Our heartfelt gratitude to Sugarcube Studios, for bringing our guides to life – designing a map for us and creating such joyful imagery to go with it!

Lots of pantry staples – from flours, grains and rice, through to condiments, spices, legumes, nuts, seeds and liquid foods – usually come in single-use packets. These shops stock all manner of pantry foods loose in bulk bins (or operate return & refill systems for their packaging), allowing you to put these goods straight into your own bags, jars, containers and bottles, and skip the packaging!
- Yum Jar, 59b Takapūwāhia Drive, Porirua – a zero waste meal box service (like My Food Bag but without the rubbish!) delivered throughout Wellington City, Hutt Valley and Porirua (you can also collect orders from their kitchen at the address above). They also stock an increasing number of pantry goods that you can add to your meal kit order, like nutritional yeast, TVP, snack bars and other sweets and snacks. You get all your ingredients in jars and containers that you return to be sterilised and reused! This business is so super waste conscious that they produce less than a standard household bag of rubbish every week, while providing over 1000 meals. Amazing!
- Bin Inn Porirua, Unit 4, 16 Parumoana Street, Porirua City – offers a wide array of dried food in bulk (including, but not limited to, nuts, seeds, cereals, grains, flours, and legumes), a range of spices, liquid foods (including vinegars, oils, syrups and tahini, which are stored in beautiful large glass containers instead of the usual plastic), and plenty of sweets and treats. They also both have a peanut butter extruder, just BYO jar! Also, all Bin Inns across the country now offer a 5% discount if you bring your own bags and containers.
- IndoKiwi Grocers, 2/14 Cobham Court, Porirua City – stocks a wide range of unpackaged dried food in bulk bins, including grains, flours, legumes, nuts, seeds, spices and more.
- Supermarkets – all major supermarkets in Porirua have well stocked bulk bin/pick and mix sections with wholefoods (BYO bags for these). However they’re pretty expensive, often more so than equivalent ingredients in packets (bah!), and more so than the bulk bins at places like Commonsense Organics or IndoKiwi.


The following shops sell unpackaged meat, sausages, smallgoods, seafood, cheese and/or deli foods and will happily put these straight into a BYO container – woohoo!
- Preston’s Master Butchers, 16 Parumoana Street, Porirua City – happy to put unpackaged cuts of meat into a BYO container (in fact, encourage it), but they do note that once something has been placed in a container, it can’t be taken out again (so no changing your mind about the weight you want at the last minute!!)
- Porirua Seafoods, 2/4 Norrie Street, Porirua City – get unpackaged seafood into clean BYO containers here
- Unpackaged live mussels/whole fish – there are a few stores around town that stock unpackaged live mussels and/or whole fish at self-serve counters. We put them straight into upcycled ice cream containers/BYO containers rather than the plastic bags the stores usually provide. You can find mussels and fish at PAK’nSAVE Porirua, 12 Parumoana Street, Porirua City; and just mussels at Countdown Porirua, corner Parumoana Street and Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City; and New World Porirua, Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City.
- Supermarket delis – Most supermarkets have a deli section offering unpackaged meat, seafood, olives and other antipasti, salads, lunch foods and more. All Countdown, New World and PAK’nSAVE supermarkets officially allow you to BYO container for these goods!

The following stores bake and sell unpackaged bread and bakery goods (in some of these stores some items might be pre-packed or wrapped in cling film, just avoid those things!). Simply BYO bread bag to put the bread/bakery goods into. Some places will bag up their bread later in the day, so you want to get in there before they do that (i.e. before 1pm).
- Brumby’s Bakery, 56 Parumoana Street, Porirua City
- North City Bakery, 18 Mungavin Ave, Porirua East
- Moore Wilson’s, 65 Kenepuru Drive, Porirua City – stocks a range of locally baked bread unpackaged.
- Most supermarkets (and even some Four Squares) stock unpackaged bread, bread rolls and/or bakery goods in their bakery section – just pop them into your BYO bags!


