It's not easy to achiev anything close to being waste free and the thought of attempting it in NYC feels downright impossible. But not every New Yorker feels that way. Here are some practical ways you can incorporate zero-waste living into your daily routine.
Bulk buy and visit zero waste stores
Locations in Brooklyn
Annie's Blue Ribbon General Store: Has a Common Good refill station for bulk cleaning supplies.
Brooklyn Fare: Find bulk nuts and snacks, as Common Good refill station for home and cleaning supplies.
Bushwick Food Co-op: You can find beans, rice, grain, flours, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, coffee, tea, spices, oil, vinegar, granola, and more (for the full list of bulk products that they offer, click here).
Depanneur: You can purchase bulk cleaning supplies from Common Good.
Flatbush Food Co-op:
Sells bulk herbs, spices, grains, nuts, tea, dried fruit, seeds, beans, nutritional yeast, snacks, and gluten-free flours and pasta.
Malko Karkanni Bros.:
Bulk nuts, seeds, snacks, candies, dried fruits, herbs, spices, and more. Per a reader submission, you can bring your own containers.
Oriental Pastry and Grocery:
Find bulk spices, herbs, tea, nuts, dried fruits, olives, and baked Middle Eastern pastries and sweets.
Package-Free Shop: Stop by for
bulk castile soap, bulk face and body oil, laundry detergent, facial scrubs, package-free deodorant, bar soap, and other goods for stocking a zero waste home. You can find a full list of their in-store bulk offerings
here.
Perelandra Natural Foods: Bulk dry goods like grains, beans, nuts, snacks, and more. You can also refill bottles
with nontoxic cleaning supplies made locally by Common Good.
Precycle: An all-bulk
grocery store in Bushwick that opened in November 2018, this zero-waste-friendly spot has all the bulk foods and unpackaged produce you could want.
Sahadi's:
Stock up on spices, olives, nuts, dried fruits, and coffee beans.
The Wally Shop: A zero waste grocery delivery service based in Brooklyn;
they source from local farmers’ markets and organic bulk shops, and offer same day delivery in reusable and returnable packaging.
Locations in Manhattan area
Common Good & Co: An NYC-based company that makes nontoxic, sustainable, refillable cleaning products for your home, laundry, and body. They have
refill stations all across the city, where you can bring a reused container to fill up. Find a location near you, here.
Fairway Market: This spot in Manhattan features standard bulk dry goods such as flours, beans, nuts, and snacks.
Fourth Street Co-op:
Dry goods like grains, beans, nuts, seeds, snacks, spices, and more. They also have more unusual items like bulk tofu, seaweed, liquid sweeteners, oil, vinegar, and liquid soaps like dish soap, as well as unpackaged bar
soaps. They are a small shop so what they have in stock changes often, but they make an effort to update their website as often as volunteers can. If you've forgotten a container they have spares; you can also donate your extras
for use in their bulk section.
The Health Nuts: Bulk dry good basics, like grains, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, snacks, trail mix,
dried fruit, and more.
Lifethyme Market: This Manhattan spot has bulk soaps, laundry detergent, and aromatherapy supplies.
Natural Frontier Market: Standard bulk dry goods such as flours, beans, nuts, and snacks.
Organic Forever: This space in Harlem sells bulk
dry goods, pantry basics like flours, nuts, beans, seeds, snacks, and more.
Pasteur Pharmacy: Sells
safety razors.
Local farmer's market
Shopping at your local farmer's market or buying in bulk. Celia Ristow hosts the site, Litterless, and provides a bulk-buying guide for NYC. Her approach to going waste free is grounded in reality.
Other Boroughs are coming soon...
Move away from single use products and packaging
A pilot project coming to NYC this year could help. Loop, is a zero waste delivery option reminiscent of the early- and mid-20th century milk deliveries.
Focus on fit when clothes shopping
A more realistic option is to be ruthless about fit. “If it fits well, you’re more likely to wear it,” she writes on her 100 tips to reduce household waste. Donating or buying second-hand clothes is another option and a good excuse to browse the city's thrift stores.
Let the city help you go waste free
New York City has committed to sending zero waste to landfills by 2030. With 11 years to go, New York's Department of Sanitation insists their efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle are working. The city has the nation’s largest composting program—available to more than 3.5 million residents. DSNY also partners with non profits and says donating items to Housing Works or through the city’s donateNYC and GrowNYC swap events can help divert usable items from landfill.
WHERE TO COMPOST: NEW YORK
NYC has curbside composting run by the city in most boroughs, though some further out neighborhoods will have to wait until sometime later in 2018 for it. Here's their
official map and location search. If you're in the right area, but your landlord won't sign up for a bin for the building, it's likely one of your neighboring buildings will have an outdoor bin you can share if you ask permission.
Grow NYC accepts compost drop-offs at 50+ Greenmarkets throughout
the city and outer boroughs. (You can store
your compost in the freezer or in a five-gallon bucket on your balcony in between weekly or biweekly trips to the drop-off sites). The Greenmarkets also accept textiles for recycling.
East
Village residents: Can subscribe to Reclaimed Organics' bicycle-powered pickup service, or drop off their compost at their deposit box (which is kept locked - you have
to subscribe in advance).
If you live in Bushwick, North Bedstuy, or South Ridgewood, the awesome youth and bicycle powered BK ROT offers doorstep
compost pickup for a really reasonable fee.
You can also drop off your compost at Bushwick Food Co-op - a good option if you're outside BK ROT's
service radius, or if you're just visiting the area.
Choose zero waste dining options
New York City’s sustainable food scene includes the creators of rooftop farms, brewers who use bread scraps, and educators who turn trimmings into dinner. Plenty of restaurants are aiming to go waste free in the kitchen, among them, the newly opened Hunky Dory in Brooklyn’s Carroll Gardens.But how to balance the New Yorker’s desire for take-out with going waste free? All eyes are on the Loop pilot program and perhaps, in time, it can translate into a waste-free model for take-out too.
These Millennials are experts when it comes to waste reduction, and they want you to join the movement. Living a zero waste lifestyle isn’t easy. It takes time, persistence, and creativity to eliminate disposable
plastics from one’s life. It’s a particularly frustrating process when all of society seems to be conspiring against such a mission. That’s where finding a good support network is key. The Internet is a wonderful resource, with
a vibrant community of zero waste bloggers sharing advice, resources, and stores.