NU Grocery

Ottawa, ON

Ontario’s first zero-waste grocery store with bulk, package-free groceries and household essentials.

About

NU Grocery is a zero-waste grocery store in Ottawa offering bulk, package-free groceries, household products, and everyday low-waste essentials. It’s Ontario’s first zero-waste grocery store and operates from 143 Main Street in Old Ottawa East.

Customers can shop in person for the full zero-waste experience, bringing your own clean containers or using a paper bag or borrowed jar. NU also offers online shopping and works to keep shipping materials as low-waste as possible by using recyclable and compostable paper-based packaging and reusing boxes and packing supplies whenever possible.

How it works

  1. Visit the Ottawa store with clean reusable containers, or shop online.

  2. In store, follow NU Grocery’s refill process: tare, fill, and pay. If you do not bring a container, paper bags and borrowed jars are available.

  3. Shop from a wide range of groceries and household products, including food, personal care, cleaning, and kitchen essentials.

  4. For online orders, NU uses recyclable and compostable paper-based shipping materials and reuses packing supplies whenever possible.

Why it’s low-waste

NU Grocery makes low-waste shopping feel practical, welcoming, and built for real life. By giving people the chance to shop in bulk, bring their own containers, borrow a jar when needed, and choose package-free everyday essentials, it turns waste reduction into an easy part of the grocery routine rather than an extra chore. The store combines refill-style shopping, reusable container culture, and lower-waste shipping practices, while also positioning itself as an educational platform focused on eliminating waste and reinventing consumption.

Good for

  • Bulk grocery shopping

  • Package-free household essentials

  • Refill-style shopping

  • Ottawa residents

  • People looking for both in-store and online low-waste options

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