In the summer of 2019, Dora visited the Package Free Shop in New York. The shop was founded by Lauren Singer from the blog Trash is for Tossers. In this shop you can find reusable alternatives for single use plastic items and products or refill your shampoo bottle or conditioner at their refill station.
Here is how it looked like and what we have discovered.
When entering the store a quote on the wall greats us “The average American produces 4.5 funds of trash each day. That’s like tossing 45 million elephants into landfill each year”.
The shop is located on the Grand street in Brooklyn, New York, and has a cozy feeling. The shop has a great variety of products and the employees love to explain what each item is good for and how it works.
In the product range there are sustainable made backpacks for traveling or for school. There is a line of water bottles and coffee cups with the Package Free Shop logo on them.
There are a few kinds of safety razors, soaps, water bottles, coffee cups, straws and brushes. Even a wooden toilet brush!
They make their own cards with text on it. This one, next to compostable bandages made of 100% organic bamboo fiber, explains a great refillable alternative for dental floss.
Another great find was solid shampoo bars and conditioners. They looked and smelled so good! The paper cards are made of cardboards that otherwise would be thrown away but by reusing them they expand their use and save them before going to recycling.
There were so may amazing products I had to buy some. First of all my favourite vegan lip balm from Meow Meow Tweet. One for me and one for my mom.
I also bought a washing bag by Stop Micro Plastic. My boyfriend plays basketball and all his basketball clothing contains polyester which is plastic that ends up in our oceans. Micro plastics are the most found pieces of plastic in nature and oceans and as off now they can not be filtered. But this washing bag stops the microplastic from going into the water stream.
I also bought a jade roller and jade gun sha. Jade Rollers have been used for centuries, to refine and enhance skin elasticity and stimulating meridians points to promote facial Chi. It feels like a mini spa when I use them.
Now this one was a surprise but we found natural latex sustainable condoms. According to package free shop these condoms are the most sustainable on the market at them moment.
And as final purchase we bought sunscreen. It was so hot in New York and we definitely needed more protection than the SPF 10 which we had with us. This SPF 30+ gives your skin a matt touch and keeps you protected for more than an hour. Comes without plastic packaging in a metal container.
At checkout package free does not accept cash only cards. Cash is made of materials which we source from Earth and card payment is already more common. They don’t offer paper or plastic bags (duh) but instead you can bring your own or buy a cotton bag from them.
Overall the shop looks amazing and the staff was very friendly and helpful during our visit. Really a must if you are visiting New York!
