9 Boston Zero Waste Stores Letting Plastic Freedom Ring

If you’re looking for truly waste free stores in Boston, Z.E.R.O Refills offers a range of simple solutions to some of life’s trickier challenges when it comes to recycling and low waste living.

Namely, by providing recycling services for otherwise hard-to-recycle items, from Brita water filters to coffee capsules and Dunkin’ Donuts coffee bags. Considering how much Bostonians love their Dunkin’, that’s a huge waste-saving opportunity alone!

For anything they don’t have a specific bin for, you can add to their TerraCycle All-In-One Box. They also provide a recycling and donation guide for the area for batteries and electronics, Christmas Trees, clothing and textiles, pet food bags, feed bags, styrofoam, and used toys.

In addition to zero waste pre-packaged products, you can either bring your own containers or purchase reusable containers there for refills of soap, face wash, and much more. Their Eco Body Care products are all-natural with no harsh chemicals.

Aside from their refillable products, Z.E.R.O Refills also sells zero waste cleaning products like dishwasher powder, fizzing toilet tablets, bamboo toilet paper, No-Paper Towels, and wool dryer balls.

The “First Zero Waste Store in Boston”, Uvida Shop is a Boston zero waste store, refillery, and plant store all in one—apartment gardening fanatics rejoice! It was founded by a social entrepreneur named Maria Vasco, who turned winning the UMass Boston’s Entrepreneurship Scholarship into her dream of starting one of the best bulk stores Boston has.

Everything they offer is vegan, cruelty-free, non-toxic, plastic-free and designed to help people consume more consciously.

Products on offer include non-toxic laundry detergent tabs, dish soap, hair care, body wash and lotion, toothpaste tablets, teas, skin care, and other household cleaning products.

In the plant department, you’ll find a large range of succulents and houseplants, both common and more rare. They offer guidelines on pet safe plants, too.

Cleenland is a “low-waste, no-shame store” that’s all about empowering small, sustainable steps.

Which is perfect, because they’re the only zero waste store Cambridge offers for busy and stressed out Harvard students. No need to add the stress of seeking out zero waste supplies amid all the papers due and upcoming exams to study for.

In addition to “smiles to go around”, Cleenland has a wide selection of low-waste, refillable personal and home care supplies, almost all of which they’ve tried personally and display each ingredient for, which does not include a long list of “no-no ingredients”. On the refill menu, you can get everything from face masks and bath salts to laundry powder and oxygen bleach.

Their zero waste “for keeps” products include shampoo and conditioner bars, natural skin care products, every day reusables, and unique items like organic condoms.

If they don’t have something you’d like to see, drop a note in their suggestion box.

Because they know you can’t avoid all forms of tricky waste, they offer in-store recycling services for Preserve toothbrushes and razor blades (for your zero waste razor).

Of all the sustainable stores Boston offers, this might be the most unusual. That’s because Good Filling isn’t so much an actual waste free shop in Boston as it is a small refill station scattered in various locations around the city, from private stores to public spaces and parks.

While this means their selection is small, the access is unbeatable for the most commonly emptied products, but offerings depend on what type of machine is at that location.

Their home care machines contain hand soap, laundry detergent, and all-purpose cleaning spray from the likes of natural and non-toxic brands like Seventh Generation, Puracy, and The Unscented Company. Personal care machines offer shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and hand sanitizer, all for our favorite body wash refill brand, Plaine Products.

You can also look for their Hydration Station drink taps carrying various types of cold brew and tea (just don’t dump it in the harbor!).

If you’re looking for some of the best zero waste stores in Massachusetts outside Boston proper, take a little commute north to Unpacked Living.

Unpacked Living’s refill bar boasts over 60 refillable personal and home cleaning products, like palm oil-free liquid Castile soap in various scents. These include some unusual items to find on refill, like refillable cream deodorants. They charge by the ounce, so you can get as little as you need and encourage you to BYOC.

Refill bar aside, this plastic-free store in Boston offers so many other products for pets, babies, kitchen, and bathroom, all in reusable, compostable, or no packaging whatsoever.

In addition to an excellent selection of eco-products, they act as a recycling drop service for hard-to-recycle items. Items you can bring to Unpacked include Biotrue® ONEday contacts, Burt’s Bees packaging, BIC pens, Stasher silicone bags, and more.

Before plastic was ubiquitous, general stores were a central provider to people’s lives. Boston General Store is an apothecary style high-end general store with an eco-bent. They’re an iconic staple in the zero waste Boston scene.

You can find refill stations for liquid soaps, shampoos, conditioners, sustainable skincare, and cleaning products. Among these luxurious sustainable goods, don’t miss the Eucalyptus Steam Cleansing Shower Vapors to clear up stuffy sinuses or just to add some invigorating aromatherapy to your morning shower. That’s just a sampling of their many products for the bathroom, kitchen, and home. Some of their more assorted inventory includes gifts, stationary, and toys.

Huge selection of zero and low waste goods aside, local history buffs will love the old-timey feel and their goal to revive the Massachusetts general store scene.

To give more people access to plastic-free shops in Boston, there are online options and two locations in Brookline and Dedham.

Supply Bulk Foods may not be one of the physical bulk stores Boston has, but they are still one of the best zero waste stores in Boston.

Put in your order for bulk food items online, and schedule which location you’d like to pick it up at, with options including other Boston package-free stores on this list like Zero Refills, Cleenland, Unpacked Living, and Uvida. The business itself operates out of Commonwealth Kitchen in Boston, which is also a pickup location.

SBF specializes in dry bulk foodstuffs, including nuts and seeds, dried fruits and vegetables, chocolate, granola, snacks, baking supplies, herbs, spices, tea, coffee, grains, beans, and pasta. In other words, they stock all the necessary stuff to fill your zero waste kitchen pantry.

When stocking products, they follow a “local first” philosophy and package all orders in compostable wax paper and a commercially compostable bag.

One of the few bulk grocery stores in Boston, MA, Cambridge Naturals is committed to building a better world, both locally and globally.

In addition to their iconically huge selection of bulk herbs, Cambridge Naturals offers a small selection of bulk pantry staples to join the rest of their organic, non-GMO, and fair trade grocery products sourced locally, organically, and/or ethically via fair trade and direct trade channels.

While not all plastic-free, they offer a selection of natural body and home care products. There are select bulk refill options from Common Good, such as laundry detergent and all-purpose cleaner.

They donate a portion of their profits to creating a “more just, equitable and sustainable world” through partnering with businesses owned by people who have been historically-marginalized.

Massachusetts has the one negative distinction of being 48^th in access to grocery stores. Neighborhood Produce seeks to change that by providing Boston residents with the freedom (get it?) to shop for sustainable and healthy produce.

They’re not exclusively a bulk food store in Boston, but they offer a wide selection of bagless products and bulk dry goods sections at both locations. Their Winter Hill location offers about 50 items in bulk while the Ball Square has over 100, as well as a Cleenland satellite location.

Fresh fruits and vegetables make up 65% of the inventory at Neighborhood Produce, but everyday staples in their bulk section includes things like pasta, rice, tea, spices, and sustainable snacks.