Starting a sustainable life overhaul and looking for ways to cut out excess single-use plastic and waste from your life? Oh, I have got THE list for you, sis!
Living a sustainable life is not an easy transition, trust me! I am still very much on my journey and constantly in awe of what I don’t know.
So, while searching for zero-waste options for myself, I thought it would be nice to round up some of the best, female-founded, zero-waste stores for you too!
This article is dedicated to the 17 best female-founded zero-waste stores to support and shop on your sustainable journey.
DISCLOSURE: MORARAE STUDIO IS FUNDED BY MY READERS, SO THANK YOU! ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN AND EVERYTHING I WRITE IS MEANT TO HELP AND INSPIRE YOU. SOMETIMES I RECOMMEND RESOURCES THAT HAVE HELPED ME ON MY JOURNEY USING AFFILIATE LINKS. IF YOU CLICK ONE AND MAKE A PURCHASE, I MAY RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU.
Already ready to do some Zero-Waste Shopping? Here are quick links to all the shops covered in this article:
Zero-Waste Stores
What is Zero Waste?
The concept of zero-waste living is centered upon limiting the amount of waste that you and your household produce. One of the main tenants of zero waste living is to go plastic-free.
I know what you’re thinking, but isn’t plastic in everything? Yes, unfortunately, the majority of our daily lives are surrounded by plastic.
When we shop or eat, just about anything these days, we are contributing to the plastic waste that is plaguing our planet. Very little plastic is recycled and because plastic is a synthetic man-made monster, it will never fully break down and become one with nature.
So, what can you do to live a more zero-waste lifestyle and help end our society’s toxic relationship with plastic? Start shopping eco-friendly, low to zero-waste stores for your most frequented and refillable household essentials.
What is a Zero Waste Store?
A zero-waste store is a store that offers bulk items and uses little to no plastic packaging for its products.
Have you ever been to Whole Foods? Do you know the aisle full of bulk nuts, seeds, and granola dispensers? That would be an example of bulk, package-free items.
Unfortunately, most people still use the plastic bags available to bag these items, because that is what is most widely available in grocery stores today. You also see this in our produce sections.
A zero-waste store will offer its products in plastic-free containers or allow you to bring your own containers to re-fill items on your monthly shopping list. Some shops on the list even offer local deliveries where they will refill your containers at your doorstep! Talk about customer service.
Most zero-waste stores offer bulk food items, beauty and body products, plastic-free homeware & utensils, and eco-friendly cleaning products.
Why Shop Zero Waste?
It’s not going to be possible to shop zero-waste for all your household needs, at least not right away. But, what if you could commit to switching one monthly purchase to a zero-waste alternative?
All that seasonal hand soap you purchase from big brands that are full of toxic chemicals, wrapped in plastic… could instead be purchased from a small, woman-owned business instead!
When you shop zero-waste, you are making a direct impact on our society and our planet. Every purchase counts and this is why I have gathered 17 female-founded zero-waste stores for you to shop, like right now.
You don’t need to change all your shopping habits overnight! Visit the shops on this list, either online or in person, and see if there is one item you could dedicate to purchasing from a small, woman-owned, zero-waste shop each month.
It’s going to take all of us to save this planet, so let’s do it together babe.
17 Female-Founded Zero Waste Stores to Shop Online or In Person
1. EcoRoots
About the Founder:
- EcoRoots was started by Antonia Pitica and focuses on inclusive products for their community.
Things to Love:
- They offer small-batch, vegan and low-waste beauty, body, and home products for their customers. Eco Roots also has a give-back program to donate to organizations like the Ocean Conservancy that are working to help clean up our oceans.
2. Zero Waste Outlet
About the Founder:
- Zero Waste Outlet is a family operation. Started by Brian and Beth who began a personal plastic-free journey that ultimately led them to the creation of Zero Waste Outlet.
Things to Love:
- They are committed to providing zero-waste products that are high quality and affordable. Which is what we need to make the sustainable movement more inclusive and accessible.
3. Zero Waste Store
About the Founder:
- Sarah and JJ are partners in business and in life. They share their story on their website here. Both were on a mission to save our planet and once they found each other, Zero Waste Store was born.
