We want to make your eco-journey as easy as easy as possible here on The Eco Hub. In order to do that, you need to have the right tools and when it comes to going zero waste, we don’t want you to be like Sherlock, we’ve done all the work for you, so, Here is our first Zero Waste Shopping Guide: Toronto.
FOOD:
Bulk Barn – as of February 2017, Bulk Barn allows customers to bring their own reusable containers rather than using the plastic bags provided in store
2 Carlton St., Toronto, ON M5B 1J3
120 Front St. E., Toronto, ON M5A 4L9
393 King St. W., Toronto, ON M5V 1K1
503 Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON M5S 1Y2
171 East Liberty St., Toronto, ON M6K 3P6
213 Danforth Ave., Toronto, ON M4K 1N2
91 Laird Dr., Toronto, ON M4G 3T7
30 Weston Rd., Toronto, ON M6N 0A7
2290 Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON M6S 1N9
3003 Danforth Ave., Toronto, ON M4C 1M9
1880 Eglinton Ave. E., Toronto, ON M1L 2L1
The Big Carrot Community Market – a worker-owned market carrying lots of local produce; they will take 25¢ off your bill if you bring your own reusable container when purchasing bulk items
348 Danforth Ave., Toronto, ON M4K 1N8
Karma Co-Op – a co-operative food store that diverts some of their organic waste to local farmers to use as animal feed and tries to limit their use of packaging
739 Palmerston Ave., Toronto, ON M6G 2R3
Coffeecology – coffee delivered by bike in re-usable glass jars directly to your door; when you are finished with the jar you can leave it outside your home and a delivery person will come pick it up
Kupfert & Kim – a trendy restaurant with several downtown locations; all their takeout packaging is compostable but they also offer 35¢ off your bill if you bring your own food container to use instead
140 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5V 2L4
100 King St. W., Toronto, ON M5X 1A9
181 Bay St., Toronto, ON M5J 2V1
20 Bay St., Toronto, ON M6J 2N8
200 Wellington St. W., Toronto, ON M5V 3C7
150 King St. W., Toronto, ON M5H 3T9
Maizal – Mexican restaurant located in Liberty Village; Ivan Wadgymar, one of the co-owners, makes a weekly trip to the Calveiro farm in Schoberg where food waste from the restaurant is either composted or used as animal feed.
133 Jefferson Ave., Toronto, ON M6K 3E4
Essence Of Life Natural Food Market – providing accessibility and affordability of organic food to members of the community.
50 Kensington Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 2G1
Organic Garage – A Canadian Organic and All Natural grocery store with the best quality products at Everyday Affordable Prices. Produce, Grocery, Meat, Bulk, Vitamins.
Click here for a list of locations!
Whole Foods – gives you 10¢ off for every bag you reuse for each transaction, you can keep the discount or donate it back to charity. Click here for a list of locations.
At Farm’r everything is made from scratch by our amazing team of chefs and delivered by our friendly front of house. Learn about our new test program for reusable take-out containers. Pay a deposit, get a refund when you bring it back dirty or clean.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3-Wfi0BWIA/
CLOTHING:
Value Village – a popular secondhand retailer with locations in every province; they have pretty frequent sales throughout the year as well as a free “Super Savers Club” membership that entitles you to 20% off on your birthday
924 Queen St. E., Toronto, ON M4M 1J5
319 Bloor St. W., Toronto, ON M6H 1P3
2119 Danforth Ave., Toronto, ON M4C 1J9
C1-605 Rogers Rd., Toronto, ON M6M 1B9
1525 Victoria Park Ave., Toronto, ON M1L 2T3
1020 Islington Ave., Toronto, ON M8Z 6A4
1030 Wilson Ave., Toronto, ON M3K 1G6
Black Market Clothing – trendy thrift store with a barbershop in the back
256 Queen St. W., Toronto, ON M5V 1Z8
Kensington Market – filled with incredible secondhand clothing stores as well as hip cafés and restaurants; it’s possible to spend an entire day walking around the market and still discover new things the next time you visit.
L’Elegante Boutique – the secondhand designer finds you’ll find in this Yorkville store are not cheap but they are fabulous
132 Cumberland St., Toronto, ON M5R 1A6
BEAUTY/HEALTH:
Eco and Amour: The first green beauty + refill store dedicated to amazing indie beauty brands.
