A growing trend in food shopping eliminates single-use plastic packaging. Here’s how it works—even when you forget to bring your own bag
BRIANNE MILLER was miles from shore when she realized she had to start a grocery store. As a marine biologist studying humpback whale habitats near Hawaii, she saw plastic wherever she looked: abandoned fishery nets, bottles, plastic crates.
In 2018, at age 30, she opened Nada, a zero-waste grocery store in Vancouver, B.C. It offers 750-plus products without a lick of packaging. No plastic around that cucumber. Toothpaste in glass jars. Herbs do not come pre-portioned in a plastic container. Customers take a sprig or two, exactly what they need.