- Markets – No two ways about it, if you want to get a good source of unpackaged (often locally grown), produce, markets are the place to go! BYO bags to get fresh produce and more from the Porirua Saturday Market, every Saturday from 4am-12noon, rear car park of Waitangirua Shopping Mall, 3 Niagara Street. By and large, we’ve found that markets, where you can meet the grower/producer face-to-face, are really great for starting fruitful conversations about waste-free food, and developing relationships and systems that enable you to get your favourite fruit, vege and preserves without the packaging. Many of the Wellington markets have local producers of pre-made foods like tofu, noodles, preserves etc. Have a chat to see if you can leave containers with the stall holders for them to fill with your desired product for you to pick up from them the following week, or if the stallholder uses glass jars for packaging, ask whether they will take their empty glass jars back for sterilisation and reuse.
- Veggie boxes/co-ops – there are lots of fruit, veg + food co-ops around town from whom you can order your veggies each week. Around the country we’ve found that unless these co-ops have a zero waste policy, the fruit and veg will usually be pre-packed, so it’s essential to contact them before ordering and have a conversation about whether the co-op is willing to use reusable bags for your box, or to leave things unpackaged (you may be the first person who’s ever asked, so always good to plant the seed!). Generally, if it’s a local operation, it should be possible to arrange this. If it’s not possible to arrange, we recommend looking elsewhere or simply getting unpackaged fruit, vege and other staples from markets and other stores. Some box and/or co-op schemes to look at are Wairarapa Eco Farm or the organic Bounty Box by Harriet & George in Linden.
- Trade Aid – Trade Aid‘s 2kg sugar bags are also great for upcycling as bulk bin bags, and are home compostable when they do wear out. You can get Trade Aid sugar at New World Porirua, Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City.


Look out for places that sell whole or ground coffee beans unpackaged, and bring your own bag and container to fill. Going direct to coffee roasters is the best option, but you can also look out for bulk dispensers of coffee in other stores. Here are some spots we found:
- Bin Inn Porirua, Unit 4, 16 Parumoana Street, Porirua City
- Elemental Coffee, 790 Moonshine Road, Pauatahanui – we haven’t asked whether you can get unpackaged whole/ground coffee into BYO containers, but it’s worth a try if you’re in the area!
- Yum Jar – you can get coffee roasted to order (delivered in glass jars that are returned for reuse) when you order a meal kit!


We avoid teabags as most have plastic in them, which we don’t want in our tea or our soil. Using loose leaf tea is an easy way to get around this. The trick is to find somewhere that sells loose leaf tea packaging-free, so you can put the leaves straight into BYO jars/containers! You’ll find loose tea leaves in bulk dispensers at:
- Uh-oh! We didn’t find anywhere in Porirua where this was possible – have we missed somewhere?
- Bell‘s loose leaf tea comes packaged only in cardboard and paper and is readily available in most supermarkets, Four Squares and dairies.


Sourcing cow’s milk without the plastic bottles or non-dairy milk without the dreaded Tetra-pak is no mean feat! We’ve found the following options:
- Cow’s milk delivery in reusable glass bottles – You’ve got TWO options!
- Eketahuna Country Meats do home delivery of milk in reusable glass bottles (just like the old days!) across the Wellington Region – to check out which day they deliver to your area, you’ll need to begin the registration process on their website. You’ll have milk delivered to your door in reusable glass bottles (just like the old days!) – leave your empty bottles out on the next delivery day so they can be returned to Eketahuna Country Meats for sterilisation and refill. YAY!
- MannaMilk is a raw milk company delivering raw milk all across the Lower North Island, including drop-off points throughout Wellington. The milk is delivered in single-use plastic bottles, which isn’t zero waste. HOWEVER, you can request that the milk be dropped-off in a reusable 10L pail, which you can pour into BYO bottles. As this is a large quantity of milk, you can either get a lot and freeze some, or go in with a group of others and share the milk and the cost between you. You can see MannaMilk’s delivery routes, days and drop-off points here.


