The first of its kind in the country, this German supermarket strips away wasteful packaging and sells its goods in bulk to customers who bring or borrow recycled and reusable containers.

Set to open Berlin this summer, Original Unverpackt is to be the first of a series of stores using a sustainable model similar to co-ops but at a larger scale and aimed at mass market consumers.

Nothing here comes in a disposable box, bag, jar – nothing is shrink-wrapped or tetra-packed. Bulk and gravity bins dot the isles and hang from the walls. Even beverage stations use refillable bottles.

Keeping the experience minimal and easy, creators Sara Wolf and Milena Glimbovski are offering just one variety of each product type, reducing choice fatigue and focusing on quality and simplicity.

Having crowdfunded over 100,000 Euros to start things out, the supermarket is tackling a 16-million-ton waste problem (just in Germany) but ultimately aims to make a global impact as well, changing the way consumers think about shopping and sustainability.

It sounds like a conceptual design or science-fiction fantasy, but it is already under construction. Rising in the desert outside of Abu Dhabi, Masdar City will be the world’s most sustainable metropolis with no cars (or skyscrapers) allowed.

Instead of private personal automobiles, the public rapid transit system represents a shift from ‘mass’ to ‘mini’ in the form of small programmable multi-person vehicles – but that is just the beginning.

Solar, wind and geothermal sources will fuel the city – sun-powered desalination plants will provide fresh water for inhabitants, which will in turn be carefully recycled (as will other biological waste).

Practicing what it embodies on multiple levels, this new urban area aims to be the definitive regional hotpot for developing green energy and researching clean technology.

The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology has already been built and more structures are on the way. By 2025, the target population should be up to 50,000 within the walkable 2.3 square-mile perimeter currently planned for development.

The United Arab Emirates have long recognized the need to diversify their regional sources of revenue and develop self sufficiency outside of oil and conventional business – this comprehensive, ground-up urban design is the latest step along a new long-term path. The development is a project of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company and has been largely designed by Foster & Partners.