The Cost of Cutting Down on Food Packaging

By Jazzy Shepard

Photo Credit: Jasmin Sessler on Upsplash

Anyone who has been in online climate activism spaces has heard of the zero waste movement. Instagram lifestyle gurus who claim they have only collected a jar's worth of waste in a year can be inspiring, but may also feel like a privileged aesthetic rather than a truly impactful choice. So I sought out the answer to the age old question about being zero waste, is this financially sustainable?

Zero waste can be defined in many different ways. Some would say that recycling can still be counted as zero waste, while others refuse to use single-use plastics, paper, metal, and glass. Originally zero waste was a concept adopted by companies to reduce manufacturing wastes, but the definition slowly morphed into one of personal responsibility. For this experiment, I chose to follow a very strict definition of zero waste as an individual – no packaging whatsoever. This meant bringing my own empty egg carton to the farmer’s market to buy eggs, and carrying around empty jars from home to the bulk store for dried goods.

There is a disparity between conventional food pricing and zero waste organic food pricing that can make this lifestyle out of reach for many low income individuals. As a result, the zero waste movement is looking increasingly rich and white. However, many purveyors also claim that being zero waste will actually save you money in the long run because it results in a pattern of more conscious purchasing. Limiting waste by simply purchasing less may work for clothes and toys, but food is a necessity. Can individual college students on a budget limit their food-related waste while still eating well?

I cooked one day’s worth of zero waste food obtained from Seattle’s singular zero waste store Mimi’s Zero Waste Market and my local UW farmer’s market. I then purchased the same foods at Trader Joe’s and compared the two grocery trips. Not surprisingly zero waste food was more expensive overall, but the sticker price still shocked me. It cost $13.47 to cook with zero waste foods when the same three meals cost $6.04 when made from conventionally shopped foods, which is more than twice as much. The time and effort that went into being zero waste for just one day was also higher because processed foods are eliminated entirely due to packaging, which increases cooking time.

I failed miserably at being as zero waste as I believed I could be. It all went wrong when I tried to make hummus and realized that there was no place to get tahini without packaging and I wasn’t about to grind my own. This pattern was repeated for multiple ingredients throughout my day. Not having the food choices I am used to during this experiment led me to rethink the feasibility of a fully zero waste diet.

If my overall experience is sounding negative, I would like to temper this with a discovery I made. Mimi’s Zero Waste Market is affordable. The beans and pasta I bought there – despite being more expensive than those from a conventional grocery store – were not excessively costly because conventional dried goods tend to cost so little that paying a few more cents is less of a hardship. The place where my money seemed to evaporate was the farmer’s market. Fresh local produce, meat, and eggs are understandably pricey. Being 100% zero waste can be expensive so if you want to make an impact on a budget instead focus your time and money on dried goods and maybe get the fresh fruits and veggies just from a conventional grocery and go for organic if it is in your price range. But most importantly, don’t feel guilty about what is not feasible with your budget. Everyone needs to find their own balance of waste reduction that meets their financial and time constraints (pull-out quote).