Inside a small storefront in Vienna, neatly labeled dispenser bins line the walls. Wooden shelves are laden with bulk containers of everything from hand soap to vinegar, reusable bags to pasta.
Customers bring their own containers to fill, paying by weight instead of buying products packaged in disposable plastic. In the four years since she opened Trace, owner Mala Persaud estimates customers have refilled more than 36,000 containers.
“We do it for the customers. We do it for the environment. I do it for future generations,” she says…