can think of in the UK is wrapped in plastic, and it's not like that in Italy," Francesca says. "The fruit and vegetable space in a supermarket in Italy is mostly plastic-free."
Francesca perfectly summarizes the central question: "Why do they wrap them with unrecyclable plastic? First, it's not needed. Secondly, it's not sustainable."
Even potential alternatives have their downsides. "I don't have an option to go green in a supermarket, but if I look for something online, that's going to increase my carbon footprint because I'm going to purchase something on a website and that thing needs to arrive at my house and needs to be wrapped and packaged."
Africa
Emmanuel Ojirhevwe in Lagos, Nigeria
Emmanuel Ojirhevwe prefers the local market to the supermarkets. /CGTN
Emmanuel Ojirhevwe prefers the local market to the supermarkets. /CGTN
"Local markets are cheaper and we get most of the things we use and eat every day. It's better than supermarkets"
Lagos is a world megalopolis: with a population at 23.5 million and rising fast, Nigeria's capital is Africa's biggest city. And it has some suitably large supermarkets… but that doesn't mean everyone has abandoned the traditional markets.
"Lagos has many huge supermarkets, I've gone shopping in some of them," says Emmanuel Ojirhevwe. "Maybe toothpaste and some of those things, we get them from the supermarket because in those places we can see some products we cannot find in the local market, but those supermarkets are some miles away from my house.
"The difference with local markets is that I get what I want easily. We go about twice a week – they're cheaper and we get most of the things we use and eat every day from them, and on some of the provisions we buy cheaper from the local market. So I think it's better than supermarkets."
Emmanuel also explains a neat way of reusing materials that's popular in Nigeria: discarded paint pots – known as "paint rubbers" – are cleaned up and taken to market as readymade containers for beans and other produce.
"After the painters are done with the rubber they tend to dispose of them, so we pick them up, wash them and use them to measure the amount of foodstuffs we buy in the market."
China
Yang Xinmeng in Beijing
"Supermarkets are usually on the lower floor in the high-end malls, so products are more expensive and are usually exported from other countries," explains Yang Xinmeng.
"Some younger people buy from a supermarket, but usually it's just snacks or fruits. The older generation will always go to the local market – like farmer's markets in Western countries. The products they sell are local, they're cheaper and they're not over-packaged.
"In the high-end supermarkets, the only thing I could find without packaging was Kiwi fruit. In the local market, everything is unpackaged, but when you want to buy something, vendors will come to you with a single-use plastic bag. So you have to learn to say 'No, I have my own bag.'
"A few years ago, China started to charge for single-use plastic bags. It's more expensive in high-end supermarkets, so people bring their own reusable bag.
"Local markets will survive at least a few more decades, I believe, because when talking about vegetables and fruits or daily necessities, they're cheaper and have more varieties. Supermarkets are in a shopping center, so usually when people get off work, they won't go to a shopping center, they shop close."
Yang Xinmeng sees a big difference between supermarkets and local markets. /CGTN
Yang Xinmeng sees a big difference between supermarkets and local markets. /CGTN
"In the high-end supermarkets, the only thing I could find without packaging was Kiwi fruit"
U.S.
Zach Danz in Washington DC
Zach Danz, who grew up in Texas but is now living in Washington DC, set himself his own personal challenge: "Going to a grocery store and trying to make a waste-free lunch for myself." It proved a surprisingly tall order.
"It's already pretty much impossible trying to change it to plastic-free, and I failed – there were a couple of places that I didn't realize products had some plastic bits. That was the most shocking thing to me – that it's impossible, even if you're trying to cook sustainably, to do it totally plastic free."
Zach acknowledges that so-called farmer's markets offer an opportunity for local unwrapped food – but not always, and not always affordably. "In a lot of big cities, you can find them, but they usually come maybe once a week, and they're much more expensive than going to any type of supermarket. It's a niche reserved for people who are well-off."
What makes that all the more annoying for for Zach is that he has seen different ways of shopping. "I spent many years living in China, and you can go to an open market – it would be the cheapest and easiest option. Rather than the American style of going to the supermarket and stocking up on a bunch of stuff, I would often say 'What do I want to cook tonight?' and buy just the ingredients that I needed for that meal.
"Of course, I had a refrigerator and I would keep extra things just in case. But I also, if I brought my own bag, it would basically be a zero-waste meal. And that's not an option here in the United States, at least as far as I can find, that's easily accessible to many people."
"A zero-waste meal is not an option here that's easily accessible to many people"