Things to Love:
- The mission of Zero Waste Store is to make choosing low-waste and sustainable products more convenient for the everyday person. They support many organizations focused on helping with plastic pollution, conservation, racial justice, and more. So, you can feel good about your purchase when you shop their shop–I know I do!
4. Sun and Swell Foods
About the Founder:
- Founded by Kate and Bryan, Sun and Swell is an organic whole foods brand that uses plastic-free packaging for all its delicious pantry staple offerings.
Things to Love:
- They create every product, taking into consideration the full life cycle of that product. They dare to ask the question, “What happens AFTER the consumer uses our products?”, and I think that’s pretty amazing.
5. The Sister Collective
About the Founder:
- Founded by two friends, Alisa & Danielle. They started Sister Collective to make it easier for everyone to start choosing more sustainable alternatives to things they use every day.
Things to Love:
- They have a great selection of reusable produce bags plus a section dedicated to natural self-care products! Did someone say Self-Care Sunday?
6. Life Without Plastic
About the Founder:
- Started by Chantal and Jay, out of a need to find plastic-free baby bottles for their new addition. This couple started back in 2006–talk about being way ahead of the curve. Now their little baby that started it all is working in the family business too!
Things to Love:
- They offer a subscription box for beginners like us who are just starting their plastic-free journey!
7. Tiny Yellow Bungalow
About the Founder:
- Jessie started the Tiny Yellow Bungalow as a personal sustainability blog back in 2015 and has since turned it into a destination for eco-friendly and zero-waste products.
Things to Love:
- Jessie’s shop has a variety of bath, body, and home products but what really makes her different is her curated selection of vintage items!
8. Sustain.Able
About the Founder:
- Chelsea started her personal journey toward living more sustainably in January 2020. She started by swapping one household item at a time and that’s where her idea for Sustain.Able was born!
Things to Love:
- She’s a small, Texas girl like me who’s bringing zero-waste options to her community while making a big impact. She provides local refill deliveries to her customers, which I think is truly a commitment to living sustainably and making it convenient for everyone.
9. Luxe Refill
About the Founder:
- Luxe Refill was started by Cristina with the goal to clean up her hometown of Austin, TX by offering alternatives to harmful plastic products.
Things to Love:
- Luxe offer’s a return service, so once you order a refill on your favorite item, you can return the old container for them to reuse or recycle.
10. Usefull
About the Founder:
- Adriana started Usefull with the goal like many other founders on this list, to limit her personal single-use plastics footprint. Based in Dallas, TX, at the time there we no available refill stations for her to use, so she created her own.
Things to Love:
- Usefull is local to Dallas and has a variety of zero-waste bath, body, and home essentials to choose from. You can only shop locally with them at the Dallas Farmers Market on weekends.
11. Slow North
About the Founder:
- What was first started by Michelle and Jon as a natural and toxic-free candle business, has grown into a full eco-friendly shop with both an online and in-person store based in Austin, TX.
Things to Love:
- Their candles have all-natural ingredients, which are easy to find on their website. They also give back 10% of profits to a variety of charities they care about.
12. Fill Good
About the Founder:
- Founded by Stéphanie after taking a class about recycling, she learned just how little plastic can actually be recycled and that the only way forward was to cut our use of plastics drastically.
Things to Love:
- Fill Good offers multiple ways to shop their zero-waste offerings. You can shop online, in person at their Berkley, CA store or they also offer local refill deliveries to their customers.
13. Package Free Shop
About the Founder:
- Lauren’s incredible story of committing to living a zero-waste lifestyle was originally chronicled on her blog, Trash is for Tossers. She built a community around zero-waste living & they were looking for zero-waste products, so she started with a simple laundry detergent and then officially launched Package Free as a pop-up in Brooklyn in 2017.
Things to Love:
- Lauren’s commitment and journey are so inspiring, it makes you so happy to support her! Package Free also has one of the largest varieties of product categories, specifically a pet section dedicated just to our fur babies! They’re truly making zero-waste living possible for the whole family.
14. One World Zero Waste
About the Founder:
- Elana and Stephen started One World in 2018 with the goal of reducing plastic consumption and helping our one and only planet along the way.
Things to Love:
- One World has a large selection of bulk food products and a weekly produce delivery service for their customers. Which is music to a foodie like myself’s ears.
15. Sans Market
About the Founder:
- Started by childhood friends, Eniko and Lin, this duo shares a passion for helping their community and the environment.
Things to Love:
- Along with their selection of zero-waste products, their website also shares easy tips that make choosing sustainable swaps easier in your daily life.
16. FulFilled
About the Founder:
- Started by Kimberly after learning what actually happens to the things we recycle in this country, she knew she needed to limit her waste as much as possible and live a more minimalist lifestyle.
Things to Love:
- Kimberly created a refill option for her local community in Utah after she realized there weren’t any options available. She offers a local refill delivery service for her Utah community and will refill customers’ containers, right on their doorstep!
17. EarthLove
About the Founder:
- Serina is truly a woman who practices what she preaches. She lives and operates a 20-acre farm where she grows heirloom fruit trees and hosts an apiary of honeybees!
Things to Love:
- I love her perfectly curated gift box offerings. I feel like an eco-conscious gift box can be the perfect introduction for a friend or family member to living a more sustainable life. She has gift boxes for different seasons and even one just for a rainy day.
How to Shop Zero Waste Locally
So, now that you are feeling inspired and maybe even found a few goodies from the shops listed above, you may be wondering how to shop zero-waste locally. I got you:
Reusable Shopping Bags
- This is probably the easiest & fastest change you can make. When you do your weekly (or sometimes daily) Target run, grab a few reusable shopping bags to help cut down on your plastic footprint.
- If you’re looking for some female-founded and thoughtfully designed reusable shopping bags, make sure to check out The Floppy from MSL Bags. I supported her Kickstarter campaign recently and cannot wait to get my tie-dye floppy!
Go Plastic-Free
- Plastic-free is not an easy task, by any means, but there are more options available to you than there were even just a few years ago.
- A lot of big box stores are offering more and more beauty and cleaning products in glass or aluminum containers these days. When you can, choose a product wrapped in glass instead of plastic.
- When ordering take-out, say no thanks to the single-use plastic utensils and use your own when you get home.
- Say goodbye to single-use plastic straws if you haven’t already. When at a restaurant, pass on the straw and bring your own reusable option if possible.
Reuse Glass Containers
- I have a serious glass jar obsession. My husband laughs at me until he sees me making a delicious cinnamon coconut milk latte using one of my adorable repurposed glass jars and then he’s like, ok, I get it, that’s pretty cool–men.
- There are so many great reuses for glass containers:
- Food storage
- Flower/plant vase
- Latte cups or champagne glasses
- Storage for small items like pens, q-tips, or cotton balls
- Packaging for holidays & birthdays gifts
- You can also use your own glass containers at a lot of local zero-waste and bulk re-fill stores and farmer’s markets. Just make sure they’re clean before you head to a refill station.
- So, hold onto that glass girl!
Make a Plan
I cannot tell you how many times I have forgotten to grab my pile of reusable shopping bags before I head to the grocery store.
I am imperfect my friend and that’s ok. Changing our lives to be more sustainable is a journey, not a destination.
The main reason why we continue to use less than ethical or eco-friendly options in our daily lives is because of one thing: convenience.
We are all busy, overwhelmed, and stretched for time. So, don’t beat yourself up if you cannot overhaul your life to be perfectly sustainable tomorrow–because there is no such thing!
Instead, make a plan to help sustainable and zero-waste living be more convenient for you.
For me, this means, always having at least one reusable shopping bag in my car. That way I can shove all the things from the store in there and hopefully not have to get any plastic bags. It’s not a perfect system, but it does help!
I also like to use sustainable subscription services that will provide me with important items I need every month. This can be my supplements for PCOS, my all-natural toothpaste & bamboo toothbrush, or clean make-up and skincare items.
Start Small
It’s up to you to decide where in your life you can commit to being more sustainable and ultimately, low-to-zero-waste. So, get to planning my friend 🙂
There you have it! Remember to start with small changes and give yourself grace as you learn more about sustainable living and making zero-waste purchases a part of your normal life.
I’m here for you and would love to answer any questions you might have about zero-waste shopping and choosing sustainable swaps. So, drop a line in the comments below!
This is everything you need to know about shopping, female-founded, zero-waste stores online and in person.