Saponetti – customers can choose to either pick up a refill of their favourite liquid soaps, shower gels, hair products, etc. in person at their depot on Brock Ave. or to have a glass bottle delivered directly to them that Saponetti will later collect and re-use
615c Brock Ave., Toronto, ON M6H 3P1
Lush – cult cosmetic company with locations all over Canada; their “5 Pot Program” allows you to return five of their post-consumer recycled plastic containers in store in exchange for a free face mask
220 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M5B 2H1
312 Queen St. W., Toronto, ON M5V 2A2
3401 Dufferin St. Toronto, ON M6A 2T9
1800 Sheppard Ave. Toronto, ON M2J 5A7
Green and Frugal – fill up on DIY body care ingredients, essential oils and their own naturally made body and skin care items and they also sell zero packing shampoo bars.
2432 Kingston Rd, Toronto, Ontario M1N 1V3
BareMarket – a pop-up zero waste market; (check their website or follow them on Instagram and Facebook for locations)
HOUSEHOLD GOODS:
Logan and Finely: A general store in the west end of Toronto that carries a wide variety of home goods, clothing and zero waste supplies.
670 Queen St W, Toronto, ON M6J 1E5
Ava’s Appletree – home goods store with a nice selection of re-usable cloth diapers, napkins and “UnPaper” towels as well as stainless steel lunch boxes and re-usable metal straws
870 Kingston Rd., Toronto, ON M4E1S3
Comfy Cotton – cloth diaper delivery service; your soiled diapers are picked up by a Comfy Cotton delivery person and replaced with freshly-cleaned diapers
The Sharing Depot – a $50/year membership allows you to borrow from their collection of party supplies, board games, toys as well as camping and sports equipment
1803 Danforth Ave., Toronto, ON M4C 1J2
830 St. Clair W., Toronto, ON M6C 1C1
Also, take a look at Eco Existence, you’re go-to store for eco-friendly, locally made, & sustainable living products including housewares, beauty, baby & kids products, gifts and more!
Editor’s Note: Have we left anything out of our Zero Waste Shopping Guide: Toronto? Please let us know, share in the comments and lets build this list together!
Related Posts:
Where To Find Zero Waste Supplies in Canada
Plastic Free July, Simple Steps You Can Take In The Kitchen (+ Giveaway)
Bare Market doesn’t yet carry food (but aims to once they have a permanent location). They do, however, have an incredibly large assortment of body care and home care items – from shampoo, hairspray, and deodorant to laundry detergent, all purpose spray, air freshener and a whole bunch of lifestyle items to help you reduce waste (i.e. reusable pads, stainless steel containers, bamboo toothbrushes, swaps for q-tips, and the list goes on and on)!
We’ve moved them into the beauty section. Thanks.
Thank you for adding Green & Frugal this Guide! I just wanted to mention that we also carry supplies to help people go plastic-free such as: beeswax wraps, stainless steel straws, bulk bags, dryer balls, bamboo toothbrushes and safety razors. We are expanding this section over the next month as orders come in. Love your site!
That’s great to know, thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
We love what you are doing too.
Don’t forget Urban Bulk Emporium in Leslieville. They have a refill station for all of your household needs, including soaps, shampoos, all-purpose cleaners, and oil. It’s a wonderful shop!
Thanks for sharing Jill.
xo
Candice
Also, Kim’s natural food store has a LARGE bulk section where you can bring your own bags (On Roncesvalles). There are several stores like that on the street as well that have large bulk sections.
Thanks for the tip 🙂
Thanks for putting all this together. I’m going on a 10 week no single use plastic challenge and this makes the challenge less cumbersome.
That’s amazing, well done. It’s little steps that lead to bigger changes in habit. Let me know if you ever need any advice,
best regards,
Candice
Love your list of Zero Waste stores! This is so useful. I have also found an amazing cleaning system that uses only water, cleans pore deep and soft surfaces including fabrics which is important, is made in Austria with the OEKO TEXT distinction, is carbon neutral on delivery and zero carbon footprint when using for 3-10 years when the Fibres are then recycled. Ships in a box with nothing else-just the fibres. I am so excited to not be using vinegar and diy’s that don’t work everywhere in the house and come with a carbon footprint. You need to check it out the Canadian Head Office is in Mississauga
Thank you so much, Laurie. This sounds so interesting, I will check it out for sure.
What’s the name of this product/company, Laurie?
Thank you for putting this guide together! I thought it might be worth flagging Suppli, which is piloting a reusable takeout container service in two Toronto postal codes starting Oct. 20th. We use stainless steel containers and operate a unique model, which includes the pickup of used containers from consumers, as well as cleaning and sanitization through an accredited partner.
Hi Megan,
Thank you so much for sharing,
best,
Candice