Store in Kensington eliminates unnecessary packaging and single-use plastics

No waste store open for business A new local business wants to revolutionize the way you shop. Stephanie Wiebe has details on the Zero Waste Market.

A new shop in northwest Calgary is encouraging its customers to bring reusable vessels to transport the unpackaged cleaners, soaps, and personal care items that are available for sale.

The Canary Refillery and Zero Waste Market in the 1200 block of Kensington Road sells the majority of its products based on weight but also offers containers, such as mason jars, to help introduce customers to the waste-free approach.

While the store isn’t 100 per cent plastic-free or zero waste at this time, its co-founders say it’s important to introduce a more eco-friendly way to shop.

“It seems more beneficial to have millions of people doing zero waste imperfectly than it would be to have a handful of people doing it perfectly,” explained Lisa Watts, a co-founder of Canary. “For us, it’s practice.”

“A lot of these products that we have are meant to potentially last a life time if they are well cared for,” added co-founder Tara Meyer. “If you consider the entire life cycle of (a single-use) product, it’s a lot of energy resources that go into something that’s actually used for ten minutes.”

With files from CTV’s Stephanie Wiebe