Berlin's first package-free supermarket

"Original Unverpackt" is a small supermarket that looks more like a kiosk, and yet it offers 500 different products - from nuts to noodles - all package-free. Customers can fill as much of each product as they want into small linen bags, Tupperware they bring from home, or glass jars from Milena’s shop. As long as it's reusable.

At Milena's shop, nothing is pre-packaged, so customers can decide how much of each product they want to buy. Nuts, for example, are billed according to weight, so to double-check how much your pecans or walnuts are, you can throw them onto this retro-looking scale. Plus, shuffling nuts into bags brought from home is actually way more fun than just tossing a pre-packaged bag of nuts into a cart.

Apart from nuts, you can also buy package-free noodles, like lasagna or spaghetti. But when customers get to the spaghetti section, many are a bit helpless. "They wonder: where could we possibly put that," Milena says. Spaghetti won't fit in most Tupperware containers. Milena has a simple but ingenious answer: "Old Pringles tubes," she says and smiles.

Milena's concept isn't just reducing plastic waste, but also offering regional and organic produce. So all of these fruits and veggies come from local farmers. "That way, we have a shorter supply chain," says Milena, "which means we're producing less carbon dioxide when getting the products into our shop."

Milena's shop doesn't just offer package-free food, like these yummy-looking fruits, but also toiletries - from organic detergents to natural cosmetics. There's even a section with sustainable, fair-trade, vegan condoms.

Milena's shop is located in Berlin's vibrant, trendy Kreuzberg district and has a base of loyal customers who love to hang out after shopping. Even the chairs outside of Milena's shop are made out of recycled cardboard.