Caira Clark (BA’16), who studied sustainability at Dalhousie, sells everything from beans, rolled oats, and hard candy, to laundry detergent and shampoo. The catch is the consumer brings their own container or bag, which Clark weighs then fills in any amount. Customers buy only what they need and there’s no packaging to throw out when they’re finished because they can bring their container back to Unpacked Halifax for a refill.

“It’s affordable because you can buy as much or little as you like of products, and also there’s health benefits as well because you’re not buying processed goods,” Clark told Metro Halifax. “It’s really easy.”

Without her own storefront, Clark launched with a pop-up shop on May 13 in the Patagonia Store on Lower Water St. in the Halifax Historic Properties. In June, she will be part of the Alderney Landing Farmers’ Market in Dartmouth.

The zero-waste trend is taking off in Europe, the U.S and other parts of Canada, but is new to the Maritimes, says Clark. She says people here are aware of environmental issues and have a good recycling system so the climate for environmental-based business is favourable.

She has cloth bags and reusable containers for sale for those who show up to shop without. You can follow Unpacked Halifax on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to find out where Clark’s popping up next.

Find us in Dartmouth on June 3! Don’t forget to BYOC (bring your own containers) pic.twitter.com/R9pP8qDkQH

— Unpacked Halifax (@unpackedhalifax) May 25, 2017

Read more in “‘It’s really easy:’ Unpacked Halifax becomes first zero waste store in Maritimes” on metronews.ca.

Image: Contributed to Metro Halifax.