For 10 years the Negozio Leggero chain has been offering a different way to shop. Without packaging and without plastic. “If you get organised, you can get to the point of producing no more waste.” And now a new outlet is opening in Paris.
A light shop, for the environment and for waste production. It was with this intention that almost 10 years ago the chain Negozio Leggero was born, one of the first to create outlets selling food and non-food products in bulk, without packaging and without plastic. Today it has 15 shops across Italy, from Turin to Palermo, via Rome and Lugano, and is about to open one in Paris too.
"We started 12 years ago with the organisation Ecologos, an environmental research group focused on waste prevention, water and energy saving, with a specialisation in waste reduction at source", says Cinzia Vaccaneo, president of Negozio Leggero. "Ten years ago we decided to open Negozio Leggero to create a place where citizens could easily make environmentally conscious choices, and where we could spread certain information that otherwise tended to reach only a handful of people who were genuinely interested."
From here came the idea of opening a chain of shops able to offer the possibility of buying all products in bulk, among the first in Italy to do so. What's more, the staff taken on receive scientific training from the research organisation itself, in order to provide citizens and consumers with a whole range of useful information both about the products and about how to use them. "All our staff are trained, and this allows citizens to learn about, for example, the nutritional differences between products, their ecological footprint, and the production chain. So as to enable informed shopping", explains Cinzia Vaccaneo.
A genuine education in conscious consumption, in a different way of doing the daily shop, in a place that is also one of cultural — and why not, scientific — enrichment. "A prepared person or family can get to the point of producing no more waste at home. In this way consumption becomes more responsible, in an environment unlike any we know."
The chain sells around 1,500 products, both food and non-food. The range goes from rice to pasta, pulses, all the way through to wine, beer and detergents. Everything except fresh produce. And sales are going well, as the president confirms: "We are constantly growing, thanks obviously to a great deal of work. And we have no negative curve, not even on draught detergents."
A typical customer arrives already equipped with jars, bottles and containers. Once the tare has been deducted, they can have them filled by the staff with the product of their choice, even in small quantities. Something that can help to reduce waste even further. No plastic, then, but only reusable containers — proof that cutting down on single-use waste is possible, starting with the daily shop.