Container Reuse Opportunities
This page highlights businesses in Kane County that provide customers with opportunities to reuse consumer packaging or to bring their own packaging to help reduce use of single-use items.
Groceries
Chipko Market, Kane County's first "bring your own container" grocery store opened at 902 S. Randall Road in St. Charles in November of 2025. We featured Chipko Market in Kane County Connects in April of 2026. The store is thoughtfully designed around the ability for customers to weigh their reused packaging so that they only pay for the product they buy. In addition to reducing packaging, this model also gives customers the ability to try out new products without committing to a full-size container. Chipko's product list (March 2026) is available here.
Other area groceries including Fresh Thyme (Geneva), Fresh Market (Geneva) and Whole Foods (St. Charles) may have bulk bins/self-vend options for certain products, but it is unclear if they are set up to allow customers to tare the scale with their clean reused containers. Ask for help at customer service!
Oberweis Dairy, headquartered in North Aurora, had long done milk delivery and retail sales in reusable, returnable glass containers with a deposit.
Restaurants
When going to a restaurant and sitting down to eat and if you don't think you'll eat your whole meal, bring a clean container with a tight seal from home and put your leftovers in it for later.
As of 2023, it is also perfectly legal for restaurant staff to put prepared to-go foods into customer-provided containers as long as the containers are clean, in good condition, have a tight seal, and as long as health guidelines are followed. However, filling customer-provided containers is not required by law, and is up to each restaurant whether they will allow this practice. If preventing packaging waste from eating out is something you care a lot about, reach out to the manager of your favorite spot and ask if they'll allow customer-provided to-go containers.
See Illinois Department of Public Health for more information on the safe and sanitary use of customer-provided containers for bulk and prepared foods.
