Living Pantry, an eco-friendly store selling sustainable home and body items, opened its newest location in Fairhaven on Feb. 9, 2023.
The store offers natural and sustainable alternatives to single-use plastics. They focus on selling and promoting products from local small businesses.
Having local low-waste stores is a great option for those wanting to shop more sustainably.
“Local is really important,” Kait Schultz said.
Schultz is a student at Western Washington University and works as a co-coordinator for Zero Waste Western, a program run through the Western Recycling Center.
“If you can buy a local item that comes in packaging and doesn't have to be transported as far, it’s probably more sustainable than buying the really eco-friendly, in-a-glass-container [product] that came from all the way across the country,” Schultz said.
Living a low-waste lifestyle is easier than you may think, especially with local eco-friendly stores such as Living Pantry.
“My advice is starting small and not putting pressure to instantly transition because that's not sustainable,” Schultz said.
Schultz recommends buying locally in bulk from containers you already own and replacing current products with low-waste alternatives as you run out of them.
“Transitioning as you would replace [items] is going to be the most economical,” Schultz said.
Living Pantry is a full-service refillery, meaning they have many bulk items to refill your products packaging-free. They also feature other package-free, reusable, local and bulk home and body products. The new location is at 1132 Finnegan Way, with two other locations in Blaine and Bellingham.
Lauren Eydt (she/her) is a city news reporter for The Front this quarter. She is a second-year visual journalism pre-major and is working on a Fairhaven or studio arts double major. Lauren also loves to crochet, pet her cat and watch movies all at the same time.
You can reach her at laureneydt.thefront@gmail.com.
