Zero Waste Shop Tour of Tare Market - Minnesota's First Zero Waste Shop

Hey everyone, Rob Greenfield here, and

I am extremely excited to welcome you all

to Tare, which is Minnesota's first zero

waste shop and one of the first zero waste

shops in all of the United States.

You can come here and you can get your

groceries all without creating any
garbage

as well as get all the items that you need

to live a zero waste life.

So, Amber and Kate are going to give you a

tour of the place and show you around.

So come on in!

Kate:
Hi, welcome to Tare Market, Minnesota's

first zero waste store. I'm Kate,

Amber:
And I'm Amber.

So, at Tare Market our mission is to

fight climate change by providing people

with access to package free and plastic

free goods. So customers can come into

our store and shop totally package free.

They can bring all of their own
containers

here from home. They just have to weigh

them first and then they can fill them up

with whatever they would like.

Or they can borrow some containers from,

either our community jar section that's

been clean and sanitized by Tare Market,

or they can take a jar from our jar

deposit area where jars are branded with

our logo. People can borrow a jar, they

fill it up, bring it home, use the item,

and then bring the jar back and get their
deposit back.

That way we are eliminating any waste

from people doing their shopping.

So the very first thing we have, are two

kinds of kombucha and one kind of cold
brew.

These are all made locally, either in the

suburbs of the Twin Cities, or right here
in the metro area.

And then we have about 100 shelf stable

bulk food items in this space.

So, everything from dried fruit, locally

made granola, candy, etc. And we try to

source as many of these things as locally

as possible. So we work with a lot of

small, local vendors and local farmers,

trying to bring sustainable living to the

Twin Cities community.

We also have two nut grinders to bring nut

butters to the community. So, we have an

almond butter and a peanut butter.

These are refurbished, second hand nut

grinders that we are really proud of.

And then, over here, we have a lot of our

flours. So, we have regular all purpose

flour as well as a lot of flour
alternatives.

So, everything from coconut flour to

almond flour. Also, we carry pastry flour

and a heritage grain flour, as well.

And then we have a bunch of different

kinds of rice and then popcorn and oats.

And we try to source as many foods local

to the Twin Cities as possible. So some

of these come from local farms that

deliver every week and some come from

larger farms that we get a larger shipment

in at a time, kind of thing.

Kate:
So over here we have our bulk coffee

section. Both of our suppliers are local

to the Twin Cities. We have SK coffee and

Tiny Footprint and the cool thing about

the way that we source these, is there's

zero packaging involved. We trade

packages back and forth and they are

delivered to us that way.

We also have a large selection of teas

from some really awesome companies.

Organically grown, locally. We have our

selection of coffee socks, which are

reusable filters for brewing coffee, and

then some 'to go' containers.

And then, over here, we have our bulk

spice section, so you can come and just

refill your spice jars or grab one of ours

with this huge selection of spices.

And, additionally, right here we've got

our refrigerator with some condiments and

salad dressings. It's very popular at

Tare Market. People love to just refill

their bottles that they already have and

avoid all that plastic.

Amber:
We have a lot of DIY supplies here at

Tare Market. A lot of people really want

to make their own sunscreen or lip balm or

what have you, so we've really tried to

source products that people can use to

make a lot of those things, themselves.

As well as some other health and beauty

things like reusable face rounds, facial

soap, lotion in a glass container, and

things like that.

So, what we have here are some of our low

waste and zero waste make up brands.

Everything from a pressed powder

foundation in a refillable compact, to lip

balms in a compostable tube and tinted

lipsticks. As well as bulk eye shadow and
blush.

Kate:
So, this section is one of my favorites.

This is our shampoo, conditioner, hygiene,

and then also, cleaning section.

So we have shampoo bars and conditioner

bars up on this shelf. Many of them are

local to Minneapolis, which is great to

support a local business. And then down

here we have bulk laundry powders.

So you bring in your own container and

just buy your laundry powder in bulk.

And then, back here, we have refillable

hand soap, dish soap, castile soap, all

purpose cleaners and sprays, as well as

dishwashing powder and then a selection of

refillable lotions and shampoos and
conditioners.

Amber:
Junket is a local vintage store here in

the Twin Cities that has all pre-loved and

second hand items. We're working with

Junket to develop a relationship where

every month they have a table here at

Tare Market. And that table is comprised

of a themed item. So, this month it is

back to school. So, every product on

here is geared towards back to school

supplies and every single product is
pre-loved.

And we are switching that out, actually,

to be mending for the fall, so we really

try and just stay current with the times

and bring second hand items to this
community.

Kate:
Recently, we were really excited to bring

in an extra zero waste resource for the

community, and we brought in two

Tare recycle boxes. We chose to have the

snack and chip wrapper box so you can drop

off your used snack bags, here, and they

get shipped off to Tare recycle where they

get recycled. And then the second one we

chose was the beauty product one. We felt

like these were two areas where people

really struggled to dispose of their

plastic tubes and containers and wrappers

associated with hygiene and beauty

products and snacks.

(Music)