Public Goods carries a wide range of food, cleaning products, and other home goods in tasteful, minimalist packaging. These products are generally quite high quality, but the catch is that to preserve their relatively low cost, they can't make the same strides toward zero-waste that some other stores in this list do.
Their products' low cost also come with the caveat that a $79/year membership is required. Disclaimer: I don't pay that fee, thanks to having participated in one of their Kickstarters. It's probably worth it only if you like enough of their products to source a lot of your household from them.
Some specific reviews of some of their items:
- Dental Floss - I'm pretty sure they're sourcing this from Dental Lace, but their packaging is less virtuous.
- Bamboo Toothbrush - A nice cheap way to get this staple. Bristle colors are given out at random. The handle is compostable, but the bristles are not; you'll need to break it off and throw it in the trash, and compost the rest.
- Menstrual Pads - Comfortable and apparently biodegradable, but less sturdy than Seventh Generation's...probably because of being biodegradable. I have since graduated to the LastPad reusable pad. A Public Goods' pad's tendency to fall apart increases if it's been a long time since manufacture (again, you should expect this with biodegradable products) so if you're keeping disposable pads only for occasional guests, you may need something sturdier.
- Ramen - Very tasty. I always go through it too fast.
- Maple Syrup, Dried Cranberries, Chia Seeds - Pantry staples. Just fine.
- Hot Cocoa Mix - Really good.
- Teas - Quite tasty, but they come in teabags, individually wrapped in plastic. Boo.
- Agave Syrup - Another pantry staple. The small bottle is plastic, but easy to work with.
- Toilet Paper, Paper Towels, Tissues - These work fine and are sturdy enough. They switched their toilet paper from a "six rolls wrapped in plastic" model to "eight rolls in a cubical cardboard box" model, which cuts down on plastic.
- Shampoo, Conditioner - These work really well. Refill pouches reduce the plastic packaging on these, but don't eliminate it; if you want a truly zero-waste solution, try Plaine Products.
- Sanitizing Lavender Wipes - These seem to work okay, but they aren't quite as "soaked in liquid" as those offered by other brands. Once you take one out of the container, it will dry quickly.
- KN95 Face Masks - These fit better and more comfortably than G95's masks, and are substantially cheaper. Public Goods has no way to recycle used masks as G95 does, but since G95 takes other brands besides their own, you could combine the two in a return shipment.
- Dish Detergent Pods - A rare "meh" for this store; they don't work as well as Dropps' or Blueland's.
- Deoderant - Despite liking their formula, I hadn't bought theirs in a while because I'd found other brands that didn't use plastic. However, Public Goods has now started packaging theirs in cardboard tubes as well.
- Scented Candles - I haven't tried these yet. I want to! Why do I want to try these adorable candles so much when I haven't even used all the ones I have already? I don't even burn candles much anymore! Darn those adorable reusable glass containers!!