Content & Robuust

Packaging-free shops

Robuust is the first packaging-free shop in Belgium. The idea behind it? To pre-recycle! Robuust tackles the issue of waste and pollution at source. The concept is simple: if you don’t use packaging, there is no need to recycle it. That saves up natural resources, reduces CO2 emissions and minimises waste. Moreover, Robuust stimulates the local economy by prioritising local products.

At Robuust, you can buy seasonal fruit and vegetables from local organic farmers, as well as other foods in bulk (unpackaged, loose), such as coffee, tea, dairy products, sweets, nuts, grains, oils and fresh juice. Customers take their own containers along to be filled in the shop.

Content does the same in Leuven. The founders opted for a cooperative model where customers, suppliers and operators jointly invest in and decide on the future of the shop.

Content’s dream would be to create a cooperative network of independent packaging-free shops that collaborate in the fields of logistics, marketing and communication.