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We are a plastic-free, package-free grocery store in Los Angeles.
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We wanted to make it easier to shop sustainably for groceries.
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We are Joseph and Lauren Macrino from Tare Grocery.
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A "tare" is the weight of an empty container.
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When you come to the checkout, you remove that weight, so you only pay for what's inside.
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We met up in the Bay Area, and we started shopping this way, got really accustomed to it.
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We had a really hard time finding any way to do it here in LA, so we did it ourselves.
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Start shopping this way, you really get used to it, and it just seems crazy when you go to the grocery store and you see everything packaged up.
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Once you get your process going, you have no waste at home, you're amazed that your bin is not full all the time.
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It turns into like, a passion and a lifestyle really quickly.
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For me, also, we went back to Australia where I'm originally from.
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I can remember being on the beach that I grew up on and seeing a lot of plastic in the ocean and in the sand, which I'd never seen before.
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We do strive to live zero waste, however, we're not perfect by any means, and we don't expect anyone to be.
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We really want to encourage people to try their best.
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Yeah, little steps at a time.
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We got a whole store, about over 400 organic products, ranging from spices, herbs, nuts, grains, sugar, flours, dehydrated vegetables.
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We have tea, a lot of snacks.
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Package-free pasta.
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We've got soba noodles, we've got udon noodles, spaghetti, rotini.
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We've also got a bunch of liquid goods.
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We've got oils and vinegars, kombucha, also "super foods," adaptogens, mushroom powders.
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We also have some bath and body products.
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Body scrubs, shampoo, conditioner.
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We have a little retail section in here too with reusables and zero-waste alternatives to your everyday household goods.
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And everything is plastic-free.
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The store's about 95 percent organic, non-GMO, and we try to source as locally as possible, but sometimes that isn't always possible, but whenever we can.
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We're still competitive with the packaged alternative.
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It often ends up being so much cheaper because you're not paying for the packaging and the advertising and branding that goes with that packaging.
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We now offer EBT, which is really awesome.
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When we first stocked the whole store, just to see the little amount of waste we had after was incredible.
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Most of the things we get shipped to us are shipped in double-layered paper bags.
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And such large quantities, too.
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We try and buy as big a quantity that we can.
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We're offering 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper bags.
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We also have glass jars for sale.
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We are serving everyone.
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And then post-COVID, we'll be able to use our tare away station.
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After COVID, when you're able to bring in your own jars, you'll place it on the scale, the scale sends the weight of your jar to the iPad.
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You'll take one of these microchips here, and you'll tap it on the reader.
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That will write the tare weight of your jar to the microchips.
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You'll bring it to the checkout, we'll actually scan it, and deduct the weight of the jar from your purchase.
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Even during this pandemic, we really want to try to offer a plastic-free alternative to grocery shopping.
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It comes across as plastic industry's wet dream for this pandemic because, as you can see everywhere, every grocery store you go into, they're double bagging your groceries.
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It doesn't need to be like that.
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Our store has been functioning really well.
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We're constantly going around sanitizing surfaces, customers aren't touching anything.
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We just hope to be a beacon of hope that you can still avoid plastic and shop sustainably during this pandemic.