Bringing your own shopping bag to the grocery store and eliminating plastic straws are two ways to cut back on disposable plastics. But there are lots more plastic products that are single-use – jugs of dishwashing soap, containers of cooking oil, plastic wrap.
Verde is in business to help you cut back on all that waste by providing household goods and foods in containers you can refill, reuse and recycle.
Located in Edgewater on the same block as Bunnie Cakes, Verde opened three months ago as the first zero-waste store in Miami. Founders Martha Balaguer and Pam Barrera says they were motivated by all the containers they went through. “Our trash bins getting full of containers in perfect shape, like the laundry detergent container, milk containers, etc. This led us to do some research on plastic pollution and that was it. We felt we had to do something to help reduce plastic waste.”
The airy store is all about sustainable products: disposable toothbrushes, locally made soaps by the owners, bulk shower gel and detergents, reusable beeswax food wrap, stainless steel straws and brushes to clean them. If you didn’t bring a jar or container for bulk products, you can buy a reusable one here.
Bulk food items are part of the inventory for locals, including popular Angry Booch kombucha, spices, honey, grains, coffee and tea, dried fruits and oils. There’s a living wall where customers can snip off herbs to buy them, a nut butter grinder and an orange juice squeezer.
“We want to spread the message to every person in the world to slow down and think a little but of why and how they consume,” say the founders. “Refilling and reusing may be the best option to slow down the pace of waste generation in the world.”
VERDE
2328 NE 2 Ave., Miami
verdemarketonline.com
