Buying Bulk

Many of us will go grocery shopping this week. We will also throw out a whole heap of packaging that we barely used. I know that my recycling bin fills up quick with cardboard packages... and also plastic and glass. Packaging isn't necessarily bad, but it might be unecessary for the most part.

There are some things that we can do to cut down the amount of packages we use. Buying bulk can save us money, time and clutter.

Here are some bulk fact I took from the Food coops' newspaper !

Fact: Bulk foods provide a savings to the consumer of 30 to 60 %. Packaging and promotion can be a significant contributor to price.

Fact: Bulk foods require less overall transportation to deliver to the consumer. Bulk foods do not require the packaging components that must be produced to transported prior to being filled. And the transportation of bulk product to retailers is efficient because it can be packed more densely on the truck

Fact: Food packaging may limit a consumer's ability to buy quantities desired which can result in food surplus and ultimately waste.

Fact: Packaging often limits a consumer's ability to actually see the product they are buying.

Fact: With bulk, product density at the store level can be significantly higher. So stores can provide a wider variety of foods in the same space.

Fact: Although most natural food companies sell their food products in recyclable packaging, there are still some food companies that use non - recyclable materials. And some consumers choose not to recycle, which creates additional problems on our landfills.


So there you have it! Some tidbits on bulk foods.
Not all foods come in bulk, but there are a significant amount of foods that do. My only beef with bulk, is that most of the foods do not have an ingredients list attached. If you want to now the ingredients of a certain product found in bulk, I suggest you ask a staff member at the store.
I think buying bulk is a very practical way to save money and to minimize the amount of waste we put in the trash.

Check out this video made by www.bulkisgreen.org