Look out for places that sell beer on tap and BYO bottles/flagons to fill up. Breweries are awesome, but lots of liquor stores offer this option too! We found beer on tap at:
- Moore Wilson’s, 65 Kenepuru Drive, Porirua City
Don’t forget that most liquor stores do ‘swappa crates’ of beer – i.e. crates of twelve 745ml bottles of classic NZ beer (e.g. Lion Red/Brown, Speights, Tui, Export Gold etc.) which can be returned (when the bottles are empty) and are then sent back to the brewery for sterilisation and refill (a better outcome for glass bottles than recycling because reusing the same bottle over and over requires way less energy and resources than recycling).


- Drinking chocolate/cocoa in bulk bins – Bin Inn Porirua, Unit 4, 16 Parumoana Street, Porirua City
- Kombucha – You can get Plimmerton Kombucha in reusable/returnable glass bottles from Yum Jar when you order one of their zero waste meal kits.


Reusable drinking vessels (cups and water bottles)
Say “no more” to disposable takeaway coffee cups and plastic water bottles by getting yourself reusables instead! Get reusable water bottles at Paper Plus, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; @cquisitions, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City;
There are heaps of options to buy reusable takeaway coffee cups in Porirua:
- Glass cups, such as Keep Cup, are sold at @cquisitions, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; and Moore Wilson’s, 65 Kenepuru Drive, Porirua City
- Get the NZ-made Cuppa Coffee Cup (plastic) at Paper Plus, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; @cquisitions, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City
- Cups made of a bamboo fibre/plastic composite are sold at Paper Plus, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; @cquisitions, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; Life Pharmacy North City, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City.
- Ceramic cups with silicone lid are sold at @cquisitions, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City
Reusable bags (shopping bags, produce bags and bulk bin bags)
Plastic shopping bags are a menace, but so too are those plastic produce bags for fruit and vege or the plastic bags often offered alongside bulk bins at bulk stores. You can avoid them by bringing your own bags or buying a set of reusable produce bags. You can get 100% organic cotton produce and/or bulk bin bags at New World Porirua, Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City. For an alternative to a plastic shopping bag, get 100% cotton bags at @cquisitions, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City
Say “no straw thanks” next time you order a drink out and either use your mouth to drink, or get yourself a reusable metal straw instead. If you’re keen on a reusable metal straw, you can get them from @cquisitions, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; and metal, bamboo and silicone straws at Countdown Porirua, corner Parumoana Street and Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City.
Alternatives to plastic cling wrap, plastic sandwich bags and tin foil
- Beeswax wrap
- Purchase at – Life Pharmacy North City, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City
- DIY – it’s way cheaper! You just need to get natural fibre fabric (cotton) and unpackaged beeswax. Keep an eye out at secondhand stores and fabric stores for off-cuts of cotton. Get unpackaged beeswax in other parts of Wellington – check our other guides.
- Silicone pot/bowlcovers – a good option for storing leftovers in a bowl (other than just putting a plate on top!) or as an alternative to tin foil for roasting (as the covers can withstand temperatures of up to 220 degrees and will also keep hot food warm when transporting). You can buy stretchy and firm ones at @cquisitions, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City


Refills of cleaning products
The following stores stock a range of liquid and/or powdered cleaning products in bulk dispensers that you can fill your own bottles/containers with:
- Get Fixed Bicycle Cafe, Harbours Edge, 16 Parumoana Street
- Bin Inn Porirua, Unit 4, 16 Parumoana Street, Porirua City
Low-waste dishwashing
We didn’t find anywhere in Porirua where you can get dishbrushes with wooden handles and removable + replaceable, home compostable heads – check out our guides for other parts of Wellington.
We also encourage people to move away from using dishclothes, sponges and bench wipes made out of synthetic material (as these leach microfibres and they’re also destined for landfill when they wear down) and to use natural fibre cloths instead – use old cotton rags, or check out other sections of our Wellington region shopping guides for where to buy!
Laundry
- Eco Planet and Earthwise laundry powders come in a cardboard box with a cardboard scoop (or no scoop at all for Earthwise!) – no plastic lining! You can get both at New World Porirua, Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City; or just Earthwise at Countdown Porirua, corner Parumoana Street and Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City; and PAK’nSAVE Porirua, 12 Parumoana Street, Porirua City.
- You can also get Living Green laundry powder, which is in just cardboard and brown paper (also septic tank safe) with a bamboo scoop, from (almost) any Countdown supermarket.
- Non-plastic clothes pegs – bamboo pegs are available at New World Porirua, Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City.
INGREDIENTS FOR DIY CLEANING PRODUCTS
- Baking soda – available unpackaged in bulk bins at Bin Inn Porirua, Unit 4, 16 Parumoana Street, Porirua City


Zero waste teeth and mouth
- Bamboo toothbrushes – a great alternative to plastic toothbrushes because they have wooden, home compostable handles (though bristles are still plastic and need to be removed from the handle and put in a rubbish bin). You can find bamboo toothbrushes at New World Porirua, Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City; Life Pharmacy North City, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; Countdown Porirua, corner Parumoana Street and Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City; and PAK’nSAVE Porirua, 12 Parumoana Street, Porirua City.
- Dental Floss – Countdown Porirua, corner Parumoana Street and Lyttelton Ave, Porirua City stocks Do Gooder floss, which comes in a refillable glass tube with a screw on metal lid. The WHITE floss is made of 100% silk and is home compostable (the black, bamboo and activated charcoal floss has polyester in it so is landfill only). When you run out of the floss, no need to get a new dispenser, you can get refills of the floss in a cardboard box from dogooder.co.nz – just pop the refill into your original metal/glass dispenser.
Unpackaged Bars of Soap
- Bin Inn Porirua, Unit 4, 16 Parumoana Street, Porirua City
Bars for Shampoo/Shaving/Deodorant/Moisturiser
We’d encourage you to get your everyday toiletries – from shampoo through to shaving soap – in bar form, which means you totally avoid the plastic/aluminium bottles that liquid products usually come in!
- Many places stock the popular Ethique range which includes shampoo bars, conditioner bars, shaving bars, deodorant bars, moisturiser bars, etc. (all of Ethique‘s bars come in home compostable packaging): Life Pharmacy North City, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; Farmers, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City
- Check out local company Underground Soapery who make shampoo bars (among other things) – you can buy their products online, or find them at one of the markets in the Wellington region.
- Get deodorant, dry shampoo, lip balm and/or sunscreen in compostable cardboard tubes. No.8 Essentials deodorant and lip balm is sold at Life Pharmacy North City, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City.
Reusable Menstrual Products
There are zero waste, low cost alternatives to disposable sanitary items like tampons and pads.
- Menstrual cups – stocked at Life Pharmacy North City, North City Shopping Centre, 2 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; Health 2000, North City Shopping Centre, 209 Titahi Bay Road, Porirua City; and PAK’nSAVE Porirua, 12 Parumoana Street, Porirua City.
Shaving
Avoid plastic shavers that are designed to be disposable and go for 100% metal razors that will last you decades and only require the 100% metal and recyclable blades to be replaced (or sharpened with a leather strop!), and remember to use a bar of shaving soap instead of shaving foam that comes in an aerosol can (see above) – note, you’ll need a shaving brush to make this work. Most barbers and hairdressers can order these in wholesale, so ask your local to stock.
1 Comment
Kia ora- I’ve got some suggestions for the Porirua page eg Sunshine in a Bottle Composting (like KaiCycle in Wgtn). I’m co-Founder of WELLfed with loads of zero waste mahi underway- and a partnership for an urban farm with ‘For The Better Good’. Also regarding workshops have good experiences with ‘Waste free with Kate’ didn’t spot. Thanks for yoir work in this space!! Happy to chat further, Becs