Plastic-free shops in Cape Town

The United Nations has released a dire warning about the irreversible effects of global warming, so every citizen needs to play their part in reducing waste and energy consumption. One way in which Capetonians can help is by minimising their waste output.

Plastic waste is a serious problem and the best way to cut back is by refraining from using or buying plastic where possible. The most hazardous items are single-use plastic products such as straws, shopping bags and food packaging.

To help you reduce your plastic waste output, here are some shops in Cape Town that do not sell plastic packaging or single-use plastic items to customers - they offer a plastic-free shopping experience.

Nude Foods, Zonnebloem

Nude Foods was the first plastic-free store in Cape Town. It prides itself in stocking high-quality, sustainable and delicious foods and products, without filling your bin with wasteful packaging. The shop sells bulk whole foods and health foods that are non-GMO and plastic-free.

"Our goal is to make plastic-free shopping easy and accessible to the everyday shopper, whilst supporting local suppliers and other waste-reducing initiatives," reads their website. Nude Foods sells quality vegetables, fruits, loaves of bread, a large variety of dry produce, cleaning products and more. The detergents and soaps are all environmentally-friendly.

Shoppers can bring their own containers and fill them as much as they like as the produce is sold by weight. Even the cleaning products can be decanted into personal containers, so bring along your old body wash bottle and fill it up in the store.

Nude Foods: 5 Constitution Street, Zonnebloem

Shop Zero, Woodstock

Shop Zero is a sustainable lifestyle store that prides itself on using little to no plastic packaging. The store provides green options for customers that are environmentally-conscious, offering healthy foods, toiletries, cleaning products and household items (such as loose teas) that aren't packaged in plastic.

"Our aim is to make a low-waste lifestyle cheaper, easier and more convenient," the Shop Zero website reads. The shop also stocks reusable containers and coffee cups that customers can purchase and use repeatedly instead of using single-use items.

"At Shop Zero we have a passion for healthy living and single-use plastic alternatives, combined with a wholehearted respect for Mother Earth and everything she readily gives us. We're vegan and vegetarian owned and operated, aiming to keep a low carbon footprint. We offset our impact where we can with intuitive solutions like supporting reforestation projects and donating portions of proceeds to ocean conservation," the website says.

Shop Zero also strives to educate customers through awareness campaigns and by encouraging shoppers to divert waste from landfills. The store does have an online order platform where items can be purchased and shipped in reused cardboard boxes.

Shop Zero: 403 Albert Road, Woodstock

Low Impact Living: Wild & Waste-Free Store, Glencairn

Low Impact Living (LIL) is a packaging-free grocery store and waste-free café. LIL hopes to inspire lasting change through waste awareness campaigns, workshops and talks that are regularly hosted at the shop.

The café serves environmentally-friendly foods and beverages, such as wholesome smoothies, fresh fruit juices, coffees and teas with vegan-friendly alternatives. Customers can also bring their own cups and order takeaways from the counter. The café also offers tasty snacks and sweet treats. There is no bin in the café, which means that they send zero waste to landfill.

LIL sells a range of natural goods and upcycled homeware in the store. Grab some freshly-baked bread, locally-sourced vegetables, sweet fruits, artisanal cheese, free-range eggs and a selection of homemade jams and preserves. The store also sells beautiful bouquets of flowers and is plastic-free.

Low Impact Living: 12 Glen Road, Glencairn

Faithful to Nature

Faithful to Nature is a Capetonian online store that offers a large selection of eco-friendly products, from food and beauty to homeware and decor. The website is the first online store in the country that gives users the choice to filter products by a 'plastic-free' category. The e-commerce store serves the whole of South Africa and shoppers get free delivery on orders over R350.

This means that environmentally-conscious shopping can be done from the comfort of your own home. "We're pioneering ethical retail across the planet by being one of the first companies worldwide to check EVERY single ingredient of EVERY single product for toxicity before we stock it, and to ensure you have full ingredient lists available for all our items," says the website.

Faithful to Nature even stocks plastic-free and cruelty-free alternatives to daily essentials such as toothpaste and sunscreen. This means that conscious shoppers can rest assured that the good they order are not tested on animals and do not come in unnecessary plastic packaging.