Great question! Being truly zero waste really is not possible- the systems just aren’t in place at the moment to make that happen. At The Good Neighbour, we’ve worked with as many Irish suppliers as possible to set up a circular economy- they deliver their product in large reusable containers, which we wash and return to be refilled.
For a lot of products, such as grains, beans, and nuts, they do arrive in large bags. These 25kg bags are a mix between paper and plastic, and are essential to make sure we are receiving the best possible products. When buying in bulk, you cut down significantly on packaging (think about the difference between a single 25kg paper bag of rice and 25 1kg plastic bags of rice), and we also do our best to reuse or recycle all the bags.