the whole package

Hi Friends. Reusable grocery bags are important, but when they are filled with throw-away packaging, what is really being accomplished? Let's move on people, there is more that can be done. 

Meet the zero waste family here. The Johnsons offer a mess of tips and the message that zero waste is a habit. Once you got it, you got it. 

Check out the first zero packaging grocery store in the US in the video below. It's called in.gredients and is located in Austin, TX. But it is simple enough to make your own grocery visits primarily waste-free. Bring your own containers, weigh them empty and make friends with the bulk section. The bakery will give you bread without the plastic bag (use your own cloth bag) and the deli can slice your lunch meat right into a tupperware. Figure it out, be creative. And check out companies that reuse their containers, like Avalon Dairy. When you return a glass Avalon Dairy bottle to Whole Foods, you get a $1 and the bottle gets returned and reused.

Photos from earth911 at http://earth911.com/news/2011/04/13/photos-zero-waste-johnson-family/ . Video on http://in.gredients.com/howitworks/.