Every three months I have the same
frustration.
I finish my favorite shampoo and all
I want to do is go to the store and
but instead I have to put this one in the
recycling and get a completely
new container with the same exact liquid
that I was just using.
All I think when I go through this process
is
Luckily for me, there are soap refill
shops popping up all over.
And today I'm in Maplewood, New Jersey at
the Good Bottle Refill Shop.
I've brought my shampoo bottle.
I'm Lucy Biggers and this is One
Small Step.
Deanna Taylor-Heacock opened Good
Bottle Refill Shop after she realized the
cleaning products she was buying for her
family came only in wasteful packaging.
As I'm unloading all this stuff, putting
it away, I thought.
The shop opened in September 2019
and has already prevented over 4000
bottles from going to landfill.
I just did the calculation.
Hold, the number is 4-thousand -
I don't want to get it wrong.
Get your record straight.
Four thousand two hundred and fifty-eight
refills.
The shop carries
comparable to the items you'd find at a
grocery store or pharmacy.
When you refill, it is so much better
for the planet.
I think the refill system is good for the
environment because you are able to
reuse these bottles.
Think about laundry detergent.
And some people might say, 'oh, but I
recycle it,' you know, and I don't know if
that makes it any better.
You know, we're not so certain about
our recycling these days.
What we have done is given
people a way for them to
reduce their trash in their home.
Well, I really want to go around the store
and sort of experience how to fill up a
bottle. I brought my shampoo from home.
I don't think you carry my brand of
shampoo, but, we'll, we'll find a good
alternative.
I've got some good ones.
Ok, let's do it.
So over here we have an assortment of
bottles and jars available to fill.
If you didn't bring your own.
How many people are coming in and buying
the bottles. The
rest bring their bottles.
The more we're open, the more
people are just bringing their own because
they're bringing these back to refill.
Can I ask you, what is this? This really
caught my eye. Yes.
It's a dish soap block.
No way.
So instead of it being in liquid form, it
can be on a block on a soap dish.
And you just use that scrubber
to get the soap on it.
These are Unpaper Towels.
When my family did our New Year's
resolution to reduce our waste,
we did a trash audit.
So I found the product.
And yeah, it's been unbelievable.
You wash them.
It hasn't created any more work for me
because I just wash them with my towel.
I live for these
I've really turned a lot of moms on to
this because
.
What's this right here?
This is cool.
This is a laundry stick.
This is like a Tide Pen.
Yes, exactly.
So you can just rub it on the stain and
then put it in the laundry and it'll get
the stain out.
Everything is sustainable is also cuter
than the plastic alternatives that you buy
at the store with the
gaudy colors and text.
This is pure.
I love it.
All right. So since we're here and I see
shampoo, can we fill out my shampoo
bottle?
Absolutely. Let's do it.
So I have some that you might like here.
If you want to smell any of these to see
what they smell like?
This is how we do it in the shop.
People love to smell the products.
It's actually very true.
I get that. You gotta want to go.
So we always tell them, just pump a little
bit into the drip jar.
Ooh, that smells really good.
This brand's scents, all of their products
with the plants and the
flowers, they grow on their organic farm.
It's very comforting.
Yeah, I would love for my hair to smell
like that.
This one is angelica and lavender.
This smells similar to what I use
now. So let's do this.
OK, great.
And what's the price point on your
products compared to something that you're
buying at a Target or a Wal-Mart?
Bath and body care
tends to be a little bit higher.
We have found that the brands that sell
in these bulk containers are
generally the ones that have .
So I have my bottle.
How do I go about refilling it?
So you weigh your empty bottle and this is
1.5 ounces.
OK.
Write down that so we don't forget it.
1.5 is now we pick out the product.
So you want the lavender and angelica
scented shampoo, right?
Yes. I'm like so hyped to get shampoo
right now. I'm like, let's go.
So here's a little tip.
You can get it on there the more you get
in there look inside.
Yeah, better.
That makes so much sense.
Sometimes people hold it out.
Spills are OK too.
And this is a new concept to this is
a new habit way of buying.
And it's not the cleanest
or it's it's a little messy.
I did it.
All right. You did.
OK. So then we'll bring it back over to
the scale.
And then we just want to weigh it again
with the top. All right.
Get that on there.
All right. So we'll weigh this and this
is 12.5 ounces.
OK.
You and I put that into my filled bottle.
Yep. This is 65 cents per
ounce. And all of our containers have that
on the container. So you know exactly how
much you're paying per ounce.
So this is a
$7.15 shampoo bottle.
I'll take that.
Our customers don't have to figure out how
much it costs.
They want to we've tried to have
them have the least amount of
work to do. But also, they have to do a
little math.
And the great part about this is because
we have so many moms that shop here,
they bring their kids in here and they
have them do the math.
And it you know, it's great.
You know,.
That's so cute.
It is. Our customers bring their kids here
all the time and are
explaining what they're doing
and why they're doing it.
I see it all the time.
That's so cool to hear because, you know,
the kids, they're learning about recycling
and climate change in school and then they
can see that they're taking an action with
their parents to really change that trend.
Yeah.
I think it's an awesome way to install
that young kid.
It is.
And a lot of people come in here.
And they read so much about
what's going on, about the climate change,
about the plastic problem.
And, you know, at the end of the day,
Well, Deana, thank you so much for showing
us around your shop.
Thank you for the shampoo.
I will pay for this.
And I think what you're doing is so
inspiring and you're bringing it to a
really great population of people.
So thank you so much.
Thank you for coming. Thanks
Get it, I'm pumped. Pumped to use.