are zero waste places too expensive?

[SnoozingFox]

We have one of those zero waste shops near here where you can take along your own plastic/glass jars and get them filled with flour, oats, dried kidney beans, that sort of thing. They also have a gift shop with fair trade things, bookshop and cafe. It's a nice place.

So today I thought I was being virtuous and took my tupperware along to fill with a kilo of their organic oats. Cost me £2.95. Which seems pricey, considering that Waitrose has the Duchy organic oats (cardboard box, recyclable) for £2.75 at the moment, and I have a 50p coupon. Asda have their own brand organic oats at £2.20, and the Flahavans ones at £2.50.

I'm not quite sure what I'm trying to say here - I don't expect the zero waste to be cheap cheap as a smaller operation, but to shop there you're actively choosing to spend more?

Oh and the Mornflake jumbo oats which are non-organic are £2.20 for 1.5kg. I'm not particularly concerned about the organic-ness of them, I just don't want the flakey powdery ones as the oats get mixed with yoghurt and eaten raw, not cooked into porridge.

The one in our town tends to be much cheaper, eg max 25p to refill a spice jar compared to £1+ in the supermarket, porridge oats and rice, pulses etc are well priced as well. I’d have thought it should be cheaper (for the same quality) due to lack of packaging.

The ones near us quickly went out of business as people couldn’t afford it despite having good intentions.
Very sad but not surprising.

I think as well that zero waste offerings are the very basics. Would I choose to spend 50% more on a jar of honey made in a local farm, or a bar of soap from a local producer compared with mass produced - almost certainly yes because it's quantifiably different and "better". But oats/kidney beans/rice are staples, are they really so different?

I think that 0 waste shops are also costlier because they’re not buying at the same prices Asda/Sainsbury’s etc have negotiated down to. Also know from our local one that it can be pricer to get the stuff delivered ethically/with minimal packaging.

No I understand all that about economies of scale and the buying power of the supermarkets. I just don't think it's a sustainable business model to expect people to make the conscious decision to pay more for basics like flour or rice, or are there people who do that? It needs to be the same price at least, cheaper to encourage people to use the shop.

Also just looked at another zero waste place in the same city just in case our local one is an outlier.

Spaghetti is £1.20 for 500g compared with 75p in Asda
500g white long grain rice is £1.25, asda is also £1.25 but for a kilo
Couscous is £2.10 for 500g, Asda is £1.20 for the same amount

I love the concept of zero waste but it's pretty clear why it hasn't taken off.

It’s such a shame, but I think zero waste won’t really take off until supermarkets do it properly because of their price margins.
We need to have a zero waste counter like we used to have deli counters, where someone helps you to fill your own containers. I noticed a while ago that Tesco had a whole aisle of Loop products with reusable packaging. It was never going to take off though as they were much more expensive to buy, then you had to return the ‘robust’ packaging to get your money back. Too much effort!

I;m sure I saw an aisle of this sort of thing when we were last in France - pre-pandemic so maybe 2019? if Aldi/Tesco/Sainsburys got on board with it I'm sure a lot of people would buy the products.

I guess this is the trade off though. Cheap is cheap for a reason

It'll depend who is buying.

Someone who can only afford to buy in very small quantities is as ever screwed over by the economy of scale, but this might be the best way for them to get it.

They may only have 50p to buy porridge oats or rice and this means they can do it.

It's a brilliant way to buy spices and herbs though, as you can buy a penny or twos worth.

I fill up less regularly though, as I buy bulk quantities of cumin etc so I don't have to go in all the time. I also buy shed loads of dried fruit for granola.

Agree that the benefit is that you can buy tiny quantities if you want which is a benefit for some - although i'm still not sure that (for example) dried kidney beans from the zero waste store would be any cheaper than a tin from Aldi down the road.

I'm just not sure zero waste is worth the effort - I really like the concept but there has to be a critical mass of people buying that way to make it more mainstream? While it's still niche and limited to little independent stores or fairtrade eco hubs, it's always going to be more expensive isn't it?