My Experience With Online Zero Waste Bulk Shopping
With COVID-19 eliminating all my options for bulk shopping, I had to find new ways to get items without plastic. A few weeks into the shelter-in-place order, I wrote about some online refill and bulk stores. One of the stores I mentioned was the Wally Shop. After getting low on quinoa, I decided to test them out and placed an order.
The shop has a large selection, although a few of the items I wanted, like lentils, were out of stock. Ordering was very easy. It shows the size jar it comes in which makes it easier to visualize how much you’re ordering.
The Wally Shop recommends you order at least ten jars to make the shipping efficient, so I ordered probably a little more than I needed.
Here is my order summary:
I paid $8.99 for shipping which was less than I thought. The one thing that might put some people off is that I paid a $38 deposit for the reusable tote and containers. I get the money back when I send the tote and containers back but I could see where that would deter some customers.
It took eight days for the shipment to arrive at my house. Given the current amount of shipping and delays, I expected it to be longer. But it was a nice surprise to receive it earlier than expected! Below is the tote I mentioned. I got two of these. As you can see, I think the olive oil leaks a little and stained the side of the tote.
Here’s my order on my kitchen counter. While I’m not stoked my olive oil came in plastic, I understand it saves in shipping in comparison to glass.
I transferred the quinoa into an old spaghetti sauce jar I repurposed for pantry storage.
I peeled the label off a nearly empty bottle of olive oil I got from Whole Foods and refilled it. I also have a smaller bottle to dress salads that I filled up.
After all the transfers were complete, I put the items back in the tote. There’s a return label included in the package, so I pulled the original label off and put the return label on.
You can schedule a pick up on their site, but you can also drop it off at any UPS location. So, on my way to the grocery store I dropped the totes off.
Overall, I love being able to get my bulk items without extra plastic waste. I don’t love that the company is based in New York and I’m in California, so there’s extra carbon emissions in shipping these items to me. But that’s part of the sacrifice of having no bulk bins open currently. Despite this, I’m already figuring out what my next order will be.
What do you think? Are you curious and want to try an order? If you have questions, ask me in the comments!
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