Ottawa's first zero-waste grocery store officially opens

Ottawa's firstzero-waste grocery store has officiallyopened its doors.

NuGrocery in Hintonburg sells a varietyof products dry food, fresh produce,cleaning and beauty supplies without any packaging.

Instead, people are encouragedtobring their own reusable containers or to borrow or purchase them from the store.

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"If you go shopping today, most of the things that you buy are highly packaged," said owner Valrie Leloup during the store's official launch Saturday.

"You end up with almost more packaging thanproduct, and [it]ends up in the garbage bin. Some of it is being recycled but most of it, unfortunately, still ends up in a landfill.As a zero-waste shopper you eliminate completely this part of your purchase. You just focus on theproducts."

Leloupsaid she got the idea to start hernew business after reading the bookZero Waste Homeby Bea Johnson, which advocatessustainable, waste-free living.

"It is a lifestyle of voluntary simplicity where you always ask yourself the question, 'Do I really needsomething andif I needit, what's the mostsustainable way to satisfy this need without impacting the environment?'"saidLeloup.

Leloup, who grew up in France, said zero-waste stores have already opened up in countries acrossEurope and nowseemedlike the right time to open one up in the capital.

She admitted, however, that adopting thewaste-free lifestyle can be "a bit intimidating."

"You have to understand zero waste on aspectrum. On one end of the spectrum, you have the people who really create zero waste or basically just a jar ofwaste per year and on the other [end of the] spectrum you have people who do nothing, who just have their bags and bags of waste," Leloup said.

"You can find your place within this spectrum. You don't have to be anextremist."

Creating positive environmental change

Federal Environment Minister andOttawaCentre MPCatherine McKenna said the store's mandate of environmentalresponsibility sends a message that's both important and necessary.

"This is really the future of shopping," said McKenna, who attended Saturday's opening.

"I always say the environment and the economy go together, and I'm really proud to see a local, female entrepreneur taking real action to tackle climate change, protect the environment and employ a bunch of people."

McKenna said Canadians createan enormous amount of waste, which ishaving a devastating impacton the environment.

As an example, on a recent trip to theArctic, McKennasaid she was shown polar bear scat containingbright pieces of blue plastic.

"Canadians are sadly some of the most polluting people. We really need to rethink what we're doing. We only have one planet, and I think this is a great part of the solution," she said.

Meanwhile, Leloupsaid her store has already inspired some peopleto think critically about theproducts they buy and the amount of waste it creates.

"I think that this storehas triggered something," she said.