Boulder residents open Nude Foods, a zero waste grocery store

Oct. 31—Reusable containers with everything from veggie chips and pasta to vinegar, dried fruit, chocolate and coffee line the shelves of Nude Foods Market.

The store — founded by Boulder residents Rachel Irons, Verity Noble, Jimmy Udovich and Matt Arnold — is the first zero waste grocery store in Boulder. It opened earlier this month.

For the founders, it's been a dream many years in the making.

The group originally offered a zero waste food delivery service and have since moved and expanded the business to a full grocery store, available for in-person shopping, pickup or delivery by bicycle or electric vehicle.

Largely, Noble views the endeavor as a way to help Boulder become the sustainable city it strives to be.

"Boulder has got this image of being really eco-friendly, and yet there wasn't a zero waste store here," Noble said. "It just kind of feels like a really obvious place to have one."

In 2006, the Boulder City Council adopted a zero waste resolution and strategic plan, establishing a target of 85% waste diversion by 2025. City data indicates it's currently at 53% waste diversion.

The city's Sustainability Coordinator Jamie Harkins noted that it's important to go beyond sorting waste properly. The size of the city's waste stream must be reduced, and packaging waste adds up, Harkins said.

According to the city's analysis, Boulder residents throw out paper equal to 2,600 trees, plastic equal to 37 million Lego blocks and glass equal to 74 truckloads of sandevery year. Packaging waste amounts to 28% of all the city throws out.

This is where Nude Foods' efforts comes in.

"We're excited to see that so many in our community are working hard to tackle this trend and build a circular Boulder where nothing goes to waste," Harkins said.

The store carries a variety of food staples, plus some fresh produce, premade meals, household supplies and more.

At Nude Foods, shoppers pay a $1.50 deposit fee per jar. The store keeps a portion to cover cleaning costs, but if jars are returned, a $1 per jar discount will be provided on future purchases.

In addition to offering reusable packaging, Nude Foods works with its suppliers to ensure the goods the store sells are arriving at the store in a zero waste manner as well. As the store got off the ground, this often required a specific request from Nude Foods, Noble noted.

"It took a lot of vendor education as well as customer education," she said. "But loads of them were so excited about the idea of doing it."

The store also makes use of many secondhand items. The shelves previously were used in Alfalfa's Market. Bright-orange bicycles that had been set for recycling now decorate the top of the store's refrigerated space.

Every decision is a conscious one, and Noble said the store works to be transparent about its sourcing as well as the instances in which it's not possible to be as sustainable as it would like to be. For example, it purchases oats in a 50-pound paper bag that can be recycled but isn't reused in store.

Monday afternoon was a quiet one at the store on Walnut Street. But soon, Elm Junio popped in.

Junio recently found out about Nude Foods Market while shopping at the local farmers market and spent the afternoon perusing the shelves, gathering groceries.

"I just generally try to go for as low impact as I can with the shopping. Since I have the means to, I prefer to not go to big grocery stores as much as I can already," Junio said. "(Nude Foods is) very plugged into the community, which I like. A lot of the stuff that I'd usually get at the farmers market I can get here, which is quite nice as well."

Indeed, the grocery store sources the majority of its offerings locally and carries products from a variety of vendors in the greater Boulder area such as Silver Canyon Coffee, Awakened Foods, Boulder Broth, Bolder Chips and dozens more.

From Irons' perspective, opening a grocery store offered an opportunity. She views it as a way to affect the food system in a "much bigger way."

"A lot of the problems in our world come down to the food system," she said. "It affects every single aspect of our lives, from our health to the environment to our happiness and well-being.

"It's a huge point of connection for humans," Irons added. "We always gather around food, and by changing the food system, you can affect people's lives in a very intimate way, and affect the entire community and affect the planet."

Nude Foods is at 3233 Walnut St., and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Learn more at nudefoodsmarket.com.