For a city once at the heart of the Industrial Revolution (the forefather of pollution), the number of zero waste shops in London opening up around the Home of Big Ben are astounding.

We’ve already explored the best London thrift stores and London charity shops, and now it’s time for Londinium residents to check out some of the ground-breaking zero waste stores London offers for your bulk buying needs.

Ready for a packaging-free journey through Piccadilly?

Let’s head to the Big Smoke to see what’s on offer for all you zero waste aficionados out there.

Exploring London Zero Waste Shops

  1. Kilo Jump to store
  2. Zero Waste Bulk Foods Jump to store
  3. The Source Jump to store
  4. Swop Market Jump to store
  5. Jarr Market Jump to store
  6. Gather Jump to store
  7. Harmless Store Jump to store
  8. Naked Larder Jump to store
  9. Art of Zero Living Jump to store
  10. Unpackaged at Planet Organic Jump to store
  11. Greener Habits Jump to store

Kilo

To help make the zero waste shopping experience more convenient, female-founded Kilo enlisted the help of Weyify and created a unique app that makes shopping at Kilo simple and quick. The app remembers the weight of your containers, allowing them to be quickly deducted from the price you pay when you shop.

Don’t forget the jar drop service, which makes reaching your zero waste goal more attainable. Drop off your empty jars and the Kilo team will fill them for you while you get on with something else.

The range in this London zero waste shop is massive and prices are extremely reasonable. Everything you need is on hand such as herbs, nuts and seeds, cereals, pulses, baking ingredients, beverages, oils, vinegars, dried fruits, and much more—including specialty vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free ranges. There’s even a no or low-waste selection of frozen and chilled items.

Wherever possible, Kilo sources and sells products from fair trade suppliers and local producers.

Zero Waste Bulk Foods

Zero Waste Bulk Foods is just about the most sustainable supermarket UK residents have access to, with a huge variety of organic dry foods along with sustainable beauty and household items.

Food is sent to customers in reusable fabric bags and liquids in plastic pouches. The contents are decanted, and the packaging is returned either in person or via mail using the pre-paid returns labels. The bags are washed to a food safe standard and used again for the next customer.

They are Soil Association Organic Certified and products are sourced locally whenever possible, preferentially from suppliers that work in a closed-loop system.

Customers can receive their order via shipping, kerbside pickup, and local delivery within the M25, completely carbon-neutral using electric vans.

The Source

The Source has six outlets across London including Crouch End, West Hampstead, Putney, Richmond, Chiswick, and Battersea. Click-and-Collect orders can be placed on the website and picked up 24 hours later. Alternatively, your order can be shipped anywhere in the UK for a small fee. All items are packed in 100% recyclable and compostable packaging.

Whether you shop online or visit one of the six London zero waste stores, you’ll find a fantastic array of pantry essentials including flour, rice, pasta, pulses and beans, grains, herbs, spices, and oils. Countless cleaning, personal care, zero waste tea, and coffee products grace the shelves of these city-wide stores.

The Source website has some helpful tips and hints in its blog and an extensive selection of healthy vegan, gluten-friendly, dairy-free, and nut-free recipes.

Swop Market

Swop stands for Show WithOut Packaging, and it’s the product of a collaboration between zero waste crusaders, Jess and Claire. They were tired of seeing all the plastic waste in the UK and wanted to do something about it.

This vegan supermarket in London stocks an extensive list of plastic-free goods in gravity dispensers, including dried loose grains, pulses, nuts, beans, and seeds. Other items include a selection of coffee beans, loose-leaf tea, vegetables, fruit, unwrapped patisserie, and unwrapped bread. There are also cleaning and detergent refills, beauty products, and zero waste shampoos.

Swop products are all vegan or veggie. The shop’s ethos is to stock waste-free, organic, Fairtrade, ethical, and local products as much as it can. If there’s something you want and can’t find, make a request and the owners will see what they can do to source it.

Jarr Market

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Jarr Market is a refill and bulk-buy shop that operates in both North and South London. Jess is the owner, with the mission to reduce single-use packaging waste “one jarr at a time”.

Jess offers a range of plant-based, organic, and locally sourced food products including grains, cereals, pasta, coffee, tea, nuts, and snacks. Cleaning products by fill include laundry liquid, fabric conditioner, dishwasher tablets, hand soap, and wash-up liquids. Eco-friendly toiletries and reusable containers can be found in all varieties.

For this zero waste market in London, Jess also works with suppliers that have closed-loop systems—AKA the foundation of the zero waste philosophy. She pays extra to have any leftover packaging properly recycled by the “zero to landfill” company First Mile.

Gather

Tash, the owner of Gather, aims to help customers find simple swaps that work and help them cut their packaging waste and hopefully save some money too.

Gather has an expansive selection of food and home products from porridge, peanut butter, and wine to body wash and laundry liquid. Bring your containers from home and fill them with coffee and tea, DIY beauty ingredients, toiletries, and cleaning products. You’ll find a book-lending library on site with a selection of books to help you learn about living more sustainably.

Products are sourced as near as possible. The store furniture is repurposed seconds and the shop runs on renewable energy

Harmless Store

Tami is the passion behind the Harmless Store in North London. The initial aim of the shop was to help the local community switch to a vegan lifestyle and reduce plastic and other forms of waste.

You can top up across a range of dried kitchen staples such as polenta, rice, coffee, tea, and pasta. A freezer section can keep you supplied with veggie and meat alternatives, including pies and pizza. An oat milk machine dispenses cold oat milk and a peanut butter machine is available for freshly ground peanuts. Get your zero waste coffee supplies, too, with their bulk beans and a grinder to process them before you head home.

Harmless chooses suppliers that meet its ethical priorities. These include products that are vegan, plastic-free, home-grown, independent, palm oil-free, anti-monoculture, and organic.

There is no online option for purchases, but the website is full of useful information about veganism, the company ethos, vegan recipes and swaps, and local vegan restaurants.

Naked Larder

If you prefer your products to be undressed, visit this UK no packaging grocery store instead. Phili, founder of Naked Larder, offers packaging-free groceries in a very different way to conventional zero waste shops by operating from their home location. This unique way of working means prices are kept really competitive.

Orders are placed online and collected from them at a pre-arranged time using your own reusable containers. You can collect your order monthly, or less frequently if you prefer. Customers may use all kinds of reusable containers, such as cereal or bread bags, takeaway containers, or biscuit tins. The website gives an extensive list of containers that are acceptable and tips on how to best use them.

The range of zero waste food products includes cereals, grains, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, beans, pulses, sugar, flour, pasta, noodles, tea, coffee and wine. Refills are available for eco-friendly cleaning products, body care products, and much more.

Art of Zero Living

Art of Zero Living might be a small shop in Greenwich Market, but the owners have packed a lot into the space. Products that fill the shelves are bought in bulk and arrive in recyclable, reusable, or returnable packaging. Typically, the suppliers are local and based in the UK.

You can source all the basic kitchen cupboard essentials such as various types of pasta, pulses, oils, spices, and rice, along with a selection of treats and sustainable snacks. Don’t forget to stock up on hygiene and beauty products, household, and cleaning items while you’re there.

Customers can bring their containers or use reusable ones available in-store.

Unpackaged at Planet Organic

Planet Organic shops began life as health food stores in London, but quickly became the UK’s first organic fully certified supermarket when it opened its doors almost a decade ago. It also became the first zero edible food waste business. Any leftover food is redistributed to the community via Too Good to Go and the app Olio.

Inedible food waste is composted and put to good use in regenerative agriculture farms around London.

The Unpackaged range offered in its stores followed a while after, with stations now at almost all stores.

Shop at this zero waste shop in London online or across town to stock up on all the kitchen essentials such as nuts, seeds, dried fruits, rice, grains, pulses, cereals, herbs, flour, tea, coffee, and more. There’s also a large selection of plastic-free health products, household products, skin care, and beauty products.

Greener Habits

The owner of Greener Habits was first and foremost a nurse. Following a trip to Bali, where she encountered beaches that had become rubbish dumps, she decided to open a vegan and zero waste grocery store in London.

The shop originally started online, but crowdfunding and people power helped Hannah create her North London shopping space where she specialises in selling sustainable, vegan, and plastic-free home essentials.

The packaging-free range of items includes dried foods such as rice, beans, lentils, pasta, herbs, and spices. All of these are sourced from ethical suppliers and producers. You can fill up your containers with oat milk, peanut butter, oils, vinegars, kombucha, and cleaning